Canada bans cruise ships until Oct 31st

[xlxo]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada/canada-extends-ban-on-large-cruise-ships-until-oct-31-transport-minister-idUSKBN23522Y

 

Canada is extending a ban on large cruise ships to Oct. 31 to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Friday.

Cruise ships with overnight capacity for more than 100 crew and passengers will not be allowed to operate in Canadian waters at least until November, Garneau said in a news conference. The ban on large cruise ships, many of which were hit by COVID-19 outbreaks, began in March.

[Smokeyham]

Sad to read this, but understandable.   Princess has a number of cruises that involve Canadian ports.  As of 5/30 they are still listed on their website, but I suspect they will soon be gone.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

I think it would be pretty easy to cut out Vancouver and Victoria as port stops and shift cruises originating from Vancouver to Seattle or even San Francisco.

[Smokeyham]

The problem is that the ships need a foreign port to stop in when they are leaving from/returning to US ports.   This is why cruises to Alaska leaving from Seattle or SF stop in at Vancouver and/or Victoria.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

Yes, I know. Which is why Congress needs to grant temporary exemptions to the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886.

[Heidi13]

On 5/31/2020 at 8:51 AM, scottca075 said:

I think it would be pretty easy to cut out Vancouver and Victoria as port stops and shift cruises originating from Vancouver to Seattle or even San Francisco.

 

It is certainly easy to skip Canadian ports, as you have a couple of choices - South America or Asia.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

12 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

It is certainly easy to skip Canadian ports, as you have a couple of choices - South America or Asia.

 

For Alaska cruises, Seattle and San Francisco are ports that can serve it. The cruise lines just need an exemption from the PVSA like NCL has for Hawaii. Then no need to stop in Canada.

[puppycanducruise]

7 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

For Alaska cruises, Seattle and San Francisco are ports that can serve it. The cruise lines just need an exemption from the PVSA like NCL has for Hawaii. Then no need to stop in Canada.

No need for an exemption or a stop in Canada.  Just stop in Mexico.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

5 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

No need for an exemption or a stop in Canada.  Just stop in Mexico.

 

Why would an Alaska cruise go to Mexico? That is about 3 days there and 3 days back from Seattle.

Edited June 2, 2020 by scottca075

[Smokeyham]

33 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

For Alaska cruises, Seattle and San Francisco are ports that can serve it. The cruise lines just need an exemption from the PVSA like NCL has for Hawaii. Then no need to stop in Canada.

Actually, NCL does not have an exemption. Pride of America is an American flagged vessel.  Here is the information from the NCL website

 

"As the only U.S. flagged cruise ship, Pride of America sails year round from Honolulu, giving you the freedom and flexibility to vacation on your schedule."

[Heidi13]

35 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

For Alaska cruises, Seattle and San Francisco are ports that can serve it. The cruise lines just need an exemption from the PVSA like NCL has for Hawaii. Then no need to stop in Canada.

 

Comparing a PVSA exemption for foreign-flag cruise ships to PoA is comparing apples to oranges.

 

The PoA construction was commenced by a US Company, in a US Shipyard. If memory is correct, the original name was Project America 1. The company went bust in early 2000's while the ship was still in construction. NCL purchased the hull and received an exemption from PVSA to complete the build and modifications in a foreign shipyard (Germany, I believe).

 

PoA is currently US flagged and is crewed predominantly with Americans and maintenance is also completed in US shipyards, all requirements of PVSA. So the exemptions from PVSA were to permit NCL to tow the partially completed hull to Europe for lengthening and fitting out.

 

Compare that to foreign-flag ships, which are almost entirely built in Europe, few if any are drydocked in US yards, as on the West Coast they go to Esquimalt Graving Dock (Victoria) and have at most a handful of US crew members.

 

@chengkp75 can hopefully confirm and provide additional info, as he has greater knowledge of US Maritime than me.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

36 minutes ago, Smokeyham said:

Actually, NCL does not have an exemption. Pride of America is an American flagged vessel.  Here is the information from the NCL website

 

Here is an analysis of the NCL exemption by the Government Accounting Office (GAO).

 

Here is a quote from the GAO report:

 

"NCL’s exemption will likely have little impact on how the PVSA or other maritime laws are administered or interpreted because it is specific to three NCL vessels and cannot be applied to any other vessels in any other areas."

 

 

 

 

[Milhouse]

FWIW, in one of the briefings by the BC Provincial Health Officer (and BC Health Minister), a few weeks back, when asked about the reopening of the Vancouver port for cruises July 1, she says she's been in contact with her counterparts in the Yukon, Alaska, and Washington state and she indicated they all seemed to be on  the same page that none of them would be expecting cruise ships in their waters in the near future.   That was before the official announcement of the Oct 31 date by the (Cdn) feds.  I can't see either Washington or Alaska wanting to deal with a potential headache if there ended up being an outbreak on a ship.

[Smokeyham]

11 hours ago, Milhouse said:

FWIW, in one of the briefings by the BC Provincial Health Officer (and BC Health Minister), a few weeks back, when asked about the reopening of the Vancouver port for cruises July 1, she says she's been in contact with her counterparts in the Yukon, Alaska, and Washington state and she indicated they all seemed to be on  the same page that none of them would be expecting cruise ships in their waters in the near future.   That was before the official announcement of the Oct 31 date by the (Cdn) feds.  I can't see either Washington or Alaska wanting to deal with a potential headache if there ended up being an outbreak on a ship.

That sounds reasonable.  I would not be surprised if we don't see any cruise ships in the northern part of the Canada/US West Coast until next spring.