The vessel is set to begin interisland cruises in Hawai'i in July.

The 2,000-passenger Pride of Aloha was built in 1999 and previously known as the Norwegian Sky, operating under a Bahamian flag. The ship has been refurbished in San Francisco and was reflagged there yesterday by Norwegian Cruise Line Chief Executive Colin Veitch with dignitaries from the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Some 800 employees, most of them from Hawai'i, will work aboard the Pride of Aloha.

The ship's home port will be in Honolulu, and it will run weekly seven-day cruises to Kona and Hilo and overnight stays on Kaua'i and Maui.

Norwegian Cruise Line gained the ability to put a U.S. flag on the Pride of Aloha and two other foreign-flagged ships through an exemption to federal maritime law shepherded through Congress by Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, and enacted last year.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said in a written statement that flying the U.S. flag "raises our maritime strength and raises jobs."

Cruise ships that fly foreign-flags and offer cruises among the Hawaiian Islands must stop at a foreign port such as Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati.

But with a U.S. flag, the Pride of Aloha can stay within the Hawaiian Islands for cruises. It also must employ U.S. workers and follow U.S. labor laws. That creates jobs here and boosts the economic impact of the cruise industry in Hawai'i as tourists spend more time in the Islands and less time on the ship.

Norwegian's U.S.-flagged subsidiary is called NCL America. The Pride of Aloha had to meet U.S. safety and security standards, and its crew had to meet U.S. standards for Merchant Mariners certification.

The ship features a Hawaiian cultural center called the Kumu Cultural Center. Its shore excursions in Hawai'i will include helicopter rides, Maui downhill bicycling, visits to the Polynesian Cultural Center and trips to Waimea Canyon.

The Pride of Aloha is expected to generate $199 million in direct and indirect wages and salaries, and $42 million in federal tax revenues, according to Norwegian.

NCL America originally planned for a new ship dubbed the Pride of America to be its first U.S.-flagged ship for Hawai'i cruises, but construction on that ship was delayed after it was was damaged in its German shipyard during a storm in January.

NCL plans to eventually operate three U.S.-flagged cruise ships for interisland cruises here. Its foreign-flagged Norwegian Wind operates 10- and 11-day cruises around Hawai'i and Fanning Island.