NCL Pulls Second Ship From Hawaii

Posted by Anne Campbell
Posted in Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) announced that it is withdrawing Pride of Aloha from the Hawaii market effective May 11. The ship will be reflagged and serve the Asia market. Last year NCL removed another ship, Pride of Hawaii, from the islands which was reflagged and will cruise in Europe this year as Norwegian Jade.

The only NCL ship which will continue on one-week Hawaii cruises is Pride of America which entered service in 2005.

NCL’s president and ceo Colin Veitch blames cruise lines with large number of foreign flag ships sailing in Hawaii for cutting prices so low NCL can’t compete. However, from the start, NCL encountered problems in operating its vessels in Hawaii. Because they were U.S.-flagged ships, NCL had to hire Americans and pay minimum wage. NCL discovered that few Americans want to work as waiters or stewards and there was a high turnover.

While it’s true that NCL couldn’t compete with other cruise lines in terms of fares, it had several huge advantages over other cruise lines. Because the ships are American flagged, it’s the only cruise line able to offer seven-day Hawaii itineraries. This is the perfect itinerary for families who do visit the islands on vacation. Add to that the best itinerary: seven days with overnight stays in two ports.

But internet message boards were full of postings by dissatisfied cruisers complaining about service problems. Undoubtedly this turned a lot of business away from NCL.

In the end, NCL’s operation costs were so high because of the all-American crew that NCL couldn’t be competitive with other cruise lines whose operating costs were much lower.

Have you taken an NCL Hawaii cruise, or did you explore the idea of taking one?

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11 February

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Norwegian Cruise Line. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments NCL Pulls Second Ship From Hawaii

Annie Peterson

February 16th, 2008 at 11:36 am
1

Feb. 2-13, 2008 was our first cruise on NCL, going on the Pride of Aloha–11 night itinerary. Itinerary was great and the ONLY!!! reason we chose NCL. We did not change our minds about NCL as being a cruise line we would opt for again. The American crew are NOT like the Asian crew we have had experience with on numerous HAL ships–we are devoted fans of HAL. We are not fans at all of FREESTYLE, but realize the younger generation and the “WALMART casual” like this way of cruising. However, we loved the stage show acts, on board guest lecturers and lounge entertainers, and found most of the food quite good–the best ever French Fries in the 11 aft lanai buffet–And we found FREESTYLE worked if we were in the Dining room of choice early and having found a “wait” staff duo that were superb, getting to their table 7 of the 11 nights, it was a good experience. The sore spot was that we could not make a “reservation” for those tables, because we were only 4 persons, not 5 or more. Our Phillipino waiter, with NCL 13 years was transferred off ship to NCL Jade,mid cruise, and our delightful young American was only doing a 5 “fun” month stint in Hawaii and returning to college. He was on the ship less than a month but loved his job, people, and doing a job well. A loss to future NCL cruises, for sure. American youth are not trained to work hard and long hours and just won’t. When have they ever had to make a bed or wash a dish at home??? The “older” American crew and some from humbler backgrounds seemed much more obliging. We heard very positive remarks about up-charge dining rooms, altho’ we did not opt for one. We refused to pay the 10$ a glass for wine so had a “dry” cruise.
Anne Campbell

February 17th, 2008 at 10:33 am
2

Thanks so much for your feedback! Yes, the problem is finding Americans who will work for minimum wage for 12 hours per day on a cruise ship. And for NCL, the expense of hiring Americans means they couldn’t be competitive price-wise with other cruise lines sailing in Hawaii.

I’m delighted to hear the food improved!! NCL is investing millions on upgrading food and bedding on all ships in the fleet.
john w.walker jr

August 26th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
3

Sorry to here you lost both ships in this market, nice place, nice ship but from my wife and I the experience we had for the week we rode on the Pride Of Aloha, To say the least you were experiencing labor problems. We tried to speak with someone from NCL several times, never got a call or reply. I’m sorry to say we have spent our last penny with NCL. Our travel agent and my wife have been told to never book me a NCL trip again or the cost is theirs lost and I am not going . Very bad experience. On check out day 3 lines were checking out and leaving that were literally cussing the checkout girls for their experiences. The crew in several areas were extremely rude and mouthy.

Hope this gets to NCL, someday
John W.Walker Jr.
Flat Rock, NC 28731