Pride of America goes into drydock

The last of three remaining NCL America ships in Hawaii will go into drydock in April, but it will return to service just before the Pride of Aloha finishes its last cruise on May 11 and sets sail for Asia.

Alan Yamamoto, vice president of Hawaii operations for NCL America, said yesterday that the Pride of America will go into drydock for a required U.S. Coast Guard inspection on April 27 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, with work to be completed no later than May 9.

Contractor BAE Systems will perform the drydock work, which will include an inspection of the hull and the overall condition of the vessel.

Yamamoto said that with Pride of Hawaii already reflagged and making its way to Europe and Pride of Aloha on its way out, NCL America, a unit of Miami-based NCL Corp., should be in a much better financial position.

"Bookings are looking good for the remainder of 2008," he said. "Cabin rates are higher than they were a year ago, so the revenue we're able to generate off the one ship moves us to where we need to be profitable, assuming certain things in our cost structure don't change."

Yamamoto said Pride of America will have an experienced and mature crew, and the operation should be in good financial shape as long as there are no unanticipated costs, and as long as foreign-flagged vessels don't increase capacity in this marketplace.

"With the one-vessel scenario with the Pride of America, we have a positive outlook on the market based on what we're seeing as far as our bookings," Yamamoto said.