Wow! The only American flag cruise ship, The Pride of America does 7 day cruises to various Hawaiian Island and provide a good number of high paying jobs to everyone involved.
But it is no surprise that the Hawaiian government would impose such a tax. Of course one solution-pull the Pride of America off the Hawaiian run, reflag the ship with the Panama flag and lay off all the American crew members.
Foreign flag cruise ships can avoid the tax by not going to Hawaii or calling on fewer ports there.
Yeah, but isn't there a federal law mandating that foreign-flagged ships (ocean liners, but also commercial shipping) aren't allowed two consecutive ports-of-call in America?
Hence: U.S.-flagged ships can call at seven or more American ports consecutively, and thus crawl up the entire coastline - while foreign-flagged ships are limited to at most two, and must then dock at least once in a foreign port. Designed to prevent foreigners acquiring a monopoly on cabotage.
Correct me if I'm wrong!
Regards,