NCL Offers Cruise Passengers Extra Days at Sea as Hawaii Braces for Hurricane-Force Winds

Just last month I wrote about the fact that Norwegian Cruise Line truly does own the Hawaii cruise market. But with a storm barreling down on the islands this weekend, the cruise line has had to make some adjustments to keep everyone safe.

Both Norwegian Spirit and Pride of America have been impacted by the storm, and passengers for one sailing were given the option to end the cruise early or stay on the ship for some extra sea days.

According to recent reports from the National Weather Service, Tropical Storm Lala is currently approaching the islands with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, pushing tropical-storm-force winds out as far as 205 miles from its center.

A Hurricane Warning was issued for the Big Island as the storm made its closest approach, dumping between 10 to 20 inches of rain and bringing heavy surf across the region.

Hawaii isn’t used to these types of storms. Direct hits like this are surprisingly rare as the islands have several natural barriers such as volcanic mountains and cooler water temperatures surrounding them.

So, when a rare storm like Lala does roll in, operating two cruise ships in the area requires some last-minute changes.

NCL has had to cancel a few ports in Hawaii including scheduled calls in Hilo and Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, as well as shortening visits to Kauai.

Here is how NCL navigated the situation with both Pride of America and Norwegian Spirit and what the line officially told guests.

NCL’s Letter to Guests

According to travel outlets like Travel Pulse, NCL reached out to passengers on Pride of America (The Hawaii staple) about the storm’s development with the following message:

“A developing tropical storm in the Central Pacific, southeast of the Hawaiian Islands, is expected to bring strong winds and challenging conditions to the region, resulting in the potential closure of the Port of Honolulu. To ensure we can safely arrive in Honolulu ahead of these anticipated restrictions, Pride of America will depart Nawiliwili on August 13, 2026, and proceed to Honolulu where we intend to remain until 5:00 pm local time on August 14, 2026.”

Extra Options for Norwegian Spirit Passengers

But for the cruise line’s second ship that also happened to be in Hawaii, some other options were given. Norwegian Spirit was on a 17-day sailing from Vancouver to Honolulu. The ship was supposed to conclude its voyage in Honolulu on August 16, 2026.

The ship skipped its final scheduled stops in Hilo and Kona on the Big Island to outrun the storm. Spirit docked early in Honolulu on Thursday, where NCL gave passengers these two choices:

• Disembark Early: Guests could leave the ship in Honolulu on Thursday to lock in earlier flights or Waikiki hotels. NCL provided a prorated refund equivalent to two daily cruise rates for those stepping off early.
• Stay On Board for Bonus Sea Days: Passengers who chose to stay on board got two extra days at sea as the ship headed back out to open water well southwest of Oahu to wait out the storm. In addition to staying on the ship through the original Sunday disembarkation date, these guests received onboard credit to compensate for the missed port calls.

According to reports from Cruise Radio, around 200 guests opted to disembark early while the rest enjoyed some extra time on the 2,000-passenger vessel.

Hilo and Kailua-Kona were the two ports canceled on the Norwegian Spirit sailing. While the extra sea days still make the duration the same (as the cruise will conclude in Honolulu on the same date), it does mean more time on the ship compared to getting off on August 13. Spirit is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu on August 16.

Personally, I’ll take extra sea days and some onboard credit to boot any day of the week. One Reddit user who is on board said it this way, 

“We got to Honolulu yesterday morning and were given two options: get off the ship early on Friday, or stay on board while the ship rides out the storm at sea and disembark on Sunday. We chose to stay on board. Better to be safe at sea with food and drinks than trapped in a Waikiki hotel room with no power.”

Pride of America guests were offered a similar option to step off early in Honolulu on Friday or stay on board as the ship returned to deeper water to ride out the weather before Sunday’s final disembarkation.