Norwegian Star starts
Hawaii cruises

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By David Briscoe
Associated Press

Boasting more than 90 percent bookings over the next three months, the giant Norwegian Star cruise ship began the first of weekly cruises of the Hawaiian Islands yesterday.

Owners say the new ship, to be joined in Hawaii next year by a second Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel, will inject $90 million a year into the state's economy.

Just shy of the length of a football field, with 14-decks for 3,300 passengers and crew, the 91,000-ton ship completed an overnight charity "cruise to nowhere," leaving and returning to Aloha Tower in over 14 hours.

In addition to cabins for more than 2,000 passengers, the Norwegian-owned ship features 10 restaurants, a theater that holds more than 1,000 people, and two three-bedroom Garden Villas that can each accommodate three couples.

Fares range from $900 for inside staterooms to $25,000 for the villas. The seven-day cruises include a stop on Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati to meet requirements that foreign-owned lines cannot ply entirely domestic routes.

The Norwegian Star visits Maui, Kauai and the Kona side of the Big Island. The second ship, the Norwegian Wind, also will include Hilo on its 10- and 11-day cruise schedules.

The addition of Norwegian line to Hawaiian waters injects new life into the local cruise ship industry and the dozens of local companies that supply it.

John Hansen, president of the nine-member North West Cruiseship Association, said last week that Hawaii's 2.6 percent share of the nation's cruise ship market is expected to grow despite the loss American Classic Voyages, which declared bankruptcy last month.

The company's plans to build two 1,900-passenger ships in Mississippi for the Hawaii market were canceled.

Despite the loss of American Classic's SS Independence and ms Patriot, the number of cruise ships making port calls in Hawaii has grown from 36 in 1990 to 237 this year and a projected 638 by 2004, Hansen said. The 160,000 cruise ship visitors this year are expected to grow to 275,000 by 2004.

Colin Veitch, head of Norwegian Cruise Lines, said aboard the Norwegian Star before its maiden Hawaii cruise yesterday that while the line has had to cut cruise prices in the Caribbean and Europe, its new Hawaiian market remains strong.

"Hawaii is a destination that our guest repeatedly request," Veitch said.

Bookings are heavy through the end of the year, exceeding 100 percent, he said. That is possible because some cabins have upper bunks that are not counted in the overall ship passenger capacity.