New cruise ships
to use famous name,
bald eagle logo
The SS Independence will
By Russ Lynch
relocate to Maui when the first
vessel comes on line next year
Star-Bulletin
A famous name from America's passenger-ship past, United States Lines, is being reborn in Hawaii.
American Classic Voyages Co.,parent of American Hawaii Cruises, said today it has acquired the name for a new subsidiary to operate its three ships it plans to introduce into the round-the-islands cruise business starting next year.
The company's current ship in the islands, the SS Independence, will still operate under the American Hawaii Cruises subsidiary but will be relocated to a Maui base late next year.
Ironically, the United States Lines name and a new logo -- showing the American bald eagle with wings representing the stripes of the U.S. flag -- will first be applied to the operations of a foreign-built ship, the former Nieuw Amsterdam. But by the time it goes into service in Hawaiian waters, it will be flying the American flag and be manned by an American crew.
It is all part of the biggest U.S. passenger ship news in recent history, American Classic's decision to spend about $800 million on two 1,900-passenger cruise liners, the first cruise ships to be built in the United States in more than 40 years.
The United States Lines unit will consist of those two ships and the former Nieuw Amsterdam, which is to be renamed the ms Patriot (the ms stands for motor ship).
The Nieuw Amsterdam, purchased from Holland America Line for $114.5 million, will undergo renovations before American Classic takes delivery next October. The 1,214-passenger Patriot is scheduled to start its maiden voyage from Honolulu on Dec. 9, 2000.
In return for building the U.S. ships, the company was given an exemption from the law prohibiting foreign-built ships on domestic routes.
Under its Project America plan, the company is allowed to convert the Patriot to the U.S. flag and operate it in Hawaii while it builds the new ships. The first of the U.S.-built ships is scheduled for delivery in the winter of 2003 and the second a year later. The company will be able to operate the Patriot for two years after it gets the second new U.S. ship.
The Patriot and the two new cruise ships, now being built in Pascagoula, Miss., will operate as United States Lines, a name associated with such trans-Atlantic favorites as SS America, SS Manhattan and SS Leviathan. The line ended when its last ship, the SS United States, was taken out of service in 1969.
The Independence will start its service from Maui on Nov. 11, 2000, about a month before Patriot starts from Honolulu.
