Leaving ship before reaching final port?

[DAllenTCY]

Is it possible to cut short a cruise by disembarking a port early? On the 10 day Mexican Riviera Dawn Princess, can you get off in San Diego instead of returning to San Francisco?
DA

[Next]

Yes, you can leave.

Just arrange with guest services.

Obviously, you neet to have a flight arranged, etc on your own.

You will get no refund of unused days.

[Coral]

I would double check with Princess. It doesn't sound like you will violate the Passenger Services Act (aka Jones Act) and you will probably be allowed to but I would encourage you to speak with Princess before making plans.

[cjskids]

Someone got off our cruise a day early in France rather than going back to Southampton. I wish we had thought of doing just that and had spend a night or 2 in Paris. They arranged it ahead of time with Princess and we watched them leave with their bags on the 2nd to last day.

[spongerob]

As Coral mentioned, there would be a problem with PSA if you decided to disembark in San Diego. You would each be assessed a fine of $300 for the violation. Something similar happened recently on an X cruise, where a couple disembarked in SD for a family emergency, and had to pay the fine.

[bandgbasset]

hi all:

we took a cruise a couple of years ago from san diego to vancouver on the radiance of the seas. hubby wanted to get off 2 days early in astoria, oregon because he's afraid of flying and just wanted to drive home. i stayed on the cruise the 2 extra days, but they charged him $300 to get off the cruise early. wonder what would happen if he just left and didn't say he was gonna get off early.

dave and gerry

[Coral]

Originally Posted by bandgbasset

hi all:

we took a cruise a couple of years ago from san diego to vancouver on the radiance of the seas. hubby wanted to get off 2 days early in astoria, oregon because he's afraid of flying and just wanted to drive home. i stayed on the cruise the 2 extra days, but they charged him $300 to get off the cruise early. wonder what would happen if he just left and didn't say he was gonna get off early.

dave and gerry

I know someone who missed the ship in Alaska and had to pay the fine...My guess is that you would get charged for it.

[yogibear]

Getting off the ship in SD would be in violation of the Jones Act!!........Karen

[jetskier]

I thought it was only a violation of the Jones Act if the ship does not go to a foreign port.
Dave

[cherylandtk]

Dawn Princess does not go to a distant foreign port (as defined by the act) and therefore pax cannot disembark in a US port other than the one they embarked in without violating the act and incurring the fine.

[Coral]

Originally Posted by cherylandtk

Dawn Princess does not go to a distant foreign port (as defined by the act) and therefore pax cannot disembark in a US port other than the one they embarked in without violating the act and incurring the fine.

Thanks for the clarification - I wasn't sure if this cruise would allow it or not.

[DAllenTCY]

I'm more confused now than before. If Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo aren't distant foreign ports, that what are they? How can Ensenada be a foreign port on Hawaiian round trips? Also, the Dawn Princess goes through US Customs in San Diego, so why can't one disembark there? Where is defined that one must disembark at the same port as they embarked? What about repositioning cruises?
Jeees!
Me

[spongerob]

Welcome to the wonderful world of protectionist law!

The Passenger Service Act (incorrectly called the Jones Act) prevents any foreign-flagged vessel from transporting passengers between any two United States ports without first stopping at a so-called "distant foreign port". Distant ports, to keep it simple, would be in South America or further away.

To further complicate things, even on a round trip cruise, at least one foreign port (distant or otherwise) must be visited. That's why Hawaiin cruises stop at Ensenada.

I'm sure you'll get much more information than you bargained for, just because you asked.

[Cruisin' Chick]

"wonder what would happen if he just left and didn't say he was gonna get off early."

When you leave the ship, you have to insert your cabin card in the machine that keeps track of who left the ship. They'll know if you haven't boarded again.

If you go on the Alaskan Inside Passage cruises on Princess, there's a stop in Victoria, BC for the same reason the Island Princess stops in Ensenada: the dreaded PSA.

The NCL America ships are exempt because they are not foreign-flagged. But the NCL ship that goes from the west coast to Hawaii stops at Fanning Island.

[DougH]

I would check with Princess, I doubt there would be a problem as you have gone thru US customs in San Diego.

In 1999 I did an Alaska repo from Vancouver to Alaksa, then down to LA on the Celebrity Mercury. Since I live in the San Francisco area I wanted to get off the ship there and skip the last day down to LA. This was no big deal, about a dozen of us did this. We met customs in an onboard lounge that morning, filled out some forms and were let off the ship. No problems, no fine and very easy

[MaryPoppinz]

....in order to travel between two US ports (SF, San Diego) on a foreign vessel (Princess), you would need to stop at a "distant foreign port." None of the Mexican ports of call will meet this requirement. So, I believe you'll have to continue through to your embarkation port for a roundtrip that only requires stopping at a "foreign port" -- satisfied by any of your Mexican ports.

The repositioning cruises that you're thinking of that involve two US ports (ie: Ft. Lauderdale - SF, via the Panama Canal) stop in Aruba to comply with the law, because Aruba (unlike most Caribbean ports) is considered a "distant foreign port."

[Joy2Day]

And a voyage that originates or ends in Mexico or Canada does not transport passengers between 2 US ports, so they don't have to comply with the 'distant foreign port' issue. That is why a Vancouver-LA cruise would not have a problem with a SF disembarkation and why one-way Hawaii cruisers embark in Ensenada.

[bruce-r]

Originally Posted by MaryPoppinz

....in order to travel between two US ports (SF, San Diego) on a foreign vessel (Princess), you would need to stop at a "distant foreign port." None of the Mexican ports of call will meet this requirement. So, I believe you'll have to continue through to your embarkation port for a roundtrip that only requires stopping at a "foreign port" -- satisfied by any of your Mexican ports.

I'm afraid that this isn't completely accurate. It is the Jones Act that requires cruise ships to be US flagged if they depart/return to a US port. Getting a ship US flagged is expensive, so the cruise lines don't do it. The Jones Act also allows a cruise ship to depart and return to a US port if the ship makes at least ONE call in a non-US port.It doesn't matter if the foreign port is 20 miles away or 200 miles away, it just has to be a non-US country. That is why cruises that depart from Seattle and cruise Alaska have a port call at either Victoria for a couple of hours in the late evening or some other Canadian port. NCL got a special waiver in order to cruise just the Hawaiian Islands by promising to have the majority of the ships crew be American.

This is a little off track of the original question, but it is more accurate.

The answer as so many have already said is yes you can get off a cruise at a different port. In fact I know of several people who have used a short carnival cruise to make a on way trip to Cozumel and take a huge amount of luggage with them. It was less expensive than flying and shipping the stuff.

[Splinter]

Distance has nothing to do with it. This is why you can take the 4 day cruises out of LA that go to San Diego, Ensenada and Catalina Island and still comply with the act. You could not go from San Francisco and get off in San Diego without FIRST going to Mexico under the Jones Act, but if you go to Mexico first, then get off in San Diego on the way home, it would appear to comply.

Round trip cruises from San Diego or LA to Hawaii now only stop in Ensenada for 1-4 hours....Ensenada is only 90 miles from San Diego, so certainly is not "distant".

[NitaBcruising]

I don't consider Victoria, BC to be a distant foreign port. But, In June, Princess allowed us to disembark in Victoria a day early, rather than go back to Seattle. We hadn't planned this in advance, just did it on the ship on our way to Victoria! I also used my cell phone to get a reservation at a hotel! We weren't charged anything!