Sunday, April 24, 2005

Pride of America

Interesting. I was just reading the latest issue of National Geographic Traveler and noticed an ad by Norwegian Cruise Lines. It was hyping their newest ship, the Pride of America.

I was immediately skeptical of the name (particularly with an ad placed by "NCL"), but then I saw something shocking: "Ship's Registry: United States of America"

Not The Bahamas? Or Liberia? Or some other foreign country?

Amazing. I guess someone at Norwegian Cruise Lines decided the good publicity of a new cruise liner flying the U.S. flag was worth the cost of American taxes and whatever other headaches go with registering the ship here. Maybe this is especially so since it apparently will be doing inter-island cruising in Hawaii.

I have no history of cruising. You know, on a cruise ship. We're not talking about the other kind right now. :) Even so, for a variety of reasons, I think I'd prefer to be on a ship flying our flag. According to the ad, this is "the first brand-new cruise ship to sail under the U.S. flag in nearly 50 years."

There's no real point to this post. I just thought this was an interesting development.

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