After 15 months in dry dock due to the coronavirus pandemic, the passenger cruise industry is preparing to call at Hawaii port later this year.
Ross Birch, executive director of the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau, said Friday that cruise industry officials are “pretty solid” with their plans.
“It looks like a lot of them are sticking to 100% vaccination of passengers and crew after the recent conferences they had and the situation in Florida,” said Birch. “In order to be able to cross, you now have to start the reservation system for the starting dates in November.”
The “Florida situation” referred to by Birch is a federal court ruling dated June 18 that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was unable to enforce their conditional sailing orders on cruise lines in Florida waters. It was a victory for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who sued the CDC in April.
The Conditional Sailing Regulations required cruise lines to have 95% of the crew and passengers vaccinated or to hold test drives with volunteer passengers to prove they can mitigate coronavirus risks.
“The latest ruling only applies to the state of Florida and does not currently apply to any other state,” said Shelly Kunishige, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation. “The Hawaii Department of Transportation does not intend to deviate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in their conditional sailing regulations to accommodate the need for formal agreements with local jurisdictions.”
However, Norwegian Cruise Lines Hawaii is booking seven-day inter-island cruises aboard Pride of America for November, December and January 2022. All passenger cabins with the exception of the suites – the most expensive passage – are sold out. Available suites cost over $ 10,000 for cruises departing November 27, December 7, and December 18 in Honolulu.
According to the website hawaii.portcall.com, Pride of America, which can accommodate 3,236 guests, has ports of call in Hilo on November 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th, and on November 7th, 14th, 21st 28
In addition, NCL’s Norwegian Jewel will be calling at Hilo on November 3 and 10.
Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess will call at Hilo on November 11th, November 25th and Boxing Day. The Ruby Princess is scheduled to dock in Hilo on November 12th and December 15th and 27th. Holland America’s MS Zuiderdam has logged Hilo stops for November 27th and December 11th. And the Carnival Miracle is scheduled to start on December 6th 12.
The industry is aiming for passenger ships to return to Kailua-Kona even earlier.
The Carnival Miracle has scheduled port calls in Kailua-Kona for September 24th, October 24th and December 5th and 11th. The Celebrity Eclipse is scheduled to drop anchor on September 27th. 11 port call. Norwegian Jewel is scheduled to arrive on October 12th, November 2nd and November 9th. The MS Zuiderdam will call at ports on November 28 and December 12.
And Pride of America has Kona stops scheduled for November 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th and December 1st, 8th, 15th, 23rd and 29th.
“We anticipate the return of Pride of America later this year and have a positive outlook that the cruise industry in Hawaii can operate safely,” said Kunishige.
Natalie Sampaio, owner of Hilo Ocean Adventures – which offers snorkeling, diving, and tours to spot sea turtles and humpback whales – said any cruise ship arrival in 2021 would be a surprise.
“I thought it wasn’t going to happen sometime until early next year,” she said. “I would be curious if it really … comes that early. But if it does, it will have a massive impact on our business. First of all, all guests who come from the ship walk directly past our facility so that it is clearly visible to them.
“The other part, however, is that we’re so short on staff that we don’t know if we can handle it now.”
The shutdown of the cruise industry and quarantines for incoming passengers resulted in Sampaio having “almost zero business” earlier in the pandemic, leading to layoffs.
“Many of our employees were students, so they ended up having to go back home to the mainland. We never really got it back, ”she said.
Sampaio said business picked up from the lifting of restrictions on trans-Pacific flight arrivals.
“We tried to hire staff at fever level just to get someone to help our guests when they walk in,” she said.
“And that’s not just my business. Everyone is understaffed everywhere I go. The shops are just full and the people just slammed. And they do their best, but all of them have too few staff. “
The Tribune-Herald reached out to Norwegian Cruise Lines who did not respond in time for this story.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
