Princess won't allow my travel agent to book a back to back cruise on the Coral !!!

[RickEk]

The Passengers Services Act is antiquated and should be abolished IMHO. :cool:

[Philip217]

The Passengers Services Act is antiquated and should be abolished IMHO. :cool:

 

Although most of us agreee with you, there would be alarming consequences if the PVSA was eliminated.

 

The remaining American Flag cargo shipping lines exist only because the PVSA gives them a monopoly on carrying freight between the West Coast and Hawaii. They would disappear immediately.

 

The only existing ocean going American Cruise Line, NCL America, would fail immediately.

Not a big loss in my opinion, but quite serious for the Hawaiian economy.

 

Several American Flag coastal cruise lines would be bankrupted by foreign flag ships. Once again not a major loss, but with negative financial impact.

 

The American Flag airlines are also indirectly covered by PVSA. The only routes they are guaranteed a profit are between the mainland and Hawaii. PVSA makes it nearly impossible for foreign airlines to fly passengers on those routes. If the PVSA goes away, United, American, Delta and a few others would be gone as well.

[c-cruise]

The PVSA wouldn't need to be done away with. What would be needed is an exception to the PVSA for foreign flagged passenger vessels operated by US cruise operators. There are already several exceptions the the PVSA including the one that allows for "cruises to nowhere" for foreign flagged gambling ships out of US ports.

 

There are other general US cabotage laws that govern cargo and airlines to protect US interests. A "cruise ship" exception to the PVSA wouldn't impact those industries in terms of opening things up for foreign competitors.

 

Anyway, just my opinion. ;)