Jones Act Violation

[cruiserdf]

Has anyone ever been on a series of Princess cruises that were in fact a violation of the Jones Act?  If so, were you pulled from the ship in the port where the violation occurred? Who payed the fine, Princess Cruise's or you?

 

Previously I have been not allowed to booked back-to-back itineraries that were Jones Act violations, but Princess's booking systems always caught the issue when the travel agent tried to book the itinerary.  I booked a B-B-B last December that when the travel agent went to re-fare two of the cruises last week, was informed this was an "illegal" itinerary and violated the Jones Act.  My wife and I would have been eventually pulled off the shipped and incurred significant fines.  Both I and the travel agent asked about the itinerary when it was booked in December and were informed it was good to go.

 

This was a huge miss by Princess!

[DUCHESSRN]

We recently returned from Hawaii on Royal Princess and missed Ensenada totally due to high seas ,docked in SFO 2 days early . I wondered how the Jones Act worked on that one.

[Outerdog]

PVSA, not Jones Act.

 

[chengkp75]

It is far more typical that booking agents will allow combined cruises to be booked, and only months later when the compliance department reviews the booking, will the passenger be notified that the cruise is in violation of the PVSA.  You would not have been "hauled off the ship".  The fine is against the cruise line, CBP could give a hoot who the passenger/s is/are.  However, it is the ticket contract that you sign where you give the cruise line the right to pass the fine on to you.  The fine would have been added to your onboard account.  So, you paying a fine is between you and Princess, not you and the government.

[1025cruise]

As you got closer to the cruise, your illegal itinerary would have been caught.

Generally speaking, if you start in one US port and end in a second US port, without going to a distant foreign port first, you are in violation.

[chengkp75]

41 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We recently returned from Hawaii on Royal Princess and missed Ensenada totally due to high seas ,docked in SFO 2 days early . I wondered how the Jones Act worked on that one.

If the violation is outside of the cruise line's control (act of God), such as weather, the fine is waived.

[cr8tiv1]

Always grateful when someone is able to link the difference between PVSA and the Jones Act (for Cargo).

 

When a ship misses a port (Ensenada) due to weather or sea conditions, CBP usually comes out to the ship to sign a waiver to avoid the fine.  "My" Captain tried to dock three times in Ensenada before coming over the PA to explain why we weren't dock yet and that we had circled the "Island" 3 times.  

 

Trust @chengkp75.  He is the guru of all things navigational.  Your travel agent "should" have known better.  It would have been caught sooner or later.  You are fortunate to have it happen before fines were levied.  And no, you would not have been "pulled of the" ship, but yes, the fines would have been transferred to you. 

 

This is NOT a huge miss by Princess.  This is the fault of your Travel Agent for not advising you better.

 

37 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We recently returned from Hawaii on Royal Princess and missed Ensenada totally due to high seas ,docked in SFO 2 days early . I wondered how the Jones Act worked on that one.

 

25 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

It is far more typical that booking agents will allow combined cruises to be booked, and only months later when the compliance department reviews the booking, will the passenger be notified that the cruise is in violation of the PVSA.  You would not have been "hauled off the ship".  The fine is against the cruise line, CBP could give a hoot who the passenger/s is/are.  However, it is the ticket contract that you sign where you give the cruise line the right to pass the fine on to you.  The fine would have been added to your onboard account.  So, you paying a fine is between you and Princess, not you and the government.

 

[cruiserdf]

Outerdog is absolutely correct that this is the PSVA.

 

Sorry "cr8tiv1", this is a huge miss by Princess.  They know the laws/  Both I and the travel agent asked them if this was a legal itinerary.  We were told this itinerary was good to go.  As I have said before, in the past, their booking system wouldn't allow an illegal itinerary booking. 

 

I booked the flights, hotels, made the onboard services purchases, which all had to be cancelled and changed to a new itinerary. 

 

I don't think Princess is as well run with John Padgett as it was directly with Jan Swartz.  Outsourcing has it's issues.

[Guest ldtr]

If you search back through posts pre-covid, there are several streams on Princess and other cruise lines where people booked b2b cruises that violated pvsa. Not unusual for people to book them, then the cruise lines would catch it and notify them that the combination was not allowed 2 to 4 weeks prior to departure. Basically when their compliance department got around to validating everything.

Edited January 17, 2023 by ldtr

[blizzard44ca]

Princess is good about flagging PVSA violations and cancelling the offending leg.

 

Last summer RC had a bunch of people booked on Alaska one leg, and then repositioning to CA on the second leg. Passengers weren’t informed until they were on board, with the options being to cancel the second leg (fly home from YVR) or exit the ship in Victoria and make their own way to Vancouver (plus hotel) at their own expense. People were not happy.