Remove ImagesMaui County
The Exchange
December 28, 2006
WHO GAVE: Polynesian Adventure Tours/NCL America
WHO RECEIVED: Governor Linda Lingle
DATE: June 29, 2006
AMOUNT: $3,000
It's a rare day when I'm driving to work and don't see a Norwegian
Cruise Lines (NCL) ship floating at Pier 1 in Kahului Harbor. It's not
hard to spot the ships' passengers, either, milling about in front of
Maui Mall as they do, their brows furrowed in that "Is this really that
tropical paradise they call Maui?" look. Apparently they're just having
a blast, because NCL wants its fleet to spend even more time in lovely
Kahului. "We are now receiving very good feedback from our guests on
the seven-day interisland cruise, and we are increasingly hearing
requests for a longer version of this destination-rich interisland
cruise including one or two days at sea," NCL Chairman Colin Veitch
said in the Dec. 21, 2006 Maui News. Of course, it's up to the state's
Harbors Division to approve NCL's plan, and on paper, it's not
necessarily a done deal. We've got cruise ships already spending lots
of time in the harbor, to say nothing of interisland barges, freighters
and, starting this summer, the Superferry will be docking there every
day. But given the company's relatively recent generosity to our
governor (NCL owns Polynesian Adventure Tours), it's just possible the
state will find a way to squeeze NCL in.