Windstar Cruises is a US company. Why no US Flag ships?

[neutrino78x]

Windstar, I am concerned that none of your ships are registered in the USA. You are a US company. Why not have General Dynamics manufacture some ships for you, fly the US Flag, and hire some US Merchant Mariners as crew? General Dynamics Electric Boat is the beloved organization that built all of our modern fleet of nuclear submarines (I was an enlisted submariner). They do a great job manufacturing ships and submarines here in the USA. If not have General Dynamics make you a new ship, perhaps buy a US Navy Destroyer about to be decommissioned, and refit her for passenger operations and natural gas fuel. Or buy a decommissioned aircraft carrier and do the same.

If you went to a US Flag Fleet, then in the future when you need to be bailed out again due to another emergency, the willingness might be there to bailout your cruise operations.

Plus, if you operated US Flag vessels, you would be contributing to our national security, by providing additional capability for movement of material and troops in time of war. You could also compete in the market to deliver food to 3rd world countries for USAID; that program is done only with US Flag vessels, for obvious reasons.

There is also the added benefit that you could go from one US port to another without having to go another country. For example you could sail from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan without having to go to another country.

The main reason to do Flag of Convenience is so you don't have to pay the crew as much, don't have to be subject to US jurisdiction on The High Seas, and don't have to have the same safety standards as a US Flag vessel (or UK, France, Japan, Italy, Germany, any non-FoC flag, basically the flag of any country with a good Navy).

But I hope you would consider some of the benefits of flying the US Flag, since you are a US company. Thank you for your time, sir.

[Windstar Cruises]

Hi Neutrino78X, Windstar Cruises Marshall Islands, LLC is a Marshall Island company headquartered in the U.S. Our ships are flagged in the Bahamas. The Bahamas are rated as a high performing and highly compliant flag from operational and regulatory perspectives, in alignment with the standards of flag states like the U.S., UK, Germany and France. Our crewmembers, most of whom are unionized, receive a competitive wage in the cruise industry.