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Cruise line to let callers roam at sea

Want to get away, but still stay in touch? NCL Corp., the parent of Norwegian Cruise Line, is planning to introduce uninterrupted cell phone service on its North American cruises as soon as next month, through a service being provided by Wireless Maritime Services.

The new technology will be offered first on the cruise line's Norwegian Sun ship, and could be available fleetwide within a year, the NCL said. Passengers will be billed for their calls by their regular cell phone service providers, "just as if they were roaming on land instead of at sea."

Based in Miami, NCL has 14 ships in service or under construction, including the 2,002-passenger Pride of Aloha, which last month became the first modern U.S.-flagged cruise ship to be introduced in almost 50 years.

Coffee sales, production perk up

Higher coffee production on Maui and Kauai this year lifted Hawaii's coffee crop to its third-highest annual sales in the past decade, $24.1 million, despite a drop in prices, according to Hawaii Agricultural Statistics.

Most of the price decline, 6.5 percent, was the result of the shift of production away from the Big Island, where coffee prices are higher. Big Island production fell 2 percent this year from the previous season, to 4 million pounds, because of light rain.

Overall Hawaii coffee production this year rose 10.7 percent to 8.3 million pounds from 7.5 million pounds a year earlier.

Learn about latest tax changes

The newest state and federal tax laws will be discussed at a four-day seminar in October sponsored by the Hawaii Tax Institute.

Running Oct. 24-28 at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel, the event will cover changes in both corporate and individual tax law, including how those changes affect financial planning.

For those who register by Sept. 30, admission is $845 for the entire four days, $645 for just the estate and gift planning sessions, and $425 for just the business planning sessions. After Sept. 30, admission is $915, $665 and $450, respectively.

For more information, call the Chaminade University Tax Foundation at 946-2966, ext. 140 or 107, or fax 943-3140.