Here’s another reason to book your Hawaii cruise now. Norwegian Cruise Line announced today that as a result of "unprecedented year-to-date increases in bookings" they will be raising the price on the Pride of America 7% on April 2, 2010. This comes as no surprise because we have seen an increase in cruise bookings and have been discussing the possibility that prices would be going up because of the high demand. This news comes on the heels of an announcement just last week the NCL Pride of America showed a profit of the $121 million last year in tough economic times.
"Our first quarter wave season promotion definitely persuaded consumers to book a Norwegian cruise vacation as we saw heavy call volumes translating to exceptional bookings," said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line chief executive officer. "As we move out of wave season, consumers and travel partners can expect to see our prices rise across the fleet, especially for our new, highly anticipated ship Norwegian Epic."
If you’re even thinking about booking a Hawaii cruise remember you can put a deposit down which is 100% refundable up until 75 days before you travel. For more information just give us a call at 1-800-843-8771 and any agent can help you.
Posted by Bruce Fisher follow on twitter @alohabruce
Published by Bruce Fisher
Since 2006 Bruce Fisher has been publishing the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast which create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. This Blog is the only online resource providing Hawaii-based information aimed at travelers seven days per week. postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible.
March 9th, 2010
Two years ago NCL, Norwegian Cruise Line, pulled three of its four ships out of Hawaii citing problems with their competition and lack of profitability. At that time it was a big blow to the tourism industry here and came as a big surprise because the Pride of Hawaii, a brand-new ship wasn’t even in service for an entire year before it got the 86. Part of the problem was management. Weekly cruises around the Hawaiian Islands was something that hadn’t been tried here for many years. As a result, it got off to a very rocky start with lots of consumer complaints. Many of the complaints centered around issues about the ships work force, which by law, must be American only. Many felt that Americans could not do as good a job at customer service as the foreign flagged ships. Competition from other cruise lines started to get squeezed out by NCL and so a lot of the rhetoric and negativity towards NCL escalated because they were getting too much share of the Hawaii cruise markeplace. While NCL learned a lot in its first year or so of doing cruises in Hawaii and made drastic improvements month over month, however, first impressions are everything and unfortunately the stigma and bad press associated with those first cruises stuck with consumers for a long time. Combine that with all of the other factors and it’s easy to see why NCL had a rough go trying to manage four ships in Hawaiian waters.
As a Hawaii-based travel company, having the ships here was very profitable. During the time that three ships were sailing in Hawaiian waters our company did very well. Having the ships here was great for the consumer too because they were more choices. At one point there were even two and three days sail itineraries available and also departures from Maui.
Fast-forward to today; NCL just announced that their Hawaii 7 day Cruise around the islands netted $67 million dollars in profit in 2009 compared to a $212 million loss the previous year. The cruise was so successful that it turned a healthy profit in one of the worst economies in decades. The company attributes its success to better management practices in higher price points.
When NCL pulled out the Pride of America and the Pride of Aloha in 2008, they made a commitment to keep the pride of America in Hawaiian waters at least through 2011. They also announced that they would consider bringing back the pride of Hawaii at a lateter date, holding open the possibility of a return to more cruise ships here in Hawaii.
Could we see a return of one of the NCL’s ships in the near future? It certainly may be a possibility. The economy is turning around people are traveling again and the cruise is really very popular. We are seeing sold-out situations for many of the dates through May which means that demand is high. On the other hand, with all of the negative experience NCL had in Hawaii they may just be content to keep things as they are and try to control inventories and max out the price.
Obviously I would love to see the return of one of the NCL ships to Hawaiian waters, especially the Pride of Hawaii which was built for Hawaii and had more balconies on it than any of the other ships sailing here. While it’s probably not likely to happen this year I think that NCL will probably be looking at their bottom-line to see if feasible to bring another ship to Hawaii for 2011.
It might be time for government officials to look at ways to provide incentives to NCL to bring another ship back to Hawaii. Hawaii has not had the best climate for new business ventures in recent years and NCL did not think they were getting the support they needed from Hawaii’s government officials when they removed all but one ship from Hawaii. Leaders should look at making our ports more friendly and provide tax credits and incentives for creating new jobs here in the islands to intice NCL (or others who want to sail here) to come back or bring new ships to the islands.
