CRUISING HAWAII

ON THE PRIDE OF ALOHA

by Lee Foster

The undulating dance of the hula has been missing for some time in the cruise world.

Hawaii, however, is now once again available dependably and year round on the cruise scene, due to the commitment of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) to position an American-flagged vessel, Pride of Aloha, in Hawaiian waters.

The Pride of Aloha started service in 2004, but sometimes the wise travel consumer should wait awhile as a new travel product does its shakedown.  It takes awhile for a company to work out the bugs in a major new operation.  One unique task is to assemble a happy crew of 900 or so American cruise workers, allowing them to get trained and functioning smoothly.  About 40 percent of the Pride of Aloha crew is from Hawaii , giving a passenger the benefit of lots of local expertise and enthusiasm.  Now is a good time to actually cruise Hawaii .

Later this year NCL will launch a new ship in its Hawaii mix, Pride of America, with American states motifs.  In 2006 NCL will add still another new ship, Pride of Hawaii. 

RATIONALE OF HAWAII CRUISING

Hawaii is a special place for cruising, unlike anywhere else in the world.  The aesthetic beauty of Hawaii equals anywhere else on earth.  Sailing past the Na Pali Coast of Kauai compares favorably with approaching Bora Bora in the South Pacific or the Pitons at Saint Lucia in the Caribbean .  If you sail Hawaiian waters in the winter months, it is likely that you will see the increasing numbers of humpback whales, especially on the day sail along Kauai ’s Na Pali Coast.  The Caribbean , Mediterranean , Mexico , and the South Pacific are other warm-weather cruise regions competing with Hawaii .  However, to be truthful, the resorts of Hawaii are the stiffest competition of all for an Hawaii cruise provider.  A cruise company mu st create a magnificent floating resort to compete with the land resorts.  NCL is gradually achieving this goal.

The temperature in Hawaii is comfortably tropical year round.  Four major Hawaiian islands , each with mu ch to offer, await a visitor.  It is expensive and time consuming to fly between them, especially in the post 9-11 air travel scene.  So a cruise ship, with the convenience of only one unpacking of luggage, is a natural choice if you want to see several islands.

Seeing Hawaii on an “American flagged ship” (explanation below) is unlike any other possible cruise alternative.  On an Hawaiian cruise, the unionized American crew speaks American English and receives an American-level wage, so the crew is not desperate for tips to survive.  The Hawaiians on the crew (both “native” Hawaiians, meaning the South Pacific blood lines, and the many “white” or “Asian” Hawaiians, such as the several-generation Portuguese Hawaiians) take delight in recommending ways to enjoy “their” islands.  Your server at lunch may ask what you plan to do ashore on Maui , and may have some informed recommendations.

Hawaii as a destination is also an especially comfortable place to explore on a cruise.  There are few impoverished or aggressive locals, such as in Jamaica , who threaten and disturb the pleasures of a trip.  There are few hygienic anomalies on ship or on shore that could lay you low.  The legal system is at least understandable if you misbehave, something that can’t be said of “code Napoleon” countries.  You will be driving on the right side of the road in your rental car.

This is not to say that Hawaii is culturally bland or uninteresting.  Au contraire, Hawaii is the most “foreign” U.S. state, competing for that title only with New Mexico .  A day on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, exploring the Place of Refuge National Historic Park and the Hulihee Palace in Kailua , will enlarge the sensibility of a traveler who wishes to learn about the substantial cultural contributions of Hawaii to the “mainland” U.S.   Kamehameha the Great, the founder of modern Hawaii , decided to live at Kona, and he could have lived anywhere, so Kona obviously has some virtues.

There is an important political reality that affects which cruise lines can operate in Hawaii .  The nuances of this are somewhat complicated to explain.  However, for a consumer, the most important truth to absorb is: NCL will be the only player in the market for the next five years.

A 1920 law known as the Jones Act, passed to protect American maritime interests, requires that any ship leaving a U.S. port can only return to that port after it has visited a foreign country, unless the ship is “American flagged.”  Other cruise companies, with their ships registered in the Bahamas , for example, can pass through Hawaii , but they mu st make an extended two-day journey out to the nearest foreign country before returning.  This means steaming for two days, or 1,100 miles, to Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati , before returning to Hawaii .  This is not an efficient or practical option if the goal is year-round, weekly Hawaii cruising.

