Jones Act - this may be already out there, but new for me

[cruiser12]

Yes it is a no can do - who knew - I cancelled both - I will let my agent do all the work - the person who did the booking was unaware of The Jones Act - he now knows - the person to whom I was speaking to earlier was also unaware - but checked it out further - and yes it is a no can do -
You / we learn something new everyday -
If you call Carnival or any other cruise line ( I am guessing ) ask to speak to a P.V.P - lesson learned -


P.S - just in case I missed it - has anyone here ever get to do this - pay the fines etc.

[chengkp75]

[quote name='cruiser12']Yes it is a no can do - who knew - I cancelled both - I will let my agent do all the work - the person who did the booking was unaware of The Jones Act - he now knows - the person to whom I was speaking to earlier was also unaware - but checked it out further - and yes it is a no can do -
You / we learn something new everyday -
If you call Carnival or any other cruise line ( I am guessing ) ask to speak to a P.V.P - lesson learned -


P.S - just in case I missed it - has anyone here ever get to do this - pay the fines etc.[/QUOTE]

It is the cruise line that gets fined by CBP. It is only the ticket contract that allows the line to pass the fine to the passenger. If CBP finds that the cruise line knowingly allowed a violation, the line could face severe consequences.

[BEAV]

[quote name='cruiser12']

P.S - just in case I missed it - has anyone here ever get to do this - pay the fines etc.[/QUOTE]

You may recall in my earlier post we were only given 10 days notice we had booked an illegal B2B. This was discovered when CBP noted our names on the manifest of both sailings and contacted Holland America. Holland offered to pay the $300 per person fine on our behalf in order to allow us to sail as booked, however CBP refused. We ended up cancelling both cruises with Holland refunding our fares as well as reimbursing airline change fees.

I do know someone who paid the $300 fine. It was a Honolulu-Vancouver sailing with stops in the islands before the crossing to Vancouver. He disembarked in Kona with the plan to spend the night on the island with friends who lived there and rejoin the ship the following day in Hilo. When he boarded in Hilo, the alarms, bells and whistles sounded as they inserted his cruise card into the machine at the gangway. Unaware of the PVSA, he hadn't notified the ship of his plans, otherwise they probably would have informed him it was illegal. He paid the $300 fine at Guest Relations and continued the journey to Vancouver. The violation was that he had sailed from Honolulu to Kona without calling at a distant foreign port.

[shof515]

does this affect closed loop cruises? next year i am on the sunshine doing both the caribbean itinerary and then the canada cruise. both trips begin and end in NYC

[BEAV]

[quote name='shof515']does this affect closed loop cruises? next year i am on the sunshine doing both the caribbean itinerary and then the canada cruise. both trips begin and end in NYC[/QUOTE]

No, you're fine. The PVSA only applies to itineraries beginning at one U.S. port and ending at a different U.S. port.

[Shmoo here]

[quote name='shof515']does this affect closed loop cruises? next year i am on the sunshine doing both the caribbean itinerary and then the canada cruise. both trips begin and end in NYC[/QUOTE]

It doesn't affect closed loop cruises. It only affects those cruises that start in one US port and end in a different US port.

Or two consecutive cruises where the start port on cruise 1 is a US port and the end port on cruise 2 is a [U]different[/U] US port.

If you're taking one cruise (beginning and ending in the same US port), and then the next cruise (on the same ship) and it also begins and end in the same US port, you have no problem.

[jakesnana]

[quote name='cruiser12']Yes it is a no can do - who knew - I cancelled both - I will let my agent do all the work - the person who did the booking was unaware of The Jones Act - he now knows - the person to whom I was speaking to earlier was also unaware - but checked it out further - and yes it is a no can do -
You / we learn something new everyday -
If you call Carnival or any other cruise line ( I am guessing ) ask to speak to a P.V.P - lesson learned -


P.S - just in case I missed it - has anyone here ever get to do this - pay the fines etc.[/QUOTE]

Why did you cancel both? HAL has an inside passage cruise leaving Vancouver on 4/30? I think I will go ahead and make a reservation on that sailing, as I expect I will be getting a communication from Carnival shortly about not being allowed to do this b2b cruise.

[Shmoo here]

[quote name='jakesnana']Why did you cancel both? HAL has an inside passage cruise leaving Vancouver on 4/30? I think I will go ahead and make a reservation on that sailing, as I expect I will be getting a communication from Carnival shortly about not being allowed to do this b2b cruise.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like a great plan.

[cruiser12]

I turned it over to the agent I have worked with many many times - today Monday May 2 2016, I spent 95% of this day trying to get answers - and finally spoke to the person who booked the back to back no can do cruises - he did not know a thing about The Jones Act -
Example - when I hire a contractor he/she should know what to do - I don't expect him/her to know how to teach children with special needs - ( that's me) - so when I call a cruise line - and book a cruise / cruises - back to back I expect them to know what they are doing / have the knowledge - not for me to do -
Educate those who represent your company -

[jakesnana]

[quote name='cruiser12']I turned it over to the agent I have worked with many many times - today Monday May 2 2016, I spent 95% of this day trying to get answers - and finally spoke to the person who booked the back to back no can do cruises - he did not know a thing about The Jones Act -
Example - when I hire a contractor he/she should know what to do - I don't expect him/her to know how to teach children with special needs - ( that's me) - so when I call a cruise line - and book a cruise / cruises - back to back I expect them to know what they are doing / have the knowledge - not for me to do -
Educate those who represent your company -[/QUOTE]

And yet there are so many people who say there are no need for travel agents.

On a different note, I talked to my DH last night and we may just cancel the Alaska leg of the trip. We have done that cruise twice already and when it looked like we could do it b2b with the Hawaii cruise it sounded like fun, but now that we can't we're not sure it's worth the additional headache and expense. We can get an interline rate on Carnival so for us it would cost more to get an OV on HAL than we were paying for a balcony on Carnival AND we would have to get from Vancouver back to Seattle to get reasonable airfare. Just not sure it's worth all the hassle.