It takes more dollars to buy something in pounds. But in the islands we see the other side -- a weak dollar makes a Hawaii vacation cheaper for someone paying in yen. The same thing applies when a U.S. company sells overseas.

Converting overseas profits to dollar drove McDonalds to a billion-dollar profit. pepsico made even more, and attributed a third of its profit growth to exchange rates.

Pfizer doubled its profit, Viagra sales rose 21 percent and three quarters came from converting other currencies to dollars.

Hawaii enjoys a gentler slowdown than the mainland, but we have not much seen the benefits of the weak dollar. canadians are spending more, but Japanese arrivals are still falling.

And NCL moved a Hawaii-based ship to Europe for the greater profit to be made with a strong euro.

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