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[ 04-18-2003: Message edited by: Keitaro1 ]
Add to that, it would take an act of Congress to re-flag the Isle.
Tim
But if someone had the $$,expertise and the guts to stand up to NCL they could do anything!
Public Law 104-324104th Congress
An Act
To authorize appropriations for the United States Coast Guard, and for other purposes.
Sec. 1120. Documentation of certain vessels.
(d) Certificates of Documentation for Enchanted Isle and Enchanted Seas.--Notwithstanding section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920 (46 App. U.S.C. 883), the Act of June 19, 1886 (46 App. U.S.C. 289), section 12106 of title 46, United States Code, section 506 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 App. U.S.C. 1156), and any agreement with the United States Government, the Secretary of Transportation may issue certificates of documentation with a coastwise endorsement for the vessels ENCHANTED ISLE (Panamanian official number 14087-84B) and ENCHANTED SEAS (Panamanian official number 14064-84D), except that the vessels may not operate between or among islands in the State of Hawaii.
The Enchanted Seas sailed out of New Orleans and barbados for Commodore Cruise Line and she may be remembered best on the East Coast doing Montreal-New York sailings as The Canada Star or Bermuda sailings out of New York as The Queen of Bermuda. She also did a stint for American Hawaii Cruises sailing in Tahiti out of Papete.
She is Now The Universe Explorer and West Coast fans will remember her as World Explorer's Only ship sailing in Summer on 14 day Alaska Cruises Out of Vancouver since 1997 until this Year when she did a series of Caribbean Cruises for World Explorer and Now she serves Year Round sailing Under Charter for The Institute of Shipboard Education, basically a floating University travelling the World!
Their acts of congress are probably the only way they will be saved from the breakers,especially right now The Enchanted Isle(currently idle in Violet,La.).
I know people who looked at her to bring back as a US ship and there was no way to make the numbers work for her unless you could get a passenger per diem of $250/day and maintain 80% capacity over 330 days a year. With today's ammenity filled mega ships with their low pricing, that just ain't sustainable over a full year. The one thing that did seem to work for her was all Alaskan cruises in the summer marketed much like World Explorer's product, but the winter market was where it fell apart since the ship would be prohibited from cruising Hawaii (due to the legislation which allows the ship to return to the US flag) & now that NCL has got their deal with Congress.
My feeling is that Carnival is extremely scared of the maritime laws which give almost excessive rights for US Seamen to sue their employers for damages. They see a US operation as a liablity rather than an asset.
Why NCL might feel differently is that since they are No 3 they have to try harder to compete? The entire plan by NCL to develop a US flag brand is frought with risks I my opinion. The two Project America ships will cost real money to finish regardless of the deal they received buying the bits & pieces. The INDY & SSUS are two 50 year old liners which which although rebuilt can never be as marketable as a purpose built cruiseship. It is fairly common wisdom that the cost the rebuild SSUS will be at least equal to the cost of new construction (but not nearly so well built a hull) Still the earning potential is what matters in the cruise buiz and NCL's plans so far are not a guaranteed winner.
I think sooner or later, when others see NCL's US-operation sucess (if it does), they will build US-built ships and go against NCL. FINALLY, US-shipbuilding is coming back!!!!!!
As the one main reason they did not I believe charter her is because of the lack of time to get her in compliance for 2003, however maybe we will see her in 2004 for World Explorer, who knows!
And why would Silja not just scrap her instead of looking for someone to charter her??
quote: Originally posted by gpcruisedude:And why would Silja not just scrap her instead of looking for someone to charter her??
Maybe she is an "American" or maybe there are still talks between Silja and World Explorer to get her in the market again?
Carnival would not be interested in this in the slightest. They are successful for a number of reasons, one of which being cost control. They probably wouldn't have been able to charge the fares that they charge for so many years without effective cost control. Under no circumstances do I see them getting involved with US-flagging due to the high wages paid to US shipbuilding union labor, as well as the high price of US registry, not to mention issues Marlowe suggested earlier.
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