Cabotage (PVSA)

[bbstx]

There is a new article today on Cruise Critic entitled “What to Do if You Miss Your Cruise Due to a Flight Cancellation or Delay” https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=7027.   In the article the author states “if your embarkation port is in Vancouver and the rest of the ports on the itinerary are in the U.S. (as tends to be the case in Alaska cruises), it would be against the law for you to board the ship anywhere but Vancouver or another non-U.S. port.”  

 

I am on a 7 day Inside Passage cruise that is departs and returns to Vancouver.  I am assuming that because my cruise returns to Vancouver, the above statement is not applicable to me, but I would love to have someone who understands the intricacies of the PVSA confirm that my assumption is correct.  

 

I have one connection between my home airport and Vancouver.  My flight is the day before the cruise. I need to know if something happens and I cannot make connections to get to Vancouver in time, should I try to get a flight to Juneau or just go back home?

[CruiserBruce]

Correct. As you are doing a round trip out of a foreign port, the PVSA doesn't apply to you.

[bbstx]

@CruiserBruce Thanks for the confirmation.  

[1025cruise]

While the PVSA might not apply to you, due to Covid, there have been rules not allowing "downboarding", even in the case of missed/late flights. I'd make sure you have your insurance in order, and check with HAL regarding the situation.

[Hlitner]

Catching up to a cruise ship (just about anywhere) has become a major problem.  Scheduled flights are often oversold, and also may be delayed/cancelled.  If you think that HAL (or any cruise line) will simply get you on the next flight to an intervening port you are likely to be very disappointed.  

 

These days the best advice is to get to your port several days early (not a bad thing to do if the port is Vancouver).  The old adage that flying-in a day early is wise...no longer applies.  If your flight (the day before) is cancelled or you miss a connection it is very likely that there will be no other flights available that can get you to the port on time.  We do practice what we preach.  We have an October cruise out of Miami and had originally scheduled a Friday afternoon non-stop (always wise these days to Miami.  But with all the airline problems we recently changed that Friday afternoon flight to a very early Thursday morning flight.  Adding a couple of nights in a decent Miami resort/hotel is not a horrible prospect.

 

Hank

[bbstx]

I’m stuck with flying in the day before.  All of the canceled flights and delays were not an issue when I booked my flight.  Too late now to rearrange plans and change to 2 days before.  So, while getting there 2 days before is good advice, I’ve got to figure out how to deal with flying in the day before.  

 

Thanks, @1025cruise for the info about “downboarding” (I’ve never heard that term before).  I have trip insurance.