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may not make the ship... 12/20 solstice

felixdacat

By felixdacat,
in Celebrity Cruises

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felixdacat

felixdacat

Posted
Posted

WE are suppose to be on the solstice on sunday out of Ft Lauderdale. My brother and his family were suppose to fly down Sat at 8pm. With teh blizzard their flight has been canceled. He is going to camp out at the airport and see what they can do for him, starting 6am tomorrow. currently they have him booked on a 9am flight on Sunday. Who knows if the airport will be open then.!

 

So my question are.. how does insurance play a role in all this (they got insurance)? Also, if they have to be flown to meet the ship, the first stop is San Juan. Is that allowed due to that law?

With so many people from the Northeast on the ship, will the ship ever consider leaving a bit later on Sunday to help some of those on flights make it? Does that ever happen?

 

I would even suggest he get a car and just drive down, but thats driving right into the storm!

 

Glad that we live in ATL and are driving down ourselves tomorrow. But it wont be the same without the whole family with us.

 

sandy

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jerseygirl3

jerseygirl3

Posted
Posted
WE are suppose to be on the solstice on sunday out of Ft Lauderdale. My brother and his family were suppose to fly down Sat at 8pm. With teh blizzard their flight has been canceled. He is going to camp out at the airport and see what they can do for him, starting 6am tomorrow. currently they have him booked on a 9am flight on Sunday. Who knows if the airport will be open then.!

 

So my question are.. how does insurance play a role in all this (they got insurance)? Also, if they have to be flown to meet the ship, the first stop is San Juan. Is that allowed due to that law?

With so many people from the Northeast on the ship, will the ship ever consider leaving a bit later on Sunday to help some of those on flights make it? Does that ever happen?

 

I would even suggest he get a car and just drive down, but thats driving right into the storm!

 

Glad that we live in ATL and are driving down ourselves tomorrow. But it wont be the same without the whole family with us.

 

sandy

 

You don't mention where your family is flying from. I'm surprised they've already cancelled an 8 p.m. flight tomorrow night. My parents are due to fly from Ft. Myers to Atlantic City tomorrow morning, and their flight hasn't been cancelled, despite the fact that we're expecting possibly a foot of snow overnight.

 

If they are already booked on an early Sunday a.m. flight, I think they'll be fine. If not, they should be covered by insurance. They should call their insurance company now and find out their options ahead of time. They will probably be given the option of being able to catch up with the ship in San Juan, but they have to be careful how much they are covered for for trip delay. Sometimes there is a limit (i.e., $500 pp) and that may not cover all their out of pocket expenses. But they should have Plan B worked out just in case. Their best bet is to call the 800 number on their insurance policy now and find out what their options are.

 

Good luck! I hope your family makes the cruise (and my parents get to New Jersey!).

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jerseygirl3

jerseygirl3

Posted
Posted
where is your brother flying out of and what airline? we are scheduled on a 6 am flight sunday (100% chance of snow forecast) to Miami for Century but are waiting for Jet Blue's go ahead to try to rebook

 

FYI...Jet Blue is already allowing passengers to rebook without a fee. Just head over to their web page.

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JFontaine

JFontaine

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Also - look at every airport. If Miami is fully booked, consider Fort Lauderdale. If you are flying out of JFK, and all flights are booked, consider LGA to Fort Lauderdale. And keep at it. People will cancel their flights tonight for tomorrow morning - be ready to jump on those.

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robtulipe

robtulipe

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The US Passenger Service Act doesn't allow foreign flagged ships, like the Solstice, to transport passengers between two different US ports without a call at a distance foreign port and none of the other ports on that itinerary meets that requirement. The closest distance ports would be Trinidad, the ABC islands or South America. On a close loop itinerary any foreign port call will do. By missing the ship in FLL, your brother and his family change their cruise from a close loop to a two different Am. ports one if they were to embark in SJ and if this was done the ship would be fined $300 per passenger doing this. They could get on in St. Maarten as the PSA allows foreign flagged ships to transport passengers from a foreign port to an Am. one. That is why one way Hawaii cruises on foreign flagged ships must start or end in a foreign port like Ensenada, Mexico or Vancouver, Canada since there are not any distance foreign port along that route. Same situation for a repositioning cruise from Florida to the weat coast or vice versa. They must call on Aruba or another South American port as Central American ports don't qualify.

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JerseyGem

JerseyGem

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In addition to continuing to contact the airline (and insurance company), I suggest that your brother also contact Celebrity and keep them informed of his possible late arrival. I've only cruised X once (with no "late" issues), but I have been on other lines when the ship's departure was delayed due to missing (late) passengers. In those cases, the cruiseline was aware of the estimated arrivals of their flights, etc (so they knew the missing were not simply "no-shows"). OF course, this could depend on tides, local rules, etc.

