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Blakeyboy1
Da Kine
USA
485 Posts |
 Posted - 12/03/2009 : 18:00:46
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I posted on my Escape blog a few days ago about our desire to potentially board a cruise ship and cruise to Hawai'i when we move next summer. It sounded so much nicer than another trip via plane even though it would be more expensive and we would not utilize the entire cruise (we would not use the return trip to LAX). Upon further research it seems it is ILLEGAL to end a cruise at a different US port than one originated at. Am I reading this correctly? It seems a little crazy to me.
Certain countries, such as the U.S., Italy and Norway, have cabotage laws affecting passenger movements. These laws restrict foreign flag passenger vessels (such as those operated by Royal Caribbean) from transporting guests from one port to another port in the same country. In the U.S., the cabotage law applicable to the cruise industry is commonly called the Jones Act but is legally titled the Passengers Services Act. A brief summary of this U.S. law follows:
If a passenger (as listed on a vessel passenger manifest) embarks in a U.S. port and the vessel calls in a nearby foreign port (such as Ensenada, Grand Cayman and Nassau) and then returns to the U.S., the person must disembark in the same U.S. port. A passenger who embarks and disembarks in two different U.S. ports (such as Los Angeles and San Diego) would result in the carrier (not the violator) being fined. The vessel must call in a distant foreign port before the U.S. embarkation and disembarkation ports can differ. The nearest distant foreign ports are in or off the coast of South America. If either the passenger's embarkation port or disembarkation port is in a foreign country, then the provisions of this cabotage law do not apply. Nor do they apply in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/ |
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Dinamight
malihini
78 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 19:20:34
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I don't understand this. We took the Queen Elizabeth II from Southampton to New York a few years ago, got off and flew back to Heathrow a few days later. We only went back to the UK because we lived there, but as I recall no one insisted we return to the port we started in.
Also, the companies that do round the world cruises also sell legs of the cruises, so you board in one location and do a few weeks and get off in another country. Maybe you can find a flexible cruise company that will allow it on that basis?
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Blakeyboy1
Da Kine
USA
485 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 19:28:39
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It seems the laws are different for international ports and this law only applies to different US ports. This is what seems very odd to me. I have inquired with one cruise line that goes from Vancouver to Hawai'i to see if this can be accomplished. It seems insane for me to not be able to board a ship on the US mainland and cruise to Hawai'i and disembark.
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/ |
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John S. Rabi
Punatic
USA
2334 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 19:37:03
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Nah, just get off and say you missed the boat back!
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.327.3185
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
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Blakeyboy1
Da Kine
USA
485 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 19:47:13
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John my friend don't think I have not considered it. We might need to travel lightly though as disembarking with luggage might raise eyebrows. I thought about just leaping from the ship into Hilo Bay but I am not sure that is one of my better ideas LOL.
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/ |
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PaulW
Kamaaina
832 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 19:57:52
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Wow, that's a law that needs changing, Hawaii could really benefit from that.
I read up on it in Wikipedia and isn't there a loophole - it only applies to foreign ships?
Then again, are there many cruise ships sailing under the US flag? |
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kimo wires
Da Kine
USA
202 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 20:08:50
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Dudes..if you are on Hawaii...you are near the ocean...Living next to it, however, is over rated.
It's hotter and more humid than say at 1000 feet... Everything rusts. It's more crowded. More bugs. More break ins. Did i mention it's a lot more expensive. Higher property taxes. And there's always the possibility for a Tsunami. Enjoy!
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected. |
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Blakeyboy1
Da Kine
USA
485 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 20:10:33
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Um yeah... only like two ships sail under the US flag and they only do inter-island cruises... Even the non-US flagged cruises that sail from US ports to Hawai'i have to stop in Ensenada Mexico on the way home just to satisfy US law. Are these antiquated laws that people have forgotten or what? I have long wondered why there where no one-way cruises from the mainland to Hawai'i anymore. It leaves me scratching my head.
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/ |
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Bob Orts
Punatic
1352 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 20:14:38
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A Canadian tour bus company comes down from Canada to Seattle to offer a tour package from Seattle to Universal Studios in CA with a stop in Yosemite and back to Seattle.
1. Do you think they should be allowed to offer that service without establishing a US company and be licensed as a US tour company?
2. If the law allows them to operate but restrict their operation to a tour where they pickup and end at the same point, do you think it's acceptable for that foreign owned, operated and licensed tour company to be allowed to operate domestic US passenger bus service along their tour route?
The law only sets these restrictions when that foreign flagged recreational operation turns to domestic inter-city transportation. We have it just like almost all major countries have the same law for their country. This is not unique to the US, check how other countries have similar or more restrictions on foreign flagged ships operating within their country.
(FYI, if the US company stays out of Hawaii and does not operate and no other US flagged company steps in, those foreign flag vessels can apply for an exemption like what Canada and the US allows in some areas.)
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Edited by - Bob Orts on 12/03/2009 20:18:05 |
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PaulW
Kamaaina
832 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 20:20:56
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| You could splurge and take a cruise from the East Coast to Hawaii. It would pass through the Panama Canal and make a stop in Colombia, thereby satisfying the law. I saw one advertised but can't find it at the moment... |
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Devany
Punatic
USA
1387 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 21:25:38
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Part of the problem with "just getting off in Hilo" would be that you would not be "checking out" a process that is done at your final port which includes paying your bill. While the actual cruise is paid for in advance there are quite a few additional charges that are taken care of at check out, everything from fancy coffee drinks to massages or tips for the crew. And yes, you would be stopped if you are taking more than just a small rolling carry on off of the ship.
One of you could fake an illness and say that you have to get off of the boat at the first stop(Hilo.) Also, while it may be more pleasant than flying it would probably cost you far more than an airline ticket to take a cruise because most cruises to Hawaii are 8-14 days in duration and you would only be using 4 of those days to get here.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
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Obie
Da Kine
USA
289 Posts |
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EightFingers
Kamaaina
USA
696 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2009 : 08:02:15
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| A one-way cruise seems like it'd be a huge waste of money... |
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dakine
Da Kine
258 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2009 : 08:23:04
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| aint the jones act wonderful? besides effecting cruise ship operations, I understand it to inflict an annual $3-$5,000 cost of living increase on everyone in hawaii, by not allowing foreign ships to engage in landing commercial goods here. thus, everything made outside the usa must land at a port on the mainland, and then be shipped here via an american registered ship.. matson anyone? even if those goods were made in asia and sailed right on by! think of it.. a car made in japan has to go to california, be landed, and then shipped back to hawaii.. at great expense, which is (of course) passed on, along with all appropriate charges, surcharges, and added profits, to the suckers (us) that live out here, in the friendly isles! |
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Blakeyboy1
Da Kine
USA
485 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2009 : 08:39:18
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Not to mention the environmental costs Dakine. Obie the non-US port origination sounds like the most plausible solution and something I will look into.
I never claimed this to be a frugal idea or even particularly logical one but it is something that sounded nice to us. I have never been on the open seas between the mainland and Hawai'i and I would kind of like to. There is a certain romance to this and seeing the islands from a distance as they are approached is appealing to me. It is they way the original settlers reached the islands only a cruise ship is probably larger and has better restaurants. :-)
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/ |
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Kahunascott
Kamaaina
USA
795 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2009 : 08:57:44
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We cruised from Jamaica to Florida no problems at all.
You do need to make one more stop for immigration. 
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free |
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Illegal to Cruise to Hawaii?
