NAWILIWILI — Visitors dismounting the Norwegian Cruise Line ship yesterday morning at Nawiliwili Harbor were greeted with an interesting sight: no greeters. After decades of meeting cruise ship tourists at the boat and directing them to various island activities, greeters
NAWILIWILI — Visitors dismounting the Norwegian Cruise Line ship yesterday morning at Nawiliwili Harbor were greeted with an interesting sight: no greeters.
After decades of meeting cruise ship tourists at the boat and directing them to various island activities, greeters who work for private tour companies or even free shuttles to various stores were informed of their expulsion from harbors property, effective Jan. 1, in a December letter from Bob Crowell, harbors district manager for Kaua‘i.
“Due to traffic congestion (both vehicular and passenger) within Nawiliwili Harbor we have had to make changes to our policies and procedures,” Crowell wrote in a copy of the letter provided to The Garden Island. “To assist passengers, we will be providing directional signs to inform passengers of the waiting areas for the different shuttles/activities that are available.”
Greeters Ephraim Kaleiohi and Paulette Rosa bristled at the notion of a Nawiliwili without traditional greeters in a joint interview Wednesday, the day before the new policy was set to take effect.
“What they’re taking away is the aloha spirit,” said Kaleiohi, owner of Aloha Discovery Island Tours, noting that the hospitable act of greeting dated back to Capt. James Cook’s 18th-century arrival on Kaua‘i.
Rosa, a greeter for the free shuttle to Hilo Hattie, said any congestion issues at the harbor were due to security personnel not doing their jobs properly.
“There’s no leadership down there,” she said, adding that greeters actually help alleviate confusion by directing travelers toward where they want to be.
“More than just representing the businesses they work for, greeters also provide a wide range of information about the island’s sights and activities,” explained Kmart greeter Steven Maze in a memorandum addressed to Davis Yogi, harbors administrator, and Mike Formby, deputy director of the state Department of Transportation. “Greeters are a part of the unique Hawaiian culture that attracts people to our islands.”
Formby replied that for any commerce to take place in the harbor, a set of administrative rules governing policy needs to be in place. Since no rules have been published, he said, no business should be conducted inside the fences.
The ban will not keep commerce completely at bay. Formby and Crowell said in phone interviews those tour operators who have pre-arranged customers are still allowed in to pick them up at the ship.
Crowell said tour bus drivers will need to show security personnel a list of passengers matching names on the cruise ship’s manifest and should not leave with any other passengers — something that requires those drivers to work on the “honor system.”
Formby said he does not want greeters inside the harbor, “yelling and shouting,” to be viewed as solicitors or “hawks.”
“You’ve already got the driver of the bus,” he said. “Why do you need another person whose purpose is to hold the sign and encourage you to go to that store and buy goods?”
“Hustling people … has been a no-no from the word go,” Crowell said.
George Costa, director of the county Office of Economic Development, said in a written statement that the county believes Crowell is “trying his best to allow the greatest access to businesses with the resources he has at his disposal.”
However, Costa said, “If it’s the state’s intent to encourage commerce at the harbor, then it would behoove them to take up the administrative rulemaking process as soon as possible.”
Formby said Yogi is already at work on the administrative rules and hopes to have them done in 2009.
“The model that we’re going after is the airport model. The airport has been down this road, so we’re trying to take advantage of what’s been done, what successes we have had and what mistakes have been made, and not start at square one,” he said.
While those rules are written — a process Formby said could take between six and nine months — the greeters wait.
Some of the greeters’ complaints may be based on economics as much as they are on cultural differences.
The competition for dwindling tourism dollars from cruise ship visitors — Formby called it a “turf war” and Crowell said between 1,900 and 2,500 visitors arrive by boat each day — may be decided not by the boat-side sales pitch but instead by the advance marketing campaign.
If that is the case, operators like Polynesian Adventure Tours, a Norwegian Cruise Line subsidiary, could have a distinct inherent advantage over the smaller independent companies like Aloha Discovery Island Tours if activities coordinators on ships steer more customers their way.
“How can you not have greeting in Hawai‘i?” Kaleiohi asked. “It’s like taking food out of my mouth.”
