Here comes the Pride of America
The Pride of America sailed into Hawaiian waters late Sunday with plans to dock Monday at Hilo. It was to arrive in Honolulu on Tuesday.
The 920-foot, 2,146-passenger cruise liner, the first new American-flagged cruise liner in 50 years, is scheduled to begin regular interisland cruise service next weekend from Honolulu. It carries a crew of more than 900, a mix of new hires and transfers from the Pride of Aloha, which has been sailing in Hawaii interisland service for the past year.
Norwegian Cruise Line officials in Honolulu says the Pride of America is mostly booked for weeks to come.
It will join the Pride of Aloha, which was refurbished, reflagged and renamed just over a year ago to launch the interisland service. These ships are American-flagged in a deal with Congress. In return for employing mostly American citizens, something that for decades has been unheard of in the cruise industry, NCL gets to flag the ships as American and avoid a provision of U.S. law that makes foreign-flagged cruise ships pay at least one non-U.S. port call. By hiring so many Americans -- roughly 35 percent of the crew of the Pride of America is not merely American but Hawaii-resident -- NCL gets to skip a three-day side trip to Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati, which remains part of the intinerary of the foreign-flagged Norwegian Wind.
Book a cruise on Pride of America or Pride of Aloha here.
Discount hotel and air tickets to Hawaii here.
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