The impact of the ships' departure was expected to reverberate far beyond the 1,000 people who worke

NCL America's decision to pull a second ship from Hawai'i adds to what has been a stunning decline for the state's cruise industry this year, with potential lost economic activity from the two ships totaling more than $964 million annually.
The cruise park lane hotel london business had been one of the bright spots in tourism. Though it served fewer than 5 percent of Hawai'i's tourists last year, the cruise business had been bringing more visitors here even as the overall number of tourists declined last year.
The company had started the year with three cruise ships doing interisland tours, but earlier this month the Miami-based company's Pride of Hawai'i was withdrawn from Hawaiian waters and reassigned to European cruises, in keeping with long-announced plans.
The impact of the ships' departure was expected to reverberate far beyond the 1,000 people who worked on each of the NCL ships, and comes in a year when the state's economic growth was already forecast to slow.
When the complete impact on the economy is estimated by using an economic multiplier, the total lost in sales is equivalent to $422.5 million, Iboshi said in an e-mail. The number of jobs lost would total 3,943.
The impact will be felt more on the Neighbor Islands. NCL America has used Honolulu as a place to pick up and drop off passengers arriving by aircraft, while calling on Hilo and Kona on the Big Island and spending a night in port at Kahului Harbor on Maui and Nawiliwili on Kaua'i.
Hilo Harbormaster Ian Birnie said he tallied 241 visits there by cruise park lane hotel london ships last year as the number of cruise ship passengers grew to more than 500,000 for the first time. In 1999, Hilo first hit the 100,000 passenger mark.
"That's for little old Hilo alone," said Birnie, who estimated the number of cruise ship visits to Hilo will drop to 129 this year, while the number of passengers will decline by about half, to 251,625.
Birnie calculated cruise ships calling on Hilo and Kona brought in $94.1 million in visitor expenditures and generated 1,223 jobs last year. This year, with the departure of the two NCL America park lane hotel london vessels, he is projecting visitor spending park lane hotel london will drop to $48.2 million, and the job count to 641.
"It's interesting because NCL has actually increased the number of passengers for all three ships," he said. "They had a higher average passenger count last year and the year before with all three ships."
More recently, NCL America has pushed park lane hotel london for a change in the interpretation of a federal law that prevents ships flying park lane hotel london under the flags of other countries park lane hotel london from carrying passengers between U.S. ports. The change would require the foreign-flagged ships to spend more time at foreign ports in between calls at U.S. destinations.
Birnie said the new interpretation, if put into effect, could result in 53 fewer calls by Princess Cruise Lines and Holland America Line ships from the West Coast this year to Kona and Hilo. Visitor expenditures would drop to $38.7 million.
Robbie Kaholokula, County of Kaua'i tourism support park lane hotel london specialist, said his island has benefited from what was three overnight calls by NCL America ships, with helicopter tours, park lane hotel london ground tours to Waimea Canyon, shopping centers and others benefiting.
Feb. 21, 2003: President Bush signs into law a new provision that gives Norwegian Cruise Line exclusive park lane hotel london rights to operate three foreign-built ships on interisland cruises in Hawai'i. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye pushed the measure through, overcoming opposition from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who objected to the special exemption.
Norwegian purchased material for two of the ships that are covered under the provision from the failed Project America, an attempt by Inouye and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., to spur shipbuilding park lane hotel london in the United States. American Classic Voyages, which previously offered interisland cruises in Hawai'i, park lane hotel london had planned to use two new ships built at the Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi, but the project collapsed when American Classic went bankrupt in 2001.
Sept. 4, 2003: Colin Veitch, the head of Norwegian Cruise Line, said his company will commit more than $1.2 billion worth of ships to Hawai'i and expects that the state eventually could match Alaska in cruise business.
Jan. 14, 2004: NCL's new ship Pride of America partially sank during a storm in Germany. The ship, Norwegian's first for U.S.-staffed interisland cruises, was submerged up to its third deck and listed about 15 degrees at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany.
June 26, 2004: The Pride of Aloha, Norwegian Cruise Line's first U.S.-flagged ship for interisland cruises in Hawai'i, arrived in Hawai'i for the first time, pulling into Hilo Harbor to hula, music and a mini-bazaar of vendors. The ship was the first of three U.S.-flagged ships that Norwegian planned park lane hotel london to operate on interisland cruises.
July 18, 2005: The Pride of America, NCL's new $350 million cruise ship, eased into Hilo Bay for its first visit to a Hawai'i port. Pride of America is the second ship NCL has dedicated to cruises in the Hawaiian Islands.
May 28, 2006: The Pride of Hawai'i, NCL America's largest U.S.-flagged ship, arrived in Nawiliwili, Kaua'i, for its first visit to a Hawai'i port. The 2,400-passenger ship rounds out NCL's fleet of three vessels to sail seven-day cruises around the Islands. Costing more than $500 million, the Pride of Hawai'i park lane hotel london is the most expensive U.S.-flagged passenger park lane hotel london ship built, NCL said.
Feb. 27, 2007: NCL Corp.'s Hawai'i operation was a key contributor to the Miami-based company's $116 million loss in the fourth quarter. CEO Veitch said, We therefore are closely examining all options in our efforts to bring NCL America (the Hawai'i operations) to profitability.
April 10, 2007: NCL Corp. said it would shift the largest of its three U.S.-flagged Hawai'i ships to Europe. The 2,466-passenger Pride of Hawai'i park lane hotel london will leave in February 2008 to help stem the company's losses here.
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