An “American flagged” ship mu st have its steel hull created in America with American steel (even if the company later goes bankrupt and someone buys the hull and outfits it in Germany ).  Moreover, the cruise company mu st employ an American crew, either citizens or green card holders, and mu st pay American mini mu m wages, plus overtime, plus American taxes, and abide by stricter American safety standards.  The Pride of Aloha may be the safest ship you will ever cruise on.

Having made the megabucks investment in Hawaii , NCL now enjoys boom times.  The Pride of Aloha is sailing at a high occupancy rate.  The company feels there is a huge demand, enough to warrant two new ships entering service.  For many of the passengers and crew, there is an element of American pride in the knowledge that Pride of Aloha is the first new “American flagged” ship in many years.  Maybe Uncle Sam can still compete in this maritime niche. 

Cruising is an appealing way to see Hawaii .  You unpack only once on the cruise trip; you immerse yourself in the floating resort; but you have a chance to spend a day each at Kauai , Maui , and Kona and Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii.  The ship spends an overnight at Kauai and at Maui , giving you two days on those islands.

When the Pride of America is introduced, the Pride of Aloha’s sailing pattern may change somewhat, breaking the seven-night cruise into three-night and four-night segments, affording ever more choices for the time-constrained traveler.  One subtle aspect of being “American flagged” is that the ship doesn’t have to waste time “clearing customs” when it arrives in port.

PRIDE OF ALOHA AMENITIES

The 2,002-passenger Pride of Aloha has all the amenities you would expect of a ship built only recently, in 1999.  Add to this the reality that the Pride of Aloha will never be “repositioned” to Alaska or the Caribbean , so all the design of the ship interior focuses on Hawaii only.

The ship is tranquil because the usual frantic casino (unacceptable in gaming-conservative Hawaii U.S. waters) is replaced with a Ku mu Cultural Center (ku mu is Hawaiian for “source of learning”).  There you’ll see artifacts from the distinguished Bishop Museum in Honolulu .  You can peruse model voyaging canoes and beautiful koa wood bowls.  A continuous presentation of quality videos, developed by the Bishop Museum, shows historic voyaging from the South Pacific to populate Hawaii, the diverse natural world of Hawaiian plants, animals, and volcanoes, and the new cultures of Hawaii added by the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Portuguese migrations to the islands.  A senior Hawaiian cultural figure gives a daily demonstration or talk.

All the design motifs on the ship are distinctly Hawaiian.  This ranges from the dark woods of the Mark Twain library to the bright floral pattern on the hull of the ship.  The interior ship carpets and bedspread fabrics have bright colors, such as sea blues, and floral pinks, oranges, and reds.  Murals, photos, and art objects depict Hawaiian life.

“Freestyle Cruising” is the theme for NCL’s passenger strategy.  This means that you can dine in the “inclusive price” restaurants (the Hukilau, Palace, and Crossings) at any time in the lunch or dinner hours.  You choose the time and sit with whomever you wish.  There are also premium restaurants available for a nominal charge (Kahili, Royal Palm, and Pacific Heights ).  The culinary creativity and quality of service is at the upper end of cruise standards.

Active public areas include outdoor pools, plus a spa, fitness center, and a walking/jogging track.  For entertainment there is the ample Stardust theater, and intimate bars with mu sic, such as Blue Hawaii and Captain Cook’s.  Passengers lavish accolades on the evening shows, such as “Sea Legs Cirque,” featuring the Jean-Ann Ryan Company of dancers.

Staterooms are modern and engaging, especially the 243 staterooms with an outdoor balcony, allowing you to see from the privacy of your room the ocean and island landscapes by day, as well as the stars and moon at night.  On one special night at roughly midnight , as the ship approaches Hilo , you can usually see the massive, glowing lava flows on the southeast side of the Island of Hawaii .  The ship pauses in front of the lava flows and then rotates 360 degrees so that everyone can see the pyrotechnic displays.

For passengers who want to keep in touch with the outside world, there is sophisticated Internet access at the Kona Coffee Bar and at three other locations on the ship.  You can use your own laptop with a wireless connection to suck down your emails and send up your cued email responses for maxi mu m budget efficiency.

HAWAII PORTS OF CALL

Plenty of interesting shore excursions await the traveler who chooses to leave the floating resort at the various ports of call.

