Can I Bypass Ensenada

[hommebronze]

we are thinking of carnival spirit out of honolulu 10/1/07 to be followed by mexican cruise....the hawaii cruise ends in ensenada...does anyone know if we can just stay on the ship for the next cruise to mexico or do we have to have to take that damn bus ride from ensenada to san diego to catch the spirit!!!

 

thanks in advance for your help!

[wrp96]

The Passenger Services Act prohibits you from doing the two cruises back to back so no you couldn't just stay on the ship. If you didn't get off your cruise would be a trip between two different US ports without a stop at a distant foreign port. None of the stops the Spirit makes qualifies as a distant foreign port.

 

You need to check, but I'm not even certain that you can do the two cruises back to back even if you got off the ship at Ensenada and got a ride up to San Diego and reboarded there.

[CruiseIsGood]

I don't get this. Everyone who is going Hawaii to Ensenada and getting off in Ensenada has met the requirement--why wouldn't someone staying on? For some Alaska cruises, a 3 hour stop in Victoria satisfies the requirements. Just wondering if you got this info officially or if you're guessing?

[cruiseco]

we are thinking of carnival spirit out of honolulu 10/1/07 to be followed by mexican cruise....the hawaii cruise ends in ensenada...does anyone know if we can just stay on the ship for the next cruise to mexico or do we have to have to take that damn bus ride from ensenada to san diego to catch the spirit!!!

 

thanks in advance for your help!

 

Ensenada is not a "distant foreign port"

 

Embarking in a US port (Hawaii) and debarking in a US port (San Diego) via a non-US-flagged ship without a stop in a distant foreign port is not allowed.

 

Even if you were to stay on the ship through the port stop in San Diego and continue with the following Mexican Riviera cruise your end debarkation point is still San Diego and you still have not hit a "distant foreign port" under the regulations. So booking the back to back cruises doesn't solve the problem.

[derf5585]

JONES: A Hard Act to Follow

from

http://www.sealetter.com/Oct-99/alancol.html

[born2crooz]

Not sure if that is true (distant foreign port).

 

The 3 and 4 day Baja cruises leave from Long Beach, stop in Ensenada and Catalina Island and then return to Long Beach.

 

Am I missing something??

[wanderingjew]

Ensenada is not a "distant foreign port"

 

Embarking in a US port (Hawaii) and debarking in a US port (San Diego) via a non-US-flagged ship without a stop in a distant foreign port is not allowed.

 

Even if you were to stay on the ship through the port stop in San Diego and continue with the following Mexican Riviera cruise your end debarkation point is still San Diego and you still have not hit a "distant foreign port" under the regulations. So booking the back to back cruises doesn't solve the problem.

are you sure the 15 day so cal to hi rt all stop in Ensenada

[wrp96]

Not sure if that is true (distant foreign port).

 

The 3 and 4 day Baja cruises leave from Long Beach, stop in Ensenada and Catalina Island and then return to Long Beach.

 

Am I missing something??

 

Yes, you are missing something. There are different rules under the PSA for roundtrip cruises versus oneway cruises. A roundtrip cruise (beginning and ending in the same US port) only has to make a stop in any foreign port. It doesn't matter where it is. So a cruise starting and ending in LA is perfectly fine stopping in Ensenada. And you could do as many of those cruises back to back as you wanted to without violating the PSA.

 

are you sure the 15 day so cal to hi rt all stop in Ensenada

 

The same thing is true of the roundtrip Hawaii cruises that start and end in California. Because they begin and end in the same US port, they only have to make a short stop in Ensenada to avoid violating the PSA.

 

The problem with what the OP wants to do is the cruise they are proposing would be a Hawaii to San Diego cruise with multiple stops in between (Doesn't matter that it's sold as 2 different cruises). In order to not violate the PSA, the ship would have to make a stop at a distant foreign port sometime while the OP was on the ship. The closest distant foreign ports on the West Coast are almost all the way down in South America, or Fanning Island which is a couple days past Hawaii from California. Ensenada does not qualify as a distant foreign port, neither does Vancouver.

 

That is why the Spirit's Hawaii cruise ends in Ensenada instead of San Diego. If it ended in San Diego, it would be a violation of the PSA unless it hit a distant foreign port.

[JLC@SD]

Here is a photo of the Dawn Princess which we took from San Diego to Hawaii.

 

She is sailing out of San Diego.......to Ensenada...........with no passengers aboard........including us........and we were all bussed later to Ensenada........as required by the law.....:mad: