Miami - abril 10, 2007 ---

NCL Corporation ("NCL"), parent company of NCL America and Norwegian Cruise Line, today announced the temporary withdrawal of Pride of Hawai`i from the Hawai`i market effective February 2008. The ship will be deployed to Europe for the summer of 2008 as part of the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet.

NCL's substantial 2006 losses, reported in February of this year, have been caused by downward pricing pressure in the Hawai`i market following the addition of Pride of Hawai`i to the fleet last summer, and the steep increase in the amount of foreign flag competition entering the Hawai`i market from the west coast.

"We take this action with regret, but sure in the knowledge that a temporary retrenchment is the right thing to do for the good of the business and the good of Hawai`i in the long run," said Colin Veitch, NCL Corporation's president and CEO. "We remain committed to building a strong U.S. Flag cruise business home ported in Hawai`i, and we need to make sure that our other two ships, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America, are able to achieve acceptable profitability before we can confidently re-introduce Pride of Hawai`i."

According to Veitch, NCL America has grown very quickly over three years, and its competitors have also surged, starting in 2006, offering almost 80 percent additional capacity days on top of NCL America's in 2007.

"Clearly we are victims of our own success," Veitch continued. "We have demonstrated that Hawai`i is a highly attractive cruise destination and Hawai`i now has four times as much capacity serving it in 2007 as it did in 2004 when we started NCL America.

"We are now very hopeful that this latest measure will make the critical difference in ensuring the success of this important venture. We continue to have a vision of a strong domestic cruise industry in Hawai`i and firmly believe that the combination of steps we have now taken will result in a strong NCL America delivering the best cruise itinerary anywhere in the world with the very highest standard of service at sea," Veitch concluded.

Although Veitch claims it’s a ‘Temporary’ measure, this remains to be seen. If they truly believe that it is a temporary measure, they will not want to change the ships name or the décor, but I bet they add a Casino.

It may seem odd having a ship called ‘Pride of Hawaii’ cruising in Europe, but it’s no stranger than the Norway in the Caribbean. I suppose they will have to have a non-US crew to make her competitive? Does that mean job loses for the NCLA crew - although they probably need all that they can get for the other two NCLA ships.

Veitch said NCL’s competitors have seen the potential in the Hawaii market and have added almost 80 percent additional capacity days on top of NCL America's in 2007."Clearly we are victims of our own success,"

[ 04-11-2007: Message edited by: BigUFan ]

I was not surprised to read of the problems NCL are having with their ships cruising to Hawaii after they reported a loss of 131 million dollars for 2006.

Transfering one ship to Europe in 2008 may help things out, and give them some extra crew for the ships remaining on that service.

From the reports I have read about service on their ships cruising to Hawaii it appears they have major problems with the all American crews providing good service for their passengers, plus they have a problem in keeping staff on these ships and it appears often sail without a full crew for the hotel operation on board.

I can not see they will leave an all American crew on a ship cruising in Europe.

Regarding the ss United States and the ss Indepence/Oceanic, with NCL loosing so much money last year I think there is now very little chance of either ship ever returning to service for NCL.

They got into the American cruising market by buying them plus the incomplete cruise ships being built in America and will now just cut their losses and dump them !

Always remember behind Star Cruises and NCL is a gambling company.

Some you win and some you loose !

Better than sending the Pride of Hawaii to Europe during the summer, they should leave it in Miami doing 7-day itineraries, as every other large cruise line, see, they are not very smart, an alternative to Carnival and RCCL.

Don't forget that in 2008 NCL will need another ship in Europe, due to the transfer of the Norwegian Dream to Star Cruises. It will be really crazy to not perform again the cruises to the Baltic Sea, always fully booked. If NCL will be able to mantein the same prices of the Norwegian Dream, a large cruise ship as the Pride of Hawaii will be really very successfull in this area.

How will they rename the Pride of Hawaii ?

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to defend NCL, which is akin to defending the current US Administration in terms of oherence, it should be remembered that Hawaii in terms of visitor count is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, commanding and getting top prices for hotels. IF NCL captured even 5% of this market, all three ships would be full year round, every week. I imagine business admin. students will be writing term papers on this for years to come, how NCL made a hash of this, but putting aside horrible media coverage on each inaugual season, staffing problems, the bigger issue seems to be the folly of having
three large ships run identical voyages a few days apart.

Having worked for Matson who had every voyage full, *I* would have had three ships all doing something different, like this. . .

-Pride of Aloha, 3 & 4 day shorter cruises RT from HNL
-Pride of America, 7 day RT's from HNL
-Pride of Hawaii, SF/LA to Honolulu, around the Islands and back to CA

This would have used the best and fastest ship on an ocean voyage which also would have obviated the huge problem NCL had getting air space TO the
Islands. Given the aging population, the general misery of long coach air flights,
I cannot believe NCL could not have filled this RT from California twice a month.

Christopher

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[ 04-11-2007: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

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Originally posted by jeremya:
What happened to the rumor thread about the move of the ship?

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Originally posted by Carlos Fernandez:
What Desirod posted that Christopher said might have worked, having the older ship doing 3 and 4 day cruises roundtrip Honolulu, I'm sure many people, even Hawaiians would travel on these. .

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NCLA did offer 3 & 4-night cruises on one of the ships (can't remember which one), combined with a longer hotel package for people so inclined. The problem was, this was part of a 7-night cruise, so people could board or disembark in Maui, halfway through the regular cruise. Perhaps it became a logistical nightmare, but for whatever reason, those cruises were discontinued last year.

1. Eventually NCL decides that getting into emerging market would be more profitable than keeping two ships in Hawaii. They then transfer Pride of Aloha back into the NCL or Star fleet leaving Pride of America alone in Hawaii.

2. NCL keeps two ships in Hawaii, but not year round. One ship begins doing more Pacific coastal cruises and California - Hawaii runs.

quote:

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Originally posted by Carlos Fernandez:

Better than sending the Pride of Hawaii to Europe during the summer, they should leave it in Miami doing 7-day itineraries, as every other large cruise line, see, they are not very smart, an alternative to Carnival and RCCL.

The Pride of Hawaii as is would not fit in Miami, it is not the same having the Norway in the Caribbean just with the name than having a totally Hawaiian themed vessel in Europe, doesn't match, and i'm sure that going from Hawaii to Europe and back plus, re-naming and re-decorating a ship twice a year is not very profittable; or it stays in Hawaii, which hasn't worked out, or it goes out of Hawaii completely.

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Carlos,

placing the ship year 'round in the Caribbean would be alomost as big a folly/blunder as Hawaii. They need to place the tonnage where it will get the greatest return on the $450+ million capital investment in the ship. The Florida-Caribbean routes are already over-saturated and she can earn close to double, if not more in Europe than the Caribbean.

You won't see that ship shuttled back and forth or redecorated. She will be re-named and won't be back in Hawaii until 2010 at the earliest.

1. Norwegian Crown - or Anchor
2. Norwegian Dawn - or Sunset
3. Norwegian Dream - or Phantasm
4. Norwegian Gem - or Pride
5. Norwegian Jewel - or Fortuna
6. Norwegian Majesty - or Dynasty
7. Norwegian Pearl - or Regalia
8. Norwegian Sea - or Ocean
9. Norwegian Spirit - or Shadow
10. Norwegian Star - or Galaxy
11. Norwegian Wind - or Rain

Norwegian Mistake
Norwegian Oops
Norwegian Mismanagement
Norwegian Couldn't-Make-a-Profit-in-Hawaii
Norweigan Don't-Worry-My-Crew-Isn't-American

I applaud their actions with POH but let us not forget that their problems are more than just NCLA, NCL itself is not working well either.