chengkp75

Security clearance from whom? The government, CBP, does not see the passenger manifest until 60 minutes prior to sailing, so they have no idea who has booked, or when. Some cruise lines do run bookings through a sex offender database, but that is not mandatory, and I don't believe there is any "timeline" for doing this.

Theoretically. The closest I've heard about is RCI, I believe, that allows bookings the afternoon before. Has to be done by phone, not online, and most certainly not at the port, despite what some think.

The ship is only required to turn in the passenger manifest 60 minutes prior to departure.

You'll note that they mention "going to a port of entry (Canada or Mexico)"? As I noted, you walk right up. This also references arriving at a port of entry. So, nowhere did I mention being left behind by a cruise line, I am merely rebutting your statement that you cannot reach a port of entry without a passport, or that you cannot be allowed into the country without a passport. And, your point is? We are talking about returning to the US, not leaving a country legally or otherwise. And, if you entered a country on a WHTI accepted documentation, then left the ship, would a country care if you had the proper documentation to leave the country? Most countries could care less about who leaves their borders.

If a person presents themselves to a CBP station or officer, they are on US territory, and regardless of how they got there, they cannot be denied entry if they are US citizens. So, CBP is required to check databases to see if the person presenting themselves as a US citizen matches information in US databases (photo from drivers license database, dob from state birth records, etc), and then if proven as US citizens, they cannot deny entry just because of no passport. As noted, given that the OP was talking about a Canadian or Mexican port of entry, they could just walk up to the CBP checkpoint. Even if a person used a US passport to board a flight in Europe, and the passport was lost or stolen while on the plane (or maybe in a transit lounge), when that person gets to the CBP station at the airport on arrival, they cannot be denied entry just because they don't have a passport, if other means proves their citizenship.

My personal experience, on the crew side of cruising, is that cruise lines do allow oxygen tanks onboard, it just needs to be handled differently. Different lines will handle it differently, but there will usually be a small colored round dot sticker placed next to your cabin door, to notify emergency teams that there is a source of near pure oxygen inside, in case of fire.

Even those ships with "helipads" will almost never have a helicopter land on it, unless the ship is in port. Landing on a moving, rolling, pitching small deck while the ship's superstructure moves towards the helicopter is dangerous in the extreme, so winch evacuation is done 99% of the time.

We have it several times a summer. Current price is $6.99/lb, or $8 to $10 a lobster, buy them from the garage lobster pound on the way to the lake house and boil them in the gas lobster pot/turkey fryer. Probably once a year we do a full "lobster bake", with potatoes, corn, shrimp, clams, lobster. Even those cruise lines that offer "Maine" lobster, it is still frozen, unless served within a day or two of embarkation. Freezing changes the consistency of the flesh. Also, they tend to broil the tails, which is fine if you pay close attention to each tail as it cooks to prevent overcooking, but when you are using a convection oven that holds over a hundred tails, that just isn't done, resulting in overcooking the tails. And, my favorite is claw meat, much better than the tail. As for scallops, the key there is to get "dry packed" scallops, those that have a bit of a "mahogany" hue to them, not the juicy white ones. Only dry scallops can be seared, and that is the only way to really enjoy scallops. Or just take it out to the back lot and dump it and let the wildlife enjoy.

Unfortunately, the passenger cargo hold went out with the QE2. Each passenger got 100 cu. ft. of cargo (if I remember correctly from when we did this in the 70's) in the hold. You would likely have to declare this for customs when disembarking in the US.

Well, actually there are taxes included in the "port fees and taxes", but as others have pointed out, the tax portion is not broken out from the fees. The taxes are things like a "per person landing tax" paid for disembarking at the port. The only non-business taxes that are deductible by the IRS are "state and local income taxes, real estate taxes, and personal property taxes", so no, a landing tax, even if paid to a foreign country, is not deductible, any more than sales tax is.

Ah, so you are an expert on maritime safety, then? Please compare the number of cruise ship fires caused by cigarette smoking in cabins to laundry fires (and I'll even let you discount those fires that have never been reported, or that were dealt with without a passenger muster (i.e. in a "code" scenario). "Easy" and "comfort" should not be subjects for discussion when dealing with emergency training. Even the cruise lines admit that one major reason for the new "e-muster" is "passenger satisfaction", with no mention of whether the safety training (both crew and pax) is better, worse, or the same as the old format.

Having spent more time at sea on ships than most posters here on CC, or even most cruise passengers, and having trained for, and dealt with actual fires onboard ships, I know how many fires are caused by smoking in cabins, almost none, compared to the multitude of other fire causes that there are. Just like the often trotted out assertion that the Star Princess fire was caused by a cigarette, even though the investigators said that since they couldn't find any definitive cause, they assume it was a cigarette, even though in laboratory conditions they could not get a cigarette to ignite a towel. Hey, an MSC cruise ship just had a fire in the main laundry (and this is not the first cruise ship laundry to catch fire), so I guess we should ban all laundry on cruise ships?

When there is an argument about which cruise line's safety drill is the easiest, there is something inherently wrong with the situation.

Nothing really new here, certainly not much post-covid. Those margins have been like that for a long time. The cruise fare basically covers the expenses, and the onboard revenue generates any profit.

If the reason for canceling the port call is out of the cruise line's control, such as this strike, there would be a waiver of PVSA requirements, and CBP work visa requirements.