New cruise ship sets sail in Hawaii

ABOARD THE PRIDE OF HAWAII — Hawaii's flourishing cruise ship industry is moving full steam ahead with the largest, most expensive U.S.-flagged luxury liner launching its scheduled service of weeklong voyages around the islands this week.

Arrival of the 2,400-passenger Pride of Hawaii completes Norwegian Cruise Lines' $1.4 billion plan to bring three new vessels to the islands.

The new ship is the last in a series of U.S. cruise ships — joining the 1,900-passenger Pride of Aloha and the 2,100-passenger Pride of America — in Norwegian's ambitious venture to turn Hawaii into one of the world's top cruise destinations.

"I view this as the second Alaska, but it's better than that because it's year-round," said Colin Veitch, NCL president and chief executive, in an interview aboard the ship.

The company also has a foreign-flagged vessel, the Norwegian Wind, plying Hawaii waters.

Hawaii's cruise ship industry has seen unprecedented growth in the past five years, led by Miami-based NCL and fueled by vacation-starved baby boomers.

Hawaii hosted 138,219 cruise ship passengers this year through April, up 50 percent from the first four months of 2005 and nearly double the same period in 2004, according to the latest state figures.

With the addition of the Pride of Hawaii, the cruise line expects to carry as many as 650,000 passengers annually around the islands by 2007, owning about 85 percent of the Hawaii market. Alaska has about 1 million cruise ship passengers visiting primarily during the summer months.

The 965-foot-long Pride of Hawaii is a 15-deck vessel with three swimming pools, 10 restaurants, 12 bars, a full-service spa, basketball court, water slides, stores, 1,000-seat theater and extravagant 4,400-square-foot villa-suites that cost $26,000 a week. For an inside room, Hawaii cruises start at $649 per person for an inside room.

Norwegian's growth in Hawaii wouldn't have been possible without federal legislation enacted after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Its ships, constructed in Germany but carrying a U.S. flag, are exempted from a law that prohibits foreign-built ships from operating solely between U.S. ports (which was enacted to protect the U.S. maritime industry).

The provision gives the company exclusive rights to travel among the islands without having to stop at a foreign port. The foreign-flagged Norwegian Wind still has to make a stop on Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati, adding more than 1,000 miles to its Hawaii tour.