My wife and I would like to take a cruise in Hawaii for a honeymoon in two months. We are applying for AP, but it probably will not be ready by then. The ship is a foreign flag ship, but just goes from one Hawaiian island to another. We would fly to Honolulu and get on the ship. So, there are no foreign stops. Is this allowable without AP?

I contacted the cruise company. They told me that the ship never leaves US territorial waters when going to the different islands. Therefore, no passports are necessary. There are no customs/immigration inspections. The only documentation that is needed is a driver's license/state ID. Has anybody had any problems with this type of cruise?

If you are going to a US state and/or in US waters, you certainly don't need a passport or immigration - you are still in the US.

Be very careful with cruises though - the ship being registered in a different country could possibly cause a problem. It sounds like you've checked it out pretty well, but don't be afraid to change your plans on that one if you need to.

If the cruise ship never stops in a foriegn port of call.. it must be registered in the US... That's why I believe Hawaiian Cruise Line is the only cruise line that has their ships registered in the US...

That makes sense, Zyggy. This is what caused me concern:



I know the tendency is to register ships outside of the US, so that they're not subject to certain regulations....

Thanks for all of the great replies.

I was mistaken in my earlier posts. I thought that Norwegian Cruise Lines would be foreign-flagged ships. I found out that the Pride of America, Pride of Aloha, and Pride of Hawaii are all US-flagged ships. These are the ships that do the Hawaiian cruises.

That's why all foreign flagged ships that do a Hawaiian Cruise ship out of Vancouver or Somewhere in Mexico most of the time