Passenger Services Act

This is a picture of the Norwegian Wind as we were leaving English Harbor on Fanning Island. I almost forgot that I wrote in a previous post that I would explain why the ship visits such a remote island.

The Passenger Services Act is a US law that came into force in 1886. Because of this law, a foreign flagged ship must visit a foreign port before disembarking passengers. The Norwegian Wind is such a ship.

There are no foreign ports near Hawaii. Fanning Island, which is about 1000 miles away, is one of the closest. So in order to comply with this law, the Norwegian Wind's 10 day cruise includes a 5 day round trip journey to Fanning Island.

For more information, you could look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Services_Act