Two years ago, with waving flags and hula dancers swaying, the government announced an ambitious program to build two passenger cruise ships — the first in a United States shipyard since the 1950's — and provided more than $1 billion in loan guarantees to get the program going. It did not hurt that the ships were to be built in the Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard where the father of Trent Lott, the Republican Senate minority leader, once worked. As a result, Senator Lott became one of the strongest supporters of the program, which was named Project America. Today, the project...