1 Day Coastal Cruises/Status Run

[VibeGuy]

Jones Act : covers cargo that must be loaded

Passenger Vessel Services Act : covers self-loading cargo, aka passengers.

 

It's to protect American shipbuilding interests as well as preserve merchant marine jobs. Over time, as the industry grew (turn of the 20th century), the existing cabotage laws were strengthened, because we finally had an industry large enough to merit protection.

 

The reason we run into it more than other countries is that we have an awful lot of coastline and there are places people would like to travel between along said coastline. We also have discontiguous territory - ie, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico, all of which are nice places to vacation.

 

The reality remains that so long as shipyards like Fincantieri and STX can extract government subsidies to build ships (and therefore employ workers), US shipbuilders are at a competitive disadvantage, so no new US bottoms will be built. The last cruiseline to attempt US bottoms flamed out spectacularly (American Classic Voyages). Additionally, once those US bottoms are built, you then have to hire American mariners to run them (not much of a problem - we have lots of qualified mariners, and many of them would like such a gig, at wages that aren't grossly uncompetitive with other nations), but you also have to hire a generally all-US crew for the hotel functions. Given that American workers demand such luxuries as 40-hour weeks, legal minimum wages, benefits and a modicum of respect in the workplace, it's no surprise that large-ship cruising under the American flag went from one ship to three ships to one ship and something rumored to be $100,000,000 in operating losses, in just three years.

[sultan_sfo]

Vibeguy has given a good explanation. If I recall correctly, these restrictions in some form or another was until recently also applicable to airlines flying international routes -- one could fly a non-US airline from LHR to JFK and the same plane would continue to Los Angeles but could not pick up any new pax JFK / LA. Then came a whole series of "approved" routes bilaterally arranged that relaxed some of the rules.

 

Slightly off topic (sorry!) but I have read about this funny law on CC a couple of times (is it Jones law or something?). Can someone explain what it's all about and what's the big deal if you sail from one US port to another anyway? I'm sure there must be a logical reason but I can't think of what it could be :D

[VibeGuy]

Right, the rules for airline cabotage are a little different. They're spoken of as "freedoms", and there's a really awesome explanation on Wikipedia.

 

The US airline rules are highly, highly restrictive, such that you can't be a foreign-domiciled company and operate US air services, nor can an airline have more than 25% foreign ownership.

[Av8tor]

Hi all!

 

Within the frequent flyer community is something called a mileage run, where you take a flight for the sole purpose of earning miles, usually for the purpose of meeting a certain threshold to earn/maintain elite status.

 

My husband is considering a "cruise run" in order to fast track him to Elite status so that we can use the benefits on upcoming cruises.

 

Having never done the 1/2/3 day coastal cruises, I was wondering if anyone can share their experiences and thoughts about this possible itinerary. I'm not sure if he would be in violation of the passenger act that has to do with border crossings, this is where I really need your expert opinions.

 

This is his planned itinerary:

 

19 September -- 1 day sailing on the Golden Princess, SEA-YVR

 

20 September -- arrive YVR, do walk off disembarkation, take Amtrak at 8:45 am back to SEA. Arrive SEA at noon, board the Star Princess for the 1 day sailing SEA-YVR.

 

21 September -- arrive YVR. Stay on Star for the 2 day sailing to SFO.

 

We figure that with the double credits given to single passengers, this should net him 6 cruise credits.

 

Thoughts?

 

Moontime,

 

There are two problems with your plan:

 

1) Your DH can't do the Star from SEA to YVR and then YVR to SFO because of the PVSA. He MUST change ships in YVR. :(

 

2) Even with walk-off self-disembarkation, catching an 8:45am AMTRAK train could be a VERY tight connection. Just because the ship is scheduled to dock at 7am, doesn't mean that passengers will be cleared to disembark at that time. Sometimes disembarkation doesn't begin until well after 8am.

 

 

My thoughts are:

 

1) After the Star SEA-YVR, why not switch ships and take Coral YVR-LAX? That's what we are doing and I checked with Princess and it's a legal PVSA combination.

 

2) Rather than an 8:45 AMTRAK back to SEA after the Golden (is there even an AM southbound train?), take a $24 Princess transfer back to SEA or try the 9:15 QuickCoach from Canada Place (YVR terminal where Golden will dock) directly to downtown SEA at 12:45pm (Best Western Executive Inn next to the Space Needle) for $40 on-line at QuickShuttle dot com. These transfers are a bit easier to get on directly from the ship and they aren't supposed to leave without you as long as you don't delay getting off the ship when disembarkation is finally allowed. The only possible drawback is a long delay at the border or a mechanical breakdown.

 

3) If your DH can get the extra time off, he might also check into the 9/17 Pacific SEA-YVR cruise along with an AMTRAK or bus shuttle back to SEA on 9/18 spending the night in SEA before the 9/19 Golden cruise he already planned on taking. Two more cruise credits for a solo cruiser... ;)

 

We're doing all four of these cruises in September also in an attempt to further our quest to obtain Elite status!!

[MoonPet]

Again, thanks for the info and suggestions. We're working on putting something together.