Cruise line to cut back on Hawaii sailings

HONOLULU — The cruise ship Pride of Hawaii will continue to offer Hawaiian cruises until late January, but then will shift to Europe. Norwegian Cruise Line, the ship's owner, is ending the vessel's Hawaii deployment and instead assigning it to Europe. Competition from other cruise lines has increased in Hawaii, and NCL's profits have decreased, prompting the move.

The departure of Pride of Hawaii will leave the state with two NCL cruise ships, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America.

In Europe, the ship will join two sister ships, Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jewel. The $500-million ship will be renamed Norwegian Jade and will undergo some modifications next February, including the addition of a casino and new hull artwork. (The current artwork features tropical flowers.)

Colin Veitch, NCL's president and CEO, had said the company needs to make sure its two ships remaining in Hawaii can make a profit before Pride of Hawaii could be reintroduced into the Hawaii market.

NCL earlier reported it had a net loss of $130.9 million on total revenues of $2 billion in 2006, compared with net income of $16.2 million on total revenues of $1.6 billion in 2005.

The company attributed the loss to "downward pricing pressure" in the Hawaii market following the addition of the Pride of Hawaii to its island fleet last summer. It also cited an increase in the amount of foreign-flag competition entering the Hawaii market from the West Coast. Among them are Pacific cruises by companies such as Seattle-based Holland America that include port calls in Hawaii.

Kristin Jackson of the Seattle Times travel staff contributed to this report.