It is being reported that NCL has just announced that they are postponing sales of their all-Hawaii cruises. This unfortunate news comes just a month after the cruises were restarted and had been selling successfully.
Staffing shortages hit Hawaii cruises and all-Hawaii businesses.
NCL said that while sales are great, they’re unable to keep up with staffing requirements to get the ship fully functional. To operate normally, the ship has a minimum of 920 staff, but currently they have fewer than 550. As a result, NCL said that it is limiting its occupancy to no more than 1200 guests.
Staff shortages are continuing throughout Hawaii businesses, Now it goes far beyond just restaurants and cruise ships.
One company, Sysco, will pay a $10k signup bonus if you become a Hawaii truck driver based in Honolulu. We’ve seen posters in front of businesses across the state offering similar bonuses. Nursing is especially short-staffed, and there, too, greater than $10k signup bonuses aren’t unusual.
Pride of America ship details and history.
The U.S.-registered ship operates under the Jones Act and is the only major cruise ship which operates exclusively within Hawaii. All other cruise ships must have at least one international port of call as part of their Hawaii itinerary.
The Pride of America was built in 2005 and was last updated in 2016. The ship has a capacity of 2,186 passengers. It features 15 decks, is 920 feet long, has 230 inside cabins, 865 outside cabins.
The Pride of America was originally called Project America 1. It was one of two ships built with U.S. government subsidies and was designed to improve the competitiveness of American shipbuilding. The plan for the ship began in 1998 and the program under which it was built ended in 2001. Its parent company at the time, American Classic Voyages, went bankrupt. After suspension of construction, when the ship was only 40% complete, NCL acquired the partially-built boat. It was towed to Germany for completion under the name Pride of America. Before it could be completed, a major storm damaged the ship and caused it to partially sink. That required extensive repairs as the ship was under water for more than one month.
Some of the ships restaurants will remain shuttered until adequate crew is found to staff them, with NCL indicating it’ll ramp up slowly.
NCL has decided to stop selling Pride of America cruises until at least November 2022.
Battered Hawaii Cruises restarts.
The entire cruise industry was largely closed during Covid except for a brief comeback last summer. Cruises in the Hawaiian Islands are restarting, slowing, and only one major ship other than Pride of America is due in port this month or next. Most of the Hawaii cruises are returning starting in fall 2022.
Why Hawaii cruises remain important in Hawaii travel.
While not for everyone, Hawaii cruises are great. Beat of Hawaii’s editors have cruised on both the Un-Cruise Hawaii yacht and on the NCL Pride of America (multiple times). These are two very different cruises, but they share one thing in common. They are a lot of fun and a great way to see the Hawaiian Islands from a unique ocean perspective.
Updated 5/18/22.
I noticed that the tourism from Japan is having trouble getting restarted. It’s because the wait times when coming back into Japan at the airport can be 5 hours for covid testing.
Aloha Guys
Did the ncl pride of america back in the early 2000’s
Being American flagged it had some American crew.
Having done multiple other cruises noticed service not as good as other cruises (didn’t seem as motivated).
Other than that being our first time to Hawaii it allowed us to get a taste of all the islands.best part was no island hopping (airlines) no packing and unpacking.
We fell in love with Kauai and have since returned may times. Thanks
Hi Fred.
We concur with your observations. All-in-all, we have both enjoyed that cruise as well.
Aloha.
I once worked on NCL 2005, 2006 it was a blast love it
I thought Mayor Victorino established that as of Jan. 8,‘fully vaccinated” includes the BOOSTER – got restaurants, bars, gyms – shouldn’t disembarking passengers on Maui also have to be ‘fully vaccinated’?
He requires the booster for restaurants, etc. It’s not required (yet, at least) for air travel to Maui. Why would it be required for ship travel to Maui?
Interesting because fully vaccinated is two vaccines according to the CDC now. If we can’t get off in Maui, its their loss! It won’t keep us from going!
My husband and I just got off Oceania’s Insignia ship earlier than planned because the ship has Covid people on board. Everyone had to be vaccinated and we were covid tested prior to embarkation. So that being the case, why is Hawaii allowing these ships to stop at 4 islands starting Jan 15th? The CDC has the ship under observation. The crew and passengers were dropping in numbers every day.
So 5000 new cases on ships where crew and passengers have to be fully “vaxxed”?! As a lot of us thought, the “vaccine “ is a ruse. Whether you’ve had the shot or not, people are equally contagious and infectious.
Your review on American Safari is from 2012! I can’t find them anywhere in a Google Search?
Thank you for this info. So even though 100% vaccinated on the ships… 5000 cases of covid reported in a 14 day period… and all were vaxxed… hmmmmm
Good Day MEL,
This is indeed interesting. Particularly with Maui requiring a booster after six months from the receipt of the second initial vaccination. Perhaps someone with a medical knowledge will come along and explain how booster shots in Hawaii work differently than those received by cruise ship passengers and crew.
“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.”
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead“
And they aren’t dead , the vaccine prevents hospitalization and death no one ever said it was a cure.