JRG

I kind of like the idea of making a Trivia question, or set of Trivia questions surrounding the whole history of the PVSA. For Example: Why is Vancouver considered a Distant Port? a) Its too far to swim too from the US b) It's the law, period. c) something to do about a 10-hour rule made a long time ago. d) all of the above. Why not, when was the last time HAL updated the Trivia Questions anyways?

You are absolutely correct RuthC. Many posters have been confusing PVSA and the Jones ACT for some time now. Alot of the information that has been spread is not accurate and has led to mass confusion on the related subjects The easy way remember the distinction is: PVSA is for passengers and hurts cruisers in general and yes, it has been interpreted to becomes a lame duck law and proper Coastline Transportation laws have to be drawn up to rectify the situation, or it has to be remmed out, or deemed out, as was done during the pandemic to assist Alaska. The Jones Act is for cargo and applies mostly to cargo jockeying and not to cruising or cruise passengers. If you are still confusing the two then perhaps you were just listening to the wrong radio station.

Even sadder is that this confusion between the two terms is that it is global misunderstanding. I read a post where the UK travel agent had given a cruiser the excuse that twisted things even further. The good news is that it will eventually getter better before it gets worse. It can't get any worse than it already is.

And don't we cruisers know it. Mrs. Jones deserves a proper burial at Sea, with all the Honors to meet the Beloved Mr. Davy Jones (not Bowie and not the other Jones) so that they may live in eternal mariner matrimony in his locker until they are called along with the rest of us by the Sea to give up our dead. The Sea is Always Right. Somebody needs to put the proverbial shark fin needle through her nose to make sure she is dead. The Jones Act is not equal to the PVSA Act, they just happend to both be cabotage laws. If you are reading that they are the same then that information is not accurate. The Travel Professionals of the World need to get this distinction correct or else the unintended consequences will be that cruisers continue to be given the wrong information.

------------------------End of Report--------------------- (please do not burn after reading)

Ok thanks, for clarifying. I get that now. I was thinking of a different ruling that involved PVSA. My personal thoughts on the Cruise to Nowhere is that they fit a need for a certain type of cruiser, not me, those that really just want to get on a ship and taste the fun of it all and then get on back home. Cruises to Nowhere have become a kind of mariner-urban myth, I suppose.

That's an interesting tidbit. and I believe you. How do they define "ruled" and do they open it up to 'public comment' so that it can be revisited for time and place as needed, or is fixed forever?

I apologize for the long response time here, but I couldn't think of an answer that made sense fast. We only do the slot tourneys, maybe the 21 tourney, but I am don't mind playing the Video Poker Games one or two times on board because, as you point out, the odds need to be known. Hence my original question to invite Gamblers to share their point on who know what, just for ships and giggles. I have really "pass the shoe" but to answer another point I wouldn't sit down unless I asked the Dealer to explain it to me. And that is exactly what happened to both of us withing a 5 minute time window and we just cashed in, left and never looked back. You truly have to be "Up all night go get Lucky", which (for those who do not know it (or who do not cruise)) is a song that was being played on board last time we were cruising the Mains. The other thing is that I take in is the Karma of the scene, and if it does not feel right or the dealer fat finger fumbles the deck when you sit down. The you pack it up and don't move to another table, you walk away. You Have to Know When to Hold Them, and You Have to Know when to Fold them. And you don't have to look or act like Kenny Rogers. And sometimes you have to just Fold you Napkin over that daily beef and let the Chefs who are doing their best to work with what they are given. Blame it on the Tenderizer machine and its maintenance schedule. That is both my take on the Gambling on Board and the Daily Beef. p.s. We hope things are getting better now for everybody of you over there.

