Cruises we cannot take for a legality.

[bobbiwoz]

The Jones acts, can be complicated.........I am wondering ........the Magic is starting a new voyage with new passenger list.....The OP is leaving the vessel totally....signing off and clearing customs.........would this be enough avoid a legal problem?...............Yes I know I am stretching things thin here.

The best thing to do would be to call DCL and ask.

AKK

We asked DCL, they would not sign us on to these two cruises.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

The law is called the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA). It states that a foreign-flagged ship may not transport passengers from one US port to a different US port without making a call at a distant foreign port.

A distant foreign port is described as any port NOT "in North America, Central America, the Bermuda Islands, or the West Indies (including the Bahama Islands, but not including the Leeward Islands of the Netherlands Antilles, i.e., Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao)." 19 CFR § 4.80a(a)(2)."

The exception is a cruise that begins or ends in Puerto Rico.

OK, with that background - While the first cruise is allowed, and the second cruise is allowed, together they are not allowed. The PVSA views B2B cruises as one cruise (as it's on the same ship). The B2B would transport you from NY to Miami without a stop in a distant foreign port.

If you're interested in reading all the legal-speak:
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pvsa_icp_3.pdf

A Panama Canal cruise typically calls at a distant foreign port (usually Cartegena or Aruba).

The Hawaii cruises that started in Honolulu and stopped at several islands and ended in Los Angeles made their foreign stop in Ensenada, Mexico. How does that fulfill this requirement? Last time I checked, Mexico is definitely in North America. My guess, and I'm not sure about this at all, is that because it starts in Hawaii, and not part of the contiguous US, the rule must be somehow different.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

We asked DCL, they would not sign us on to these two cruises.

It was just a though Bobbi.....The only other idea I can think of for a kinda BB, would be fly from San Juan to PC and pick up a different DCL vessel there.

Best of Luck

AKK

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The Hawaii cruises that started in Honolulu and stopped at several islands and ended in Los Angeles made their foreign stop in Ensenada, Mexico. How does that fulfill this requirement? Last time I checked, Mexico is definitely in North America. My guess, and I'm not sure about this at all, is that because it starts in Hawaii, and not part of the contiguous US, the rule must be somehow different.

There were no one way Hawaii/LA cruises. There was a round trip LA cruise to Hawaii. The most recent Hawaii cruises were out of Vancouver and back (one way).

The round trip (closed loop) LA/Hawaii/LA cruise stopped in Ensenada to fulfill the "must stop at a foreign port" requirement. Any foreign port (near or far).

The one way Vancouver/Hawaii and Hawaii/Vancouver cruises didn't have that requirement since they started/ended in a foreign port.