Jones Act

[Cigary]

Not many cruisers know about this Federal Law that imposes a fine for those cruisers who embark from a port and disembark in another port. There is a $300 fine per person when this takes place. An example is this: Let's say you embark in Honolulu and do a cruise and then you elect to disembark let's say in Maui....before being able to leave the ship you'd have to pay the fine before being able to disembark your ship. We had some friends of ours just got nailed for this today as they were leaving their ship in Maui...the authorities said they had to pay $600 total before they were allowed to leave. I've been cruising for 20 years and never heard of this BS before but after doing some research and making calls I got educated pretty quick. Google "Jones Act" and see what you find. I called Carnival and talked with their Supervision and they told me the same thing except. I asked why don't the Agents from Carnival inform people who want to disembark from a different port that if they do this they will be charged this fee? Their reply is that they assume "consumers" were aware of this so they don't let passengers know about the "Jones Act" and a lot of Travel Agencies aren't aware either until the poor consumer is told they can't disembark until they pay the charge.

 

Remember....it only happens when you try and disembark from at a different port from which you actually got on. This applies to those who might have to change their plans while on the cruise if they had emergencies...medical or family where they had to get off the ship to deal with these situations.

 

Educate yourself in these things because the cruiselines aren't going to tell you as they don't want to lose bookings.

[Lazz]

It is a very confusing law. I had a situation where we left from Baltimore on a roundtrip cruise, but had to leave the ship early due to a family emergency. We were in Key West when we got the news, but were told we would have to wait until we docked in Cozumel the next day or face the fine.

 

From what I understand (which is very limited), Part of this is the "Passengers Services Act" which requires a foriegn flagged vessel to stop at one foriegn port. That is why a trip to Hawaii one way must stop in Ensenada, Mexico, or a cruise to Alaska must stop in Canada (again, very limited knowledge here). NCL foriegn flagged vessesls docked in Honolulu went to the Fanning islands to meet the requirement. An American flagged vessel does not face this law, but they must pay union wages, which is why most cruise lines flag their vessels in another country.

[smeyer418]

http://www2.cruising.org/industry/passenger_services_act.cfm

 

this is from the cruise companies trade association. The PSVA and its companion the Jones Act and their predecessor laws are over a 100 years old. They existed before Unions mainly to protect US ship builders and ship owners from foreign competition. This law(and the theory behind it) is the same law that prevents foreign flagged airlines from transporting people directly between two US airports.

 

 

the US Coast Guard administers the PSVA as does the Department of Homeland Security. When its a true emergency sometimes they will remit the fine. Its true that they don't tell you about this unless you ask.

 

if you have been traveling for 20 years and never heard about it, that is strange because its discussed here every few months.

 

the cruise lines don't want it changed they are pretty happy with it as they can hire for a lot less people from other places. They are afraid any change to allow them to transport between US ports will have the requirements for US pay and other US law-like the Jones Act which is workers compensation for US sailors and its a lot more expensive than what they do now....so be careful what you ask for. Remember making laws is like making sausages....you don't want to know what went into it.....

 

 

what generally is allowed is a roundtrip that returns you to same port with at least one stop in a foreign port(you aren't being transported between two different US ports even if they stop there as you are not permanently getting off)

a cruise to no where since it stops no where.

A cruise that starts or ends in a foreign country(like Canada or Ensendada Mexico).

A cruise that starts in one US port and ends in another US ports which stops at at least one distant foreign port. A distant foreign port is one that is not in North America, the Caribbean or Bermuda...the closest of which is Aruba Bonaire or Curacao-the ABC Islands(considered part of South America) that is how they do repositioning cruising from the east to the west coast.

 

While that doesn't seem complicated its taking me a long time to learn it....

[near the beach]

If you return late to your ship and it has sailed. Are you guilty of the Jones act or just stupidity?

[paul929207]

If you return late to your ship and it has sailed. Are you guilty of the Jones act or just stupidity?

Both.