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To Our Readers
PHILIP Calian, CEO of American Classic Voyages, told this story at Thursday's Hawaii Chamber of Commerce annual meeting: Visitors to the home of a beautiful wealthy woman noticed her swimming pool was full of sharks. "Yes," she told them, "and if anyone jumps in the pool and swims to the other side, I'll give him anything he wants." A large, wet
leap of faithThe guests took another look at the infested pool and all said, "No way!" At that moment, they heard a splash and turned to see a man swimming frantically across the water.
The swimmer thrashed to the other side and pulled himself out, miraculously intact. The rich woman rushed to congratulate him. "You can have anything you really want," she said.
"What I really want," he said, "is to know who pushed me."
While Calian can poke fun, he's definitely in the pool himself. His company has raised a billion dollars in loan guarantees to build the two largest passenger ships ever constructed in the U.S. and to operate them in Hawaii. Each will carry 1,900 passengers and the first arrives here in January 2003.
As the son of a Presbyterian minister from Iowa, educated in Rhode Island, who makes his home in Evanston, Ill., Calian may be a fish out of water in Hawaii, but what he sees here is the perfect marriage of a magnetic vacation destination and a dynamically expanding industry.
For the past 30 years, Calian says, the cruise industry has grown at a compounded rate of 9 percent per year. Despite that vigorous growth, only six million Americans have cruised so far, out of a potential market of 46 million. Today, only 1 percent of Hawaii visitors take a cruise, compared to 22 percent in the Caribbean and twice that in Alaska. It's a compelling case.
Now he wants the state to build port facilities suitable for cruise passengers, not just freight. He's also looking for Hawaii workers, starting at job fairs today and tomorrow at Aloha Tower. Anybody for a swim?
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.