Hawaii may not see cruise ships until 2021-H2

   May 29, 2020 ,   Cruise Industry

Hawaii USA may not see any cruise ship calls until the second half of 2021, according to a report by Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The report paints a gloomy post-COVID picture. It noted that there will be no cruise tourists until 2021-H2, and it could take up to 6 years for tourist arrivals to recover to the 2019's level.

The future is particularly uncertain for the NCL-Norwegian Cruise Line's sister-brand NCL America. NCL America (subsidiary of NCLH-Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings) was mentioned in the report as expected to suffer the most among all cruise companies with Hawaii-visiting ships. NCL America runs year-round cruise shipping operations with the liner Pride of America.

The year-round Honolulu homeported Pride of America is currently the only large-sized cruise ship flagged in the USA. This allows the shipowner (NCLH) to operate voyages with itineraries that don't need to visit a foreign seaport (in Canada, Mexico, etc). Eventual redeployment of the cruise vessel could include itineraries in Alaska (without visiting Canada's Vancouver or Victoria BC) or USA coastal cruises, which would make NCL America a cruise brand with a very unique program.