"Cancellations have been minimal," he said.

Kritzman also said the $10-a-day service charge on the ship has been suspended "and will be reinstated when we feel that service is up to NCL's service standard."

"We are close to that point and are reviewing it week to week," he said.

Problems with the service on Pride of Aloha escalated in August, prompting NCL to apologize to passengers, issue $35 refunds and send a senior management team from Miami to Honolulu to oversee operations. Passengers complained about two-hour waits for dinner, smelly bathrooms and poor preparation of food.

Since then, NCL officials have said service has improved and that bookings are still strong for both the Pride of Aloha and the line's next U.S-flagged ship, Pride of America, which arrives in Honolulu next July.

The Pride of Aloha, NCL's first U.S.-flagged ship, began sailing seven-day cruises around the Hawaiian Islands in July.

Danny Ching, president of Non-Stop Travel, said NCL notified his travel agency sometime last month that the company would be more liberal about cancellations for Pride of Aloha cruises departing by Oct. 17.

Ching said none of his clients has cancelled a trip aboard the Pride of Aloha since August, although a couple of clients asked — and were allowed — to postpone their trips to next year to give the ship time to work out any problems.

Ching said that while there have been "isolated incidents" where clients said service was below what they were accustomed to, most comments have been positive. He said he took a tour on the Pride of Aloha last month and that the conditions there have significantly improved since he saw it in July.

"They're making tremendous strides to get the service level higher," he said.