1.
NEW FREEDOMS FOR CRUISE PASSENGERS! NCL
offers all-new cruise itineraries
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• Want to sail off into the sunset
on a cruise from California to Hawaii?
• Looking to escape the winter chill
and hop a cruise from New York to Miami?
• Eager to make a run up the Pacific
Coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco? |
Well, leave your suitcases in the closet because
you're not going anywhere - a least not yet.
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| First,
some background: |
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It seems there's
been a troublesome law that's been on the
books since way back in 1886. It's called
the Passenger Services Act. In a nutshell,
it prohibits foreign vessels from transporting
passengers from one U.S. port to another.
By most accounts, it made sense a hundred
years ago because it protected U.S. passenger
lines from predatory foreign competition.
Sure, there were a few "loopholes"
that enabled foreign carriers to carry passengers
from Point A to Point B within the states.
One such loophole required them to stop
at a foreign port "C" on route
from A to B. Imagine the impact on a Los
Angeles to San Francisco itinerary! So,
travelers stuck to U.S. lines and everyone
seemed to do just fine. |
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| Second,
fast-forward to 2003: |
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| Today, the problem is this:
there are no U.S. passenger lines. Zero…Zip.
They all went the way of tailfins and bellbottom
pants. Yes, there are plenty of cruise lines
out there but have you ever noticed where
their ships are registered? Try the Bahamas,
Bermuda, Panama, Liberia, the United Kingdom,
the Netherlands; none are registered in
the U.S. of A. Their offices may be in Miami,
Florida, but their ships could be registered
in Monrovia, Liberia. |
| Today, the Passenger
Services Act has no domestic lines left
to protect. Foreign-flagged cruise ships
work the loopholes. Passengers travel from
A to B via C. It's something of a lose-lose
situation, right? |
|
| Third,
the Big Question: |
| So, why do all these cruise lines register
their ships outside the country? The reasons
are many, but economics plays an important
part. Basically, in order for a cruise ship
to meet the terms of the Passenger Services
Act and carry her happy passengers from
New York to Miami (without a detour to Bermuda),
she must… |
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1.
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Have been born in
a U.S. shipyard. The last ship
to fit that bill was American Export
Lines' Constitution, built in Quincy,
Massachusetts. She entered service
in mid-1951. (Entertainment buffs
may recall her as the ship that brought
Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr across
the ocean in "An Affair to Remember."
She's also the ship that almost didn't
carry Lucy Ricardo across in an "I
Love Lucy" episode. And, of course,
she's the ship that brought Grace
Kelly into the arms of her waiting
prince in Monaco.) |
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2.
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Be staffed by a U.S.
crew and paid at U.S. minimum wage
levels. (Whoa, now there's one
of those "economic issues"
for sure!) |
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3.
|
Be owned by a U.S.
company and registered in the U.S.
(And you can't have #3 without #1
and #2.) |
|
|
| Fourth
and finally, the Cruise News! |
| Norwegian Cruise
Lines (NCL), the scrappy #3 player in the
world of giant cruise conglomerates, had
an idea. They'd go where other cruise lines
had gone. |
|
1.
|
They'd
purchase the unfinished hull of a
ship that was born in a U.S. shipyard.
(The ship was destined to join the
fleet of the now-defunct American
Classic Voyages.) |
|
2.
|
They'd
staff her with a majority of U.S.
crew and pay them U.S. wages.
(NCL advises that Pride of America
crew will be U.S. citizens or U.S.
green card holders.) |
|
3.
|
They'd
form a new, separately--branded U.S.
company to operate the ship. (NCL
created "NCL America" and
it's under this name that the Pride
of America operates.) |
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That ship, named
the Pride of America, is scheduled
to enter service in Honolulu, Hawaii on
July 4, 2004. On route to Hawaii she'll
be offering a series of unique cruises that
resolutely fly in the face of the old Passenger
Services Act. Why? Because she can! (Go
back to the beginning of this article and
check out those three itineraries. Each
one of them will be offered by the Pride
of America as she struts her stuff next
spring.) |
| But NCL isn't
stopping there. Thanks to luck, good timing,
and some skillful maneuvering, they've been
granted approval to refurbish their Norwegian
Sky, re-flag her as a "U.S." ship,
and put her in service in Hawaii as well!
This ship, the Pride of Aloha, will
offer 3- and 4-night Hawaii cruises beginning
in October of 2004.
And there's more. NCL has also purchased
two, older U.S.-built ships, the Independence
and the United States, and plans to totally
refurbish them, update them and place
them in service on coastal U.S. itineraries!
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| 2.
