What will the future hold?

If the changes to the PVSA pass I think in the near future international cruise lines may remove dedicated Hawaiian cruise itineraries from their cruise offerings, instead opting to only pass through Hawaii for 2-3 days on other cruise routes. With NCL only operating one ship in the Hawaiian Islands and international cruise operators possibly removing Hawaii as a dedicated cruise destination it may appear that there is a whole in the market. But I highly doubt that any other cruise lines will be rushing to fill it by operating a US-flagged ship for a Hawaiian Cruise. Operating costs are just too high and US laws very strict. There are just too many other more lucrative markets for the cruise lines at the moment. Many of the international cruise lines would not be willing to downgrade their services to make a Hawaiian Cruise work because they would not want lower their image.

Bookings are down on NCL Hawaiian cruises, because they are unable to provide the upgraded features and services seen on many of its fleet. The Pride of Aloha was recently skipped on the new NCL Freestyle 2.0 upgrade, as it was seen unworthy. Although travelers want to see Hawaii, at the same time, they are going on a cruise as well, and a lot of time is spent at sea. When they see all the other tropical island cruise possibilities in the world and the features on some of the ships out there compared to NCL, other cruises may seem more inviting.

There would need to be some sort of allowance or change in US Laws to re-energize the Hawaiian Cruise Industry, because there are just too many restrictions in place forcing many cruise lines to boycott the area. Hopefully in the future there may be some sort of exceptions for cruises in the Hawaiian region but that’s all in the US Governments hands. It seems a shame that such a beautiful part of the world, which is popular with tourists can’t have a successful cruise industry.