I just skimmed over it, but the graph I linked to caught my attention in two ways: 1) Why is CLIA talking about Ship Production and when WHAMMO 2) Why is there a big GooseEgg in the USA's Relative Ship Contribution when our audience has been listening to ovetures that the US Shipbuilding was being saved by our Cabotage laws. Clearly it isn't being saved. Clearly from the GooseEgg, there is no MATERIAL shipbuilding going on that is being protected by strong US Cabotage Laws. We are the Goose and We are laying the Golden GooseEggs for our neighbors in the form of inequitable economic benefit. What is good for our Goose, has not been good for our Gander, and the graphs I linked to prove it. But back to your point. Yes it is composite data. But the Detail behind a Composite Zero (GooseEgg), is still a zero, or in this case, less than 1%. This was a fantastic post by the OP. But what we do with it is what counts and I say she bagged a big one.

Incorrect. This is a State of the Industry Report. It is not a Strategic Analysis or a Strategic Plan and therefore no SWOT analysis is required. This report is a great equalizer for readers who want to really understand what is going on in the cruising world, that's all folks. Do you @Heidi13have any links to back up your statement? Do you have an opinion on why the US Shipbuilding has a big GooseEgg in the column for relative shipbuilding that you can back up with proof. The little guys that you referred to are like @Mary229 said, immaterial. (I think Lucy has some explaining to do)

Good to know. Analysts like to 'stack them and rack them' when they do comparative analysis from year to year to identify and visualize (graph) historical trends. In the case of US shipbuilding, graphing these year by year will show the composite performance of US shipbuilding relative to the global production and my gut feeling is that we were bringing up the rear but I didn't have anything to back up my suspicion. You've helped me 'Bag an Elephant' on this one. I like a lot of the other graphs in the report too though.

Mary, this is a fantastic data set that you have found. It can be so useful in so many of the threads that are discussed here on CC with everybody having the ability to see the same data, and from the same source, CLIA. Who could argue with them.? Me thinks you deserve extra-credit bonus points for finding this golden nugget. Good-bye silly arguments. The Goose-Egg produced by the USA's relative contribution to Shipbuilding is interesting to those who believe that PVSA is helping protect Shipbuilding. Thank You.

Thank you for being cool about it. Being more of an equalizer here than a spokesperson but what's in a word? I really think we should start over and Welcome our New Member to CC like everybody else and forgive him for his use of adjectives. We've all had bad MDR entrees and I know there are a few fish I wish I would throw back in the ocean, along with some of beef impersonators. More importantly, I think we could benefit from the point of view of an experienced gambler, and there are plenty of them out there who maybe can give us some inside tips on how to maximize our gambling winnings when on board. I'd really like to know more about the gamblers on board than any of the other cruisers. I think the only sensible play for the average cruise gambler/slotter is going for the Royal Flush on the video poker, and f you are playing quarters that is usually about $1,200 if you hit it.. But I think the key is you have to give away a decently dealt hand or pair to go for the flush face cards. I've only done it once but I was playing nickels.

He's not serious, he just had a bad meal and deserves to be cut some slack here and not be marginalized because he chose to express his opinion.

I agree with you. If the liver or beef tasted that bad, then the only issue is that the liver or beef tasted bad, not how it was worded. Using dogfood probably agitated the defenders of HAL's culinary dignity more than anything else and that's why the thread begins to emulate a modern day version of Lord of the Flies. The food in the local casinos in San Diego is outstanding, and gamblers are used to that level of quality too, so if they are qualified to get a comp'd cabin in exchange for gambling then maybe they should get comp'd with Tamarind or Club Orange or Pinochle Grill or just Dive-In Burgers for the best beef.

