Alaska B2B cruisers

[S.S.Oceanlover]

"Distant foreign port" has a pretty loose definition as it's applied. Cruise lines from the West Coast of the US routinely stop in Ensenada for the day to qualify on a one-way Hawaii voyage.

This is another reason why the PSVA needs to be heavily modified or sent to the breakers. It's intent was to protect US flagged passenger lines. How's that working out?

I'd modify it to apply only to vessels under, say 25,000 tons.

 

Have to agree with Deb. Haven't seen any one way Hawaii cruises that stop just in Ensenada to be in compliance with the PVSA.

 

Bill

[NancyIL]

DCL is well aware of the PVSA. That's why the repo cruises are between LA and Vancouver, and because of that - the first and last Alaska cruises are between one US city and one Canadian city. That's also why they quickly changed the itinerary of one of the Panama Canal cruises so it would stop in Cartagena, Colombia. However, DCL obviously wasn't thinking about the people who would do the repo cruise and then the first Alaska cruise b2b in 2012.

[cyclenut]

I am on one leg of this on DCL. We are not doing the B2B. We are sailing from Vancouver to LA. I am not a maritime law expert, but my read of the text really leads me to believe that this will NOT be OK. It seems very odd to me that Disney is going to play the "wait and see" game. It sounds like they are going to try and act surprised if they are confronted. They seem to believe that as long as passengers disembark and go back through customs they are treated as two completely separate cruises and are not actually transporting passengers one-way from one US port to another. That may be a valid argument, but I wouldn't want to be one of the passengers caught in what appears to be a bit of a gamble.

 

While Disney may be new to this type of itinerary, I find it hard to imagine that they would have simply overlooked this issue. This is a very smart company with a very good legal department.

[Host Mick]

Have to agree with Deb. Haven't seen any one way Hawaii cruises that stop just in Ensenada to be in compliance with the PVSA.

 

Bill

 

You're right there. I just looked through a bunch of itineraries and the Ensenada cruises either go round trip or start/end from Ensenada or Puerto Vallarta.

[molly2kit]

I was on the 2B portion of the B2B from LA to Vancouver to Alaska returning to Seattle.

 

What Disney did to make it "legal" was....

 

The passengers booked on both legs had to pack, get off the ship in Vancouver and then get back on in a different cabin. They were escorted off and back on by a Disney rep - supposedly this made it two separate cruises and not in violation of the PVSA.

 

It will be very interesting to see if this works for Disney and if it does.... then maybe next year all the lines will be able to do the same thing.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I was on the 2B portion of the B2B from LA to Vancouver to Alaska returning to Seattle.

 

What Disney did to make it "legal" was....

 

The passengers booked on both legs had to pack, get off the ship in Vancouver and then get back on in a different cabin. They were escorted off and back on by a Disney rep - supposedly this made it two separate cruises and not in violation of the PVSA.

 

It will be very interesting to see if this works for Disney and if it does.... then maybe next year all the lines will be able to do the same thing.

 

So the people who booked b2b actually got to sail both legs?

 

Bill

[Kamloops50]

I'm interested as well . According to what a Princess & HAL rep told me . The only way to do this is to change ships or spend an overnight before boarding. I wonder if Disney is just including the $300 fine in the fare and if they get caught they will just pay it.

[molly2kit]

Yes - the people sailed both legs.

 

 

I talked to 3 separate groups who had been on the LA to Vancouver repo - and I was run off my feet by two kids so didn't get a lot of chatting time with adults.

 

The last lady I spoke with is the one who told me how it was done-

 

They were told 2 weeks before the cruise that they would have to change cabins for the second leg. They had to get off the ship in Vancouver (go to separate area with Disney rep) then get back on the ship in a different room - their rooms were ready right away when they got on - no waiting until 1pm - Because of the inconvenience to them they were given a room upgrade on the first leg of the trip. She was upset because she had phoned Disney a few weeks prior to ensure they were in the same room and was told yes - then was told they would have to move cabins. Disney told her that by changing cabins that made it 2 separate cruises.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Yes - the people sailed both legs.

 

 

I talked to 3 separate groups who had been on the LA to Vancouver repo - and I was run off my feet by two kids so didn't get a lot of chatting time with adults.

 

The last lady I spoke with is the one who told me how it was done-

 

They were told 2 weeks before the cruise that they would have to change cabins for the second leg. They had to get off the ship in Vancouver (go to separate area with Disney rep) then get back on the ship in a different room - their rooms were ready right away when they got on - no waiting until 1pm - Because of the inconvenience to them they were given a room upgrade on the first leg of the trip. She was upset because she had phoned Disney a few weeks prior to ensure they were in the same room and was told yes - then was told they would have to move cabins. Disney told her that by changing cabins that made it 2 separate cruises.

 

Thank you for the update and getting back to us so fast.:)

 

Bill

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

I was on the 2B portion of the B2B from LA to Vancouver to Alaska returning to Seattle.

 

What Disney did to make it "legal" was....

 

The passengers booked on both legs had to pack, get off the ship in Vancouver and then get back on in a different cabin. They were escorted off and back on by a Disney rep - supposedly this made it two separate cruises and not in violation of the PVSA.

 

It will be very interesting to see if this works for Disney and if it does.... then maybe next year all the lines will be able to do the same thing.

 

The violation was in providing transportation. It doesn't matter where they slept on the ship on the second leg vs the first or what they did with their bags while the ship sat in port in Vancouver....it matters that they used the ship as transportation between two different US ports. Flipping around in the terminal and getting right back on is the same thing as staying on the ship with the added hassle of moving your bags and your cabin.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

The violation was in providing transportation. It doesn't matter where they slept on the ship on the second leg vs the first or what they did with their bags while the ship sat in port in Vancouver....it matters that they used the ship as transportation between two different US ports. Flipping around in the terminal and getting right back on is the same thing as staying on the ship with the added hassle of moving your bags and your cabin.

 

You are correct but just wanted to say don't shoot the messenger.:)

 

She was nice enough to post what the b2b cruisers told her. I didn't think she was arguing one way or the other.

 

Bill