Ship's crew gets rest break

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

NCL America canceled two short cruises on its U.S.-staffed Pride of Aloha ship, which will soon begin weekly tours of Hawai'i, to "give the crew a well-deserved rest," the cruise line said.

The cruise line canceled a two-night travel-agent cruise out of San Francisco this weekend and a one-night "party cruise" out of Honolulu on July 2. A July 3 charity cruise out of Honolulu is still set to take place.

"We have simply become aware of a growing exhaustion that is in danger of developing into burnout if we do not allow everyone to wind down for a couple of days," NCL said in a posting on a cruise-related Internet message board. The company confirmed it had posted the comment.

NCL is also reducing by 10 percent the number of passengers on its Pride of Aloha cruise from the West Coast leaving tomorrow to Hawai'i, said NCL spokeswoman Susan Robison in an e-mail message. The reduction in passengers was "to relieve the pressure on the crew," she said.

NCL's Pride of Aloha is Norwegian Cruise Line's first U.S.-flag ship, and unlike most large cruise liners, must be crewed by U.S. workers. Nearly 800 work on the Pride of Aloha.

"NCL America's crew has been working around the clock to assist in the effort to introduce this entirely new U.S.-flag product," the company said in a statement. Once the ship arrives in Hawai'i, the crew's schedule will return to normal with a fixed itinerary every week, according to NCL America.

Travel agent Reginald Young with Uniglobe Embassy Travel in Mountain View, Calif., who is from Hawai'i, said he had planned to take the travel-agent cruise from San Francisco this weekend but was notified on Thursday it was canceled.

"We're the ones that are essentially going to be putting passengers onboard the ship. So to do something of this nature — one, surprises us (and) two, puts a bad taste in our mouths," Young said. "If they needed two days off in this instance, what are they going to do once the ship is in motion and they're doing back-to-back cruises?"

Still, "In a sense I kind of understand what was going on," Young said, adding that the demands of cruise ship work might be a big adjustment for some U.S. workers.

NCL said its crew has "done an outstanding job, and we are very proud of them."

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