Claim: Nearly all ships operated by U.S.-headquartered cruise lines are registered in foreign countries.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Freedom of the seas
text: ships must be registered to a country to show proof of ownership. The owner of the vessel sometimes prefers to pay the lower registration fees by picking countries such as Panama, Bermuda, Italy, Malta and the Netherlands. According to Cruise Lines International Association, 90% of commercial vessels calling on U.S. ports fly foreign flags. To avoid the high cost with more rules and regulations, ships and tankers sometime prefer lower cost registration with a lower standard of inspection and regulation by picking a country that exercises less control over their registered ships, though many ships are owned by individuals or

title: Cruise ship
text: the United States, like most international shipping company, ships are registered in countries including the Netherlands, the UK, the Bahamas, and Panama. The International Labour Organization's 2006 Maritime Labour Convention, also known as the "Seafarers' Bill of Rights," provides comprehensive rights and protections for all crewmembers. The ILO sets rigorous standards regarding hours of work and rest, health and safety, and living conditions for crewmembers and requires governments to ensure ships are in compliance. For cruise routes around Hawaii, operators are required to register their ships in the United States and the crew is unionized, so these cruises are typically

title: Cruise ship
text: ship operating under the American flag on the United States East Coast. Currently the five largest cruise line holding companies and operators in the world are Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Star Cruises (which owns 50% of Norwegian Cruise Line; NCL in its own right is the third largest line), MSC Cruises, and Louis Cruise Lines. Louis Cruises has largely grown its fleet through purchasing older second- or third-hand ships, while the other four operators have largely constructed their own vessels and combined own the majority of the "megaships". Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels,

title: Flag of convenience
text: and the ability to employ cheaper foreign labour. Furthermore the foreign owners pay no income taxes. The modern practice of ships being registered in a foreign country began in the 1920s in the United States when shipowners, frustrated by increased regulations and rising labor costs, began to register their ships in Panama. The use of open registries steadily increased, and in 1968, Liberia grew to surpass the United Kingdom as the world's largest ship register. , more than half of the world’s merchant ships were registered with open registries, and almost 40% of the entire world fleet, in terms of

title: Cruise ship pollution in the United States
text: flag countries. Foreign-flag cruise vessels owned by six companies account for nearly 95% of passenger ships operating in U.S. waters. Each year, the industry adds new ships to the total fleet, vessels that are bigger, more elaborate and luxurious, and that carry larger numbers of passengers and crew. Over the past two decades, the average ship size has been increasing at the rate of roughly every five years. The average ship entering the market from 2008 to 2011 will be more than long and will weigh more than 130,000 tons. To the cruise ship industry, a key issue is demonstrating

title: Cruise line
text: or new order. In other words, Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line. for example, are the cruise lines from this common industry practice point of view; whereas Carnival Corporation & plc and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., for example, can be considered holding corporations of cruise lines. This industry practice of using the brand, not the larger holding corporation, as the cruise line is also followed in the member cruise lines in Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the list of cruise lines, and the member-based reviews of cruise lines. Currently the largest (in terms of passenger market share) cruise lines

title: Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886
text: permanently leaves the vessel at ports other than the origination port and the vessel makes at least one call at a foreign port. Norwegian Cruise Line created a subsidiary, NCL America, and introduced three new US-flagged vessels: "Pride of Aloha" in 2004, "Pride of America" in 2005, and "Pride of Hawaii" in 2006. Previously, with its foreign-flagged vessels, NCL needed to include a four-day detour to Tabuaeran (Fanning Atoll) in the Line Islands (Republic of Kiribati) on its Hawaiian itineraries. Reportedly due to financial losses, in 2007 NCL renamed "Pride of Hawaii" to "Norwegian Jade", and reflagged and relocated the

title: United States Merchant Marine
text: In 2005, there were also 77 passenger ships. Of those American-flagged ships, 51 were foreign owned. Seven hundred ninety-four (794) American-owned ships are flagged in other nations. 2005 statistics from the United States Maritime Administration focused on the larger segment of the fleet: ships of and over. Two hundred forty-five (245) privately owned American-flagged ships are of this size, and 153 of those meet the Jones Act criteria. The World War II era was the peak for the U.S. fleet. During the post-war year of 1950, for example, U.S. carriers represented about 43 percent of the world's shipping trade. By

title: Ship registration
text: to register on their national register, and some forbid foreign-flagged vessels from trading between ports within the country (a practice known as cabotage). The country of registration is a ship's flag state and determines its nationality as well as which country's laws govern its operation and the behavior of its crew. Each registry has its own rules as to the types of vessels that it will accept for registration. The Liberian Registry, for example, registers seagoing vessels of more than 500 net tons that conduct foreign trade. Vessels over the age of 20 require a waiver as well as the

title: Economy of Bermuda
text: open ship registry, enabling foreign-owned ships to be registered in Bermuda, fly its flag, and be subject to its maritime and taxation laws. It is considered a flag of convenience state. In 2012, 139 vessels were registered in Bermuda of which 105 were foreign-owned (76%). 160 ships were registered in 2017, including 18 oil tankers, 10 bulk carriers, 8 container ships, and one general cargo ship. Thirteen of the 17 ships of the Princess Cruises line are registered in Bermuda, as are seven of the eight ships of the P&O Cruises line. In 2011, the Cunard Line registered all its