 

Good luck! I wish I could join you- rather than shovel the 12+ we're expecting today!

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  • 2 weeks later...
smeyer418

smeyer418

Posted
Posted
The US Passenger Service Act doesn't allow foreign flagged ships, like the Solstice, to transport passengers between two different US ports without a call at a distance foreign port and none of the other ports on that itinerary meets that requirement. The closest distance ports would be Trinidad, the ABC islands or South America. On a close loop itinerary any foreign port call will do. By missing the ship in FLL, your brother and his family change their cruise from a close loop to a two different Am. ports one if they were to embark in SJ and if this was done the ship would be fined $300 per passenger doing this. They could get on in St. Maarten as the PSA allows foreign flagged ships to transport passengers from a foreign port to an Am. one. That is why one way Hawaii cruises on foreign flagged ships must start or end in a foreign port like Ensenada, Mexico or Vancouver, Canada since there are not any distance foreign port along that route. Same situation for a repositioning cruise from Florida to the weat coast or vice versa. They must call on Aruba or another South American port as Central American ports don't qualify.

This isn't accurate. San Juan as are all US insular possessions in the Caribbean are considered a nearby foreign port. So there would be no fine for getting on in San Juan and off any any 50 State US port. The Secretary of Transportation when the Coast Guard and Customs were under his control issued an exemption-which is still in effect(until the time that there is a US flagged ship providing transportation-which there aren't). I also don't believe that Trinidad is a distant foreign port.

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robtulipe

robtulipe

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This isn't accurate. San Juan as are all US insular possessions in the Caribbean are considered a nearby foreign port. So there would be no fine for getting on in San Juan and off any any 50 State US port. The Secretary of Transportation when the Coast Guard and Customs were under his control issued an exemption-which is still in effect(until the time that there is a US flagged ship providing transportation-which there aren't). I also don't believe that Trinidad is a distant foreign port.

Thanks for that info re SJ.

Trinidad is on the South American continental shelf thus is considered to be part of that continent, just like the ABC islands are thus they all meet the requirement of a distant foreign port under the PVSA. It is also the greatest distance away from the US of the islands I mentioned.

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Robinhill

Robinhill

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i was told by Celebrity when i asked about missing embarking due to flight cancellation because of snow if I could catch up at next port after San Juan which is St. Thomas- they said no because it is a US port- you can only embark later at a non-us port which in my case would be the 4th day into the 7 day cruise- St. Kitts.

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Robinhill

Robinhill

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Can you tell me how this would exemption might apply to me- i will be flying from Baltimore to SanJuan on Jan 16 to cruise from San juan and the next port is St. Thomas (another US port) i have been told by Celebrity that if our flight is cancelled due to snow that day and we can't make the San Juan embarking that we cannot fly on to St. Thomas the following day and embark- that we would have to wait until the 4th day when we could embark at St. Kitts which is the first foreign port?

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smeyer418

smeyer418

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Can you tell me how this would exemption might apply to me- i will be flying from Baltimore to SanJuan on Jan 16 to cruise from San juan and the next port is St. Thomas (another US port) i have been told by Celebrity that if our flight is cancelled due to snow that day and we can't make the San Juan embarking that we cannot fly on to St. Thomas the following day and embark- that we would have to wait until the 4th day when we could embark at St. Kitts which is the first foreign port?

 

 

My impression is that they are wrong. I thought St. Thomas was exempt under the regulations. The problem is the customer service reps really don't know. Put the request in writting or call Celebrity's legal department and ask for the PSVA specialist.....

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robtulipe

robtulipe

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My impression is that they are wrong. I thought St. Thomas was exempt under the regulations. The problem is the customer service reps really don't know. Put the request in writting or call Celebrity's legal department and ask for the PSVA specialist.....

If you look at Table 1 of the PVSA rulings and decisions (July1985) at the web site below it defines the nearby foreign ports which includes the USVI but not Puerto Rico.

http://books.google.com/books?id=8WIDNQbXMq0C&pg=PT16&lpg=PT16&dq=PVSA+19+C.F.R.4.80a(a)(2)&source=bl&ots=xCjhckJ5CM&sig=7ZvO0BZUQBsjIys3qXEesOh2KUs&hl=en&ei=qKQ-S5yLH4zLlAez5Z01&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=PVSA%2019%20C.F.R.4.80a(a)(2)&f=false

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smeyer418

smeyer418

Posted
Posted

 

 

I am sure PR is also exempt. Thanks for the link....

The CSR(customer service reps) are wrong again. and sorry for the PVSA/PSVA mistake....sometimes I am just dyslexic.

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