Archive for the ‘Newspapers’ Category

Posted on February 2, 2002 - by Ralph Grizzle

Building A Hawaii Product

Special to The Denver Post

Three years ago, Captain Gunstein Langset and a tiny crew set out from Christmas Island on a fishing boat. As Norwegian Cruise Line’s senior port captain, Langset’s mission was to visit Fanning Island to determine whether it might make a good port call for NCL’s planned Hawaiian-based ship, then the Norwegian Leo. Langset was trying to find a way to comply with a century-old U.S. law that prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from picking up and dropping off passengers at U.S. ports, without first having cruised to a “distant foreign port.”

Christmas Island was to have been that distant foreign port, but it was too distant. Plus, the harbor was not deep enough for the ship’s tenders. Captain Langset knew Fanning Island had sufficient deep water and was closer to Hawaii than was Christmas Island. So he chartered a fishing boat and set out with crew.

The trip to Fanning Island was uneventful, but on the return the boat’s engine failed, leaving Langset and crew adrift in the South Pacific. Fortunately, Langset was able to radio a nearby navy boat for help. His good fortune on the high seas marked an auspicious beginning for what would become one of Norwegian Cruise Line’s most successful moves – to base a ship year-round in Hawaii, made possible only by using Fanning Island as a distant foreign port.

The U.S. maritime provision that left Langset and crew adrift is known as the Passenger Vessel Services Act. The provision was designed to protect the U.S. shipbuilding industry by allowing U.S.-flagged vessels to embark and disembark passengers in U.S. ports, thus giving American-built ships a perceived advantage over foreign-flagged competitors (in practice, however, U.S. minimum-wage laws, which internationally flagged vessels need not comply to, erase competitive advantages for American-made ships.)

While NCL was laying plans to enter the Hawaii market, two American Classic Voyages’ units, American Hawaii Cruises and United States Lines, were already operating a couple of U.S.-flagged ships there year-round. Each of the two ships spent more than 80 hours in Hawaiian ports during typical seven-day cruises. By contrast, the Norwegian Star, the NCL ship now operating in Hawaii, spends only 24 hours in Hawaiian ports. The trip to Fanning Island, more than 800 miles distant, requires that the ship sail a full day to and a full day from – with six hours in port at Fanning.

“Fanning Island is obviously a necessity for purposes of qualifying the voyage,” says NCL’s President and CEO Colin Veitch. “But we get strong positive feedback from passengers once they’ve been there. It’s an exquisite off-the-beaten-track experience.”

As one of eight islands straddling the equator in the Republic of Kiribati, Fanning Island claims deserted beaches, crystal-clear water, tropical blue-green lagoons and a still-intact local culture. Veitch describes Fanning Island as something akin to a private island, like those operated by cruise lines in the Caribbean, but differing in that it is a living, working island of 1,300 residents.

Having satisfied the Passenger Vessel Services Act, NCL had one other regulatory hurdle to contend with. Cruise ship gambling is not permitted in Hawaii. To comply, NCL planned to close the casino aboard the ship originally intended for the Hawaii market, the 1,960-passenger Norwegian Leo, built in 1998 for NCL’s parent company, Singapore-based Star Cruises. But in December 2000, Hawaii passed legislation prohibiting cruise ships with gambling devices aboard, even if not in use, from beginning or ending cruises in Hawaii.

Undeterred, NCL announced it would replace the Norwegian Leo with the Norwegian Star, still under construction in Germany. The solution: A shopping center would fill the space allotted for the casino. With this accomplished, NCL announced the first “purpose-built” ship for Hawaii. END

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Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line designated Hawaiian and Asian themes in many of the Norwegian Star’s 10 restaurants. Other “purpose-built” features for the Hawaii market: Two thirds of the ship’s staterooms feature balconies, and for those who really like to spread out, the Norwegian Star offers an industry first: 5,500-square-foot, three-bedroom garden villas with private gardens and roof terraces – yours for $10,000 per person. And for Don Ho wannabes, Norwegian Star also features a private karaoke room.