So Disappointed !!!

[Ashryn]

I am so disappointed! We are cruising from Whittier to Vancouver and then wanted to stay on from Vancouver to San Francisco to sail part of the way with friends who are staying on to Fort Lauderdale but we are not allowed to because of some law that says you can't sail from US port to US port :confused: Even though we finish a cruise in Vancouver we are still not allowed to get back on that evening and sail the 2 days to San Francisco :mad: Just don't understand it.

[Coral]

That is correct :(

[Toto2Kansas]

Nope, it's not allowed, sorry for your disappointment. :(

[ssbeagle]

You must be misinformed. If the cruise ends in Canada (which it does) and then stops in San Francisco (which it does) and there are no US ports in between the two, then you should be able to do the cruise. As long as you depart from a foreign port you can do that. I would check on it again.

[Pam in CA]

No, you are not allowed to do that. It's because of the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) which was enacted over a century ago to protect the US shipping industry. It is still in place to protect the US airline industry. Essentially, what the Act says is that if you embark a foreign-built and foreign-flagged ship in one US port and disembark in another US port, the ship must go to a "far" foreign port. Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America are not "far" foreign ports. You are embarking in Whittier and disembarking in San Francisco, thus a PVSA violation. If you stayed on until Ft. Lauderdale, you would be OK since the ship goes to Cartegena.

 

Princess has no control over this; it's a US Act. The penalty is a $300/pp fine. Princess cannot knowingly sell you a cabin for an itinerary that violates the Act.

[Coral]

You could possibly get on in Vancouver and that would work as you would be doing Vancouver - Whittier - Vancouver - SFO. It would add another week of vacation on to your schedule but I think this would work as it would be Vancouver to SFO trip.

[JLC@SD]

Just don't understand it.

The law does not count getting off and getting back on. The law says it is illegal for the ship (cruise company) to transport you from one US city (Whittier) to another (SF) without visiting a distant foreign port.......and the Canadian cities are not distant foreign ports.

[Toto2Kansas]

You must be misinformed. If the cruise ends in Canada (which it does) and then stops in San Francisco (which it does) and there are no US ports in between the two, then you should be able to do the cruise. As long as you depart from a foreign port you can do that. I would check on it again.

The OP wants to add this cruise to their scheduled cruise making it a B2B cruise. Not allowed, sorry!

[Pam in CA]

You must be misinformed. If the cruise ends in Canada (which it does) and then stops in San Francisco (which it does) and there are no US ports in between the two, then you should be able to do the cruise. As long as you depart from a foreign port you can do that. I would check on it again.

The OP wants to embark in Whittier, stay on the same ship in Vancouver, and disembark in San Francisco, a violation. If they disembarked in Vancouver and re-embarked another ship or the next day, they would be embarking in Vancouver for the second cruise and be OK. It's confusing.

[ssbeagle]

The OP wants to add this cruise to their scheduled cruise