No, but we felt quite clueless when we had to wait 1.5 hours after the assigned time to our skip the line ticket. An hour is way too short. Get up early and visit the Ancient City at sunrise, before the crowds. The Leonardo Da Vinci Museum is largely replicas, but it is interesting to see his collective works displayed in model format and I am a big fan. I highly recommend not to request or sing O Sole Mio while in the Gondolas in Venice, or anywhere else but in Naples or you will anger the Gods. And watch out for the other Gondolas in Italy too, one recently had an accident. Also, I believe that Uber was illegal in Rome when we were there, not sure about the rest of Italy. And to concur with others, we have taken the express train from the Airport to Termini but I now believew that taking a Rome Taxi makes better sense and is easier. Finally, strange but interesting things seem to happen for us in Rome. We were sitting poolside at a big hotel near Termini when the crew for Netflix"s Stranger Things literally fell into the rooftop swimming pool and filmed a ruckus while we were enjoying our lunch, and we ended up on Youtube in the background.

We have already booked this excursion this time next year from Le Havre via Princess and it is an all-day excursion. It's currently $184PP US and that seems like a fair price to us for such a remarkable site. Can't wait.

I'm sure they would be willing to do requests too, something like Love Me Tender by Elvis or anything within within their range, for a few Euros more. For us Venice is a green light to go and visit , "come hell or high-water" as the saying goes. But we have no issues with experienced repeat visitors who choose otherwise, especially if they can offer up a restaurant tip or two.

Its second finest virture may lie within the artistic domains, and mask making is one of those. We are lucky that somebody gave us a Venetian Mask years ago, they are quite expensive but the detail is incredible. Can't forget about that either when thinking about Venice.

You are correct, it is their version of "You are my sunshine". It is Neapolitan in nature but the Romantic nature of Venice is probably why the cluless tourist request if from the Gondolas. Venice's finest virture will always be its Romantic nature, nobody should ever forget that, right?

You are both right intuitively and its not worth splitting hairs trying to reconcile statistical percentages between magazine articles, just wing it here. The broader point is that Venice can afford to say Arrivederci to some percent of tourist traffic (maybe 25% or more and I'm guessing) AND still achieve high levels of occupancy in its inns, restaurants and cafes, shops so they don't run the risk of losingthat same percent of business. It makes total sense and that supports their argument to cut back on visitors, whether by ship or by feet. Kicking out the bigger ships helps in that regard because everyone still wants to go to Venice and that isn't going to change, (sorry Yogi Berra). Visitors will continue to crowd Venice and still fill up the inns, restaurants and sidewalk cafes to full occupancy. We are actually shopping right now for a cruise that gets us to Venice in 2025, probably in the shoulder season to avoid the crowds and probably on a smaller ship to get as close as possible but we may do a land visit too so we'll see. I can't resist commenting on the spoofability of the Merchants of Venice being unable to purchase undershirts because of the over-crowded-ness, that makes it seem like they are suffering in poverty when they are probably really singing "Volare" or "O solo Mio" or "That's Amore".

Actually, the use of the word "Green" (as used in this thread context) has become 'passe' and the world has moved on to "Sustainability", a form of "balance". The second part of the quote is a question that would have to be asked of the author, but I presume that non-cruise ships are omitted because they were not in the scope of the article.

I think I can clarify somewhat because there were two issues at play. The green crusade is not a facade to describe the discussion of pollution in a major commercial port. What is important to point out that, having the latest state of the art shore power allows the ships to stay in port without burning fuels into the port air. That is the benefit derived when port authorities and port commissions have the taxpayer dollars fund shore power expansions through municipal bonds and that is an improvement related to pollution but also facilitating port expansion, its definitely not hiding behind a green facade. The other topic dealt with the geographical issues related to Venice and La Specia and also Amsterdam and the impact that displacement has on the water level which is an obvious bonafide reason to respect the limitations, Key West is a different story. Those are environmental and political. Green crusade facade, who knows?

RIP and enjoy that Cheeseburger in Paradise...you earned it.

It is very safe and you might find a fellow cruise passenger or 2 with you. Recommend to get to Union Station LA and then cross the street and eat at Olvera street for the best authentic mexican lunch available and then walk 1 block to catch the Silver Line for what used to be $2 and gets you on an express bus to the port in about 1 hr or so. This method of getting to your cruise lets you stay at the Downtown LA hotels too.