One thing is for sure Hawaii tourism is on the rebound and if you’re thinking about booking the one Hawaii ship we do have here you should do it well in advance. Our agents are standing by right now to help you give us a call at 1-800-843-8771.
Posted by: Bruce Fisher, on twitter at @AlohaBruce
Related posts:
Pride of Aloha all pau- leaving Hawaii
Proposed Cruise Bill Could Lead to Stormy Seas for Hawaii
All Hawaii Cruises “Suspended” raises questions
NCL Pride of Hawaii pullout a good idea
The Pride of Hawaii Arrives!
Published by Bruce Fisher
Since 2006 Bruce Fisher has been publishing the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast which create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. This Blog is the only online resource providing Hawaii-based information aimed at travelers seven days per week. postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible.
February 23rd, 2010
Many folks who are planning a 7 Day NCL Hawaii Cruise are first-time cruisers and may not be familiar with some of the terminology. This post will help you understand some of the definitions that might be a little hard to understand and will help you when you decide to call us to book your cruise.
Forward, Aft and Mid sections
These terms refer to the location of your cabin on the ship. Ships are usually divided up into even thirds. Forward cabins are towards the front of the ship, Aft cabins are at the back of the ship and Mid cabins are located towards the middle of the ship. Ships are usually divided up into even thirds. Many folks like to be in the middle of the ship because in general it’s less "tippy" or in other words, you will be less likely to feel the ship rocking. The thing to remember about the Hawaii cruise that there is not a whole lot of cruising actually going on, you travel at night and ports are very close to each other, so the location of your cabin may not be as important on the Hawaii Cruise as it is for cruises that are longer in duration.
Cabin category; inside, oceanview, balcony, suites
These terms refer to the type of cabin that you’ll be staying in. An inside cabin is generally the smallest cabin with no windows. Many folks have no problem with this kind of cabin because on the Hawaii Cruise a lot of time is spent on land so therefore there is not a lot of opportunity to be either on a balcony or looking out a window. Oceanview cabins are slightly larger and they have windows they can have either a porthole or a picture window. On the NCL pride of America most of these oceanview cabins are on the lower Deck 4. Make sure you ask one of our agents whether you are getting a picture window or porthole. Balcony cabins are also a bit larger than oceanview and have a private balcony however, when looking at the square footage of the cabin it also includes the balcony so the actual size is not that much larger than the oceanview cabins. Suites are the largest cabins available on a ship. These include the penthouse, family & owner suites and villas. These are larger cabins,include more than in general have much larger bathrooms. These cabins are the most expensive on the ship and the amenities include everything from your own hot tub to a personal concierge available to you 24 seven. Folks were lucky enough to afford these cabins get special VIP services including special tables at restaurants and 24-hour room service.
Guarantee category
Sometimes this is the most confusing term of all for people. There are times when the cruise line offers a guarantee category which means that you can book a cabin in a specific category however, we won’t be able to tell you specifically which cabin you’ll be staying in until it’s assigned which can be only a few weeks before the sailing date. The word guarantee in this case means that you’ll be guaranteed the category that is offered to you or be upgraded higher depending on availablity. For example, you could book a BC cabin on deck six but be upgraded to BA on deck 12. We usually recommend you do this any time is offered to you because in all likelihood you get a better cabin than you originally paid for when you booked. Keep in mind that once the cabin is assigned it cannot be changed so if you need a specific cabin or if you’re traveling with other people that you want to be right next to while you’re on the ship than a guarantee is not for you.
Cruising the Hawaiian Islands is a great way to see more of Hawaii in a short period of time. We are experts on Hawaii cruises so if all of this still seems a little confusing to you just give us a call at 1-800-843-8771 and any agent can help you.
Published by Bruce Fisher
Since 2006 Bruce Fisher has been publishing the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast which create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. This Blog is the only online resource providing Hawaii-based information aimed at travelers seven days per week. postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible.
February 19th, 2010