title: Cruise ship
text: lines from this common industry practice point of view; whereas Carnival Corporation & plc and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., for example, can be considered holding corporations of cruise lines. This industry practice of using the smaller operating company, not the larger holding corporation, is also followed in the list of cruise lines and in member-based reviews of cruise lines. Some cruise lines have specialties; for example, Saga Cruises only allows passengers over 50 years old aboard their ships, and Star Clippers and formerly Windjammer Barefoot Cruises and Windstar Cruises only operate tall ships. Regent Seven Seas Cruises operates medium-sized vessels—smaller

title: Cruise ship
text: by much larger holding companies and continue to operate as "brands" or subsidiaries of the holding company. Brands continue to be maintained partly because of the expectation of repeat customer loyalty, and also to offer different levels of quality and service. For instance, Carnival Corporation & plc owns both Carnival Cruise Line, whose former image were vessels that had a reputation as "party ships" for younger travelers, but have become large, modern, yet still profitable, and Holland America Line, whose ships cultivate an image of classic elegance. In 2004, Carnival had merged Cunard's headquarters with that of Princess Cruises in

title: Flag of convenience
text: does Mongolia. Also, some registers are based in other countries. For example, Panama consulates manage the documentation and collect registration fees, Liberia’s registry is managed by a company in Virginia, Cambodia’s is managed from South Korea and Bahama’s from the City of London. A ship's beneficial owner is legally and financially responsible for the ship and its activities. For any of a number of reasons, some justifiable and some suspicious, shipowners who wish to conceal their ownership may use a number of strategies to achieve that goal. In jurisidictions that permit it, actual owners may establish shell corporations to be

title: American Cruise Lines
text: and is currently under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding. In late February 2018, the company announced the beginning of the second ship's construction. She's expected to enter service in summer 2019, while the first ship of the new class, American Song, will take her inaugural sailing in October 2018. American Cruise Lines American Cruise Lines, Inc. is a small-ship cruise line with its headquarters in Guilford, Connecticut, United States. The line operates six small ships along the Eastern Seaboard and Western Seaboard (including Alaska) as well as the Mississippi-Ohio and Columbia-Snake river systems of the United States. American Cruise Lines was

title: Tabuaeran
text: a weekly port of call for Norwegian Cruise Line, who had ships based in Honolulu. Due to US federal regulations requiring foreign-flagged ships to call in a foreign port, the ships cruised to Tabuaeran. It was also more cost effective for the cruise line to visit a foreign country than to pay port charges as a consequence of the U.S. Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886. In 2007, the "Norwegian Wind" left Norwegian's fleet, and they introduced three cruise ships specifically to cruise in Hawaii. These were all US-flagged ships, and thus were not required to visit foreign ports. The

title: Royal Caribbean International
text: of its ships, the , had repeatedly dumped oily waste into the ocean and tried to hide this using false records, including fake piping diagrams given to the US Coast Guard. Because the company was and is incorporated in Liberia, Royal Caribbean argued that this case was not in the jurisdiction of US courts. Despite their argument, they were unsuccessful. Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International is a cruise line brand founded in Norway and based in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. , the line operates 25 ships and has five additional ships

title: Carnival Cruise Line
text: 22.0% of passengers. It has 26 vessels and is the largest fleet in the Carnival group. The ships fly flags of convenience; 18 of the ships fly the Panama flag, six of the Bahamas and two of Malta. Its headquarters are in Miami, Florida, the United States. The North American division of Carnival Corporation has executive control over the corporation and is headquartered in Doral, Florida. Carnival Cruise Line was founded in 1972 by Ted Arison. To finance the venture, Arison turned to his friend Meshulam Riklis, who owned Boston-based American International Travel Service (AITS). Arison and Riklis set up

title: Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)
text: in other countries and 271 foreign-owned ships were registered in the UK. In 2012 British merchant marine interests consisted of 1,504 ships of or over. This included ships either directly UK-owned, parent-owned or managed by a British company. This amounted to: or alternatively . This is according to the annual maritime shipping statistics provided by the British Government and the Department for Transport. As a signatory to the STCW Convention UK ships are commanded by Deck Officers and Engineering Officers. Officers undergo 3 years of training, known as a cadetship at one of the approved maritime colleges in the United

title: Norwegian Cruise Line
text: Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is a cruise line founded in 1966 and based in the United States. It is the third-largest cruise line in the world, controlling approximately 8.7% of the total worldwide share of the cruise market by passengers . Its parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd is a holding company domiciled in Bermuda and headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, and also owns sister cruise lines Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. It is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with major shareholders including Apollo Global Management (15.8%),

title: Cruise line
text: or brands, not holding corporations, include Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, Star Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Crystal Cruises, MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises, Princess Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, and Holland America Line. Cruise line A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships and markets cruises on oceans or rivers to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from passenger lines which are primarily concerned with transportation of their passengers. Cruise lines have a dual character: they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business; a duality that carries down into the ships themselves,