History of Fanning Island

Tabuaeran was a weekly port of call for Norwegian Cruise Line, who had ships based in Honolulu. Due to federal regulations requiring foreign-flagged ships to call in a foreign port, the ships cruised to Tabuaeran. It was also more cost effective for the cruise line to visit a foreign country than to pay port charges as a consequence of the U.S. Passenger Services Act. In 2007, the Norwegian Wind left Norwegian's fleet, and they introduced 3 cruise ships specifically to cruise in Hawaiʻi. These three ships were all US-flagged ships, and thus were not required to visit foreign ports. The Pride of Hawaiʻi and Pride of America sailed 7-day sailings, and the Pride of Aloha took over the 10 and 11 day sailings which included Tabuaeran. In the fall of 2007, Norwegian announced that the Pride of Hawaiʻi would be reflagged and renamed the Norwegian Jade and sail in Europe. [1] Due to this change, Norwegian announced that the Pride of Aloha and the Pride of America would both sail 7-day cruises in Hawaiʻi, and eliminate cruises to Tabuaeran. In the late spring of '09, NCL decided to only have the Pride of America in Hawaii, and the Pride of Aloha was relocated. Fanning has been suffering since this decision by NCL. Starting in January 2010, the Holland America Cruise-ship Rotterdam, September 2011 Westerdam, April 2011 Volendam and January and February 2012 Seaborne Cruiseline sailings have been scheduling visits to Fanning and that is beginning to allow the island to regain some income and help from a visiting cruise-ship. Helpful organizations with concerns for the local schools, churches and healthcare needs are Pacific CARE Missions and Pacific Island Aid