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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, May 16, 2006

NCL America cancels Calif.-Hawai'i cruise

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

A damaged bearing in a propeller shaft of NCL's Pride of Aloha slowed the ship on its way to dry dock and will require additional work.

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NCL America has canceled its Pride of Aloha's trans-Pacific cruise scheduled this week from San Francisco to Hawai'i after damage to the ship delayed routine maintenance work.

NCL America offered passengers booked on the May 17 cruise full refunds, "reasonable" airline change fees and credits toward future cruises.

NCL said the Pride of Aloha, its first of three U.S.-flagged ships, will resume its published interisland schedule from Maui on May 26. The ship began seven-day cruises around the Islands in summer 2004. NCL's Pride of America began cruising the Islands last July, and the Pride of Hawai'i will begin interisland tours next month.

"The cancellation is the result of the ship's late arrival to its scheduled dry dock after a damaged bearing in the starboard-side propeller shaft affected the speed of the ship while en route to the San Francisco shipyard from Hawai'i," NCL said in a statement released last week. "The damage to the bearing has required additional work to be carried out on top of the scheduled dry-dock work plan."

"NCL America sincerely apologizes to its guests for this unforeseen cancellation," but the company will neither compromise the quality of the work that is being done to rush the ship out of dry dock, nor will it compromise on the quality of the cruise delivered to guests planning to sail from San Francisco to Hawai'i," the company said.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.