At least one cruise line is crying foul after Hawaii lawmakers approved measures that would charge a head tax on cruise guests visiting the destination and/or expand the state’s accommodations tax to include cruise ships.
Either way, the moves would add to the cost of voyages that call at any port in the Hawaiian Islands or that travel on inter-island itineraries roundtrip from Honolulu. Just one cruise line offers the latter, Norwegian Cruise Line, and that brand is looking to stop the implementation of the bills.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America is able to sail inter-island cruises roundtrip from the Honolulu Cruise Port because it is US-flagged. Under US maritime law, all foreign-flagged ships are prohibited from doing so…