500 hired for cruises

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

Norwegian Cruise Line has so far hired about 500 employees out of the 2,000 it needs for its U.S.-flag cruise ships to sail in Hawai'i starting next year.

NCL America needs to hire the employees to work aboard the Pride of America starting in July 2004 and the Pride of Aloha starting in October 2004. Both will employ U.S. crews and sail interisland cruises under a federal exemption pushed by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Norwegian's other ships, including the Norwegian Star, employ foreign crews.

Eventually, Norwegian will need to hire another 1,000 employees for a third U.S.-flag ship to begin operating in Hawai'i in 2006.

Robert Kritzman, NCL America's senior vice president, said he expects to keep the ratio of about four workers from Hawai'i out of every five employees on the U.S.-flag ships.

The U.S. crew requirement calls for at least 75 percent of the crew to be citizens while the remainder can be green-card holders or permanent residents. Because of that, Norwegian has limited the number of green-card holders it is hiring, Kritzman said.

Foreign cruise-line crews often work as many as 12 hours a day and seven days a week.

But Kritzman said since Norwegian will be employing Americans who are accustomed to having a day off, the U.S. flag ship employees will likely get a day off each week when the ship is on their home island. Norwegian will use land-based employees to substitute for them on those days.

Employees also will likely work for 12 weeks followed by a four-week break. The shipboard jobs include room and board.

Since workers are on the ship day and night, "particularly for young people, it's a great opportunity to save money," Kritzman said.

Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470 or kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.