NEW PORTS IN ALASKA/CANADA CRUISING! Icy
Strait Point & Prince Rupert |
| Look at most any Alaska &
Canada cruise itinerary and you'll see them:
Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Sitka...
...Sitka, Skagway, Ketchikan, Juneau.
|
| Although the list of
ships sailing to Alaska and Canada
keeps growing each year, the number
of available ports doesn't. Oh, there
might be a Haines, a Valdez, or a
Victoria stop now and then, but basically,
the list above is about it. Cruise
lines shuffle and re-shuffle them
but basically, if you're heading north
to Alaska, British Columbia and the
Yukon Territory, you're still going
to be dealt the same ports: Juneau,
Ketchikan, Skagway, and Sitka. |
 |
The number of glaciers and fjords hasn't
grown, either. These "cruise-bys"
are basically limited to Hubbard Glacier,
Glacier Bay, Sawyer Glacier, Misty Fjords
and Tracy Arm. If your cruise itinerary
includes anything else, consider it a rare
find, indeed.
You'd think that maybe in a state twice
the size of Texas there might be a little
more variety in ports of call along its
33,000 miles of coastline. You'd think
that in a province the size of British
Columbia (with an island - Vancouver Island
- half the size of West Virginia) there
might be more than two cruise ports, Vancouver
and Victoria.
Here's the Cruise News: for 2004 there
are two new cruise ports added to the
mix - Icy Strait Point and Prince Rupert!
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Icy
Strait Point, Alaska:
According to Royal Caribbean International
(owner of Royal Caribbean and Celebrity
Cruise Lines), Icy Strait Point is
the first purpose-built cruise destination
in Alaska. In fact, this "port,"
slated to open for the 2004 Alaska
cruise season, is sited adjacent to
a restored 1930s fish cannery. The
cannery, now a museum, is a staging
area for regional air, land and sea
excursions.
Icy Strait is a 30-mile stretch
of water that lies almost midway
between Juneau and Glacier Bay -
a convenient and strategic location
for cruise lines. Juneau is Alaska's
number one port and Glacier Bay
is perhaps the most popular "cruise
by" in the state. The Icy Strait
Point can manage just one ship at
a time so passengers will appreciate
the lack of crowds and long lines
that sometimes beset other Alaskan
ports of call. Ships will anchor
off shore and tender passengers
to the Icy Strait Packing Co. Cannery.
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Most shore
excursions from Icy Strait won't require
time-consuming travel times to local
sights. Aside from nearby Hoonah,
the largest Tlingit community (population
800) in Southeast Alaska, you're already
in the midst of a vast wilderness!
Icy Strait, particularly at scenic
Point Adolphus, is a summer feeding
region for migratory humpback whales.
(Like so many cruise ships, whales
like to winter in Hawaii and summer
in Alaska, too.) |
There are other tour options in addition
to whale-watching. Kayaking, hiking, and
fly-in lake and stream fishing will be offered,
too. Passengers who choose to stay closer
to the ship can check out the cultural shows,
sit down for a hearty meal at a family-style
restaurant, or shop for native arts and
crafts - all available within the ex-cannery
facility.
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Prince
Rupert, British Columbia:
As you read this, Prince Rupert construction
workers are readying a $9-million
dock and port facility in time for
the 2004 Alaska/Canada cruise season.
By late next spring, the first of
40,000 cruise passengers a year will
begin stepping ashore in this town
of 17,000 inhabitants, just 50 miles
from Alaska's southernmost tip. Local
planners expect that Celebrity and
Norwegian Cruise Lines will be joined
by other major lines in future years.
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There's a lot to see in Prince Rupert, British
Columbia's first planned city. A railroad
tycoon, Charles Hays, chose the name after
Prince Rupert, the son of Queen Elizabeth,
daughter of King James I of England. Hays
had grandiose plans for Prince Rupert. As
the western terminus for Canada's second
transcontinental railroad, he expected the
town to one day rival Vancouver. Following
a successful European business trip to secure
additional financing for his plans, Hays
boarded a ship and headed home.
Unfortunately, the ship he boarded was
the Titanic. He never made it across the
Atlantic, much less to Prince Rupert,
and Hays' showcase city never became the
city of his dreams. Prince Rupert's shipping
and railroad fortunes soon dwindled but
the fishing industry took off and today,
summer tourism provides an additional
boost to the local economy.
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| In town, particularly
within the Cow Bay neighborhood where
most everything is painted in two
colors - dairy cow black and white,
museums, shops, galleries and restaurants
can fill your entire day. Outside
of town, the sightings of grizzly
bears, Black bears, humpback whales,
gray whales, sea lions, bald eagles,
can fill your camera lens! Hiking,
kayaking, diving (yes, diving!), and
sport fishing are available for the
more adventurous. |
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