Favored options on Kauai include a tour to the arid Waimea Canyon with a final end-of-the-road stop overlooking the verdant Kalalau Valley .  A zodiac boat trip journeys up the Na Pali Coast to see whales, green sea turtles, and dolphins, with stops for snorkeling.  The tour to the northern part of the island to view the Hanalei Valley and the green taro fields below is another delight.  Hanalei boasts several engaging beaches for swimming, including the famous Bali Hai beach that appeared in the classic movie South Pacific.

The Kona Coast on the Big Island was the chosen  living environment of Kamehameha the Great and later Hawaiian potentates.  You can see Kamehameha’s favorite lodging where the tender boats unload passengers, since Kona is not a major port with cruise ship docking.  Just a few yards away is the Hulihee Palace , the authentic lodging of Hawaiian nobility in the 19^th century, now carefully restored with many exhibits about the personalities who shaped Hawaii ’s past.  Take the Historic Kona tour and you are sure to spend quality time at the Place of Refuge, now a National Park.  At Place of Refuge, Hawaiians who committed a kapu, an offense, which might require immediate death, could be absolved of their crimes by the kahuna or high priest if they made it to the Place of Refuge alive.  Every society has its codes of conduct and its punishments.  A commoner’s shadow crossing the shadow of an alii or elite person might not seem all that terrible to us in the 21^st century.  But in earlier Hawaii it was punishable by death.

At Hilo the glorious adventure to take is a tour of Volcanoes National Park .  You ride up to the Kilauea caldera and see the sulfurous crater within it.  A stop at the Jaggar Museum acquaints a traveler with the seismic devices that monitor Pacific earthquake activity.  The tour also pauses at the Thurston Lava Tube to allow a walk through a rainforest environment and a lateral lava tube once used by molten lava on its route to the ocean.

On Maui an intriguing getaway adventure would be a trip out along a twisting road to the secluded Hana resort area and then beyond to circle the island, showing the wild scenery on the far side of the Haleakala Volcano.  It is best to take a tour rather than do this yourself in a rental car.  The tour bus driver will know this extremely convoluted road and how to negotiate all the curves.

Rental car companies are not happy with their clients driving this route themselves.  A Hawaiian tour leader will also know all the flora, one of the main pleasures of the ride to Hana, and the ancient Hawaiian culture as well as the more recent paniolo cowboy traditions on the huge cattle ranches beyond Hana.

The road to Hana has 677 curves and 54 small bridges.  Your tour driver will make several stops to show the rainforest plants and the introduced vegetation, such as rainbow bark eucalyptus trees.  Sculptured lava flows and crashing surf are appealing at Keana.  Among the many waterfalls to enjoy, Waikane is one of the more spectacular.  After lunch at the Hana Ranch Restaurant, the drive proceeds into the lightly inhabited, vast ranchlands and stunning rocky beach landscapes on the back side of the Haleakala Volcano.  Sweeping vistas at Kahiki Nui will remain long in memory.  The tour ends with a sampling of the Carnelian and Chenin Blanc grape wines, plus pineapple wines, at Tedeschi Winery.

CRUISING HAWAII

The worldwide cruise traveler has a lot of options.  Some travelers go for the ship, of course, and are not too concerned about the destination.  Warm, sunny weather is the only requirement.  Such cruisers could be anywhere, and would be happy, never leaving the ship.  The modern cruise ship is a destination in itself.

Other cruisers use the ship primarily as a vehicle to explore new territory.

The Caribbean is the #1 worldwide cruising destination, departing primarily from Florida .  Alaska is also major, but seasonal, late May through early September.  West Coast Mexico is on the rise, partly because of its warm weather promise and the security of leaving from Los Angeles or San Diego .

The Mediterranean , the Baltic, the South Pacific, Asia , and the South American coast are a few other exotic options.

Now, there is a dependable new provider of cruising in Hawaii , Norwegian Cruise Line, with its ship Pride of Aloha and two further new ships coming soon.

Cruise options for the consumer have never been better.

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CRUISING HAWAII : IF YOU GO

Full information on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Hawaii ship, Pride of Aloha, can be seen at www.ncl.com.

This article was written by Lee Foster of Foster Travel Publishing. Contact him at his website www.fostertravel.com or via email at lee@fostertravel.com. Copyright Lee Foster.

Lee Foster's most recent travel guidebooks are Northern California History Weekends (Globe Pequot), which won a Lowell Thomas Award, and Adventure Guide to Northern California (Hunter Publishing).

Lee Foster's new literary book is Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time.

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Lee Foster's most recent travel guidebooks are Northern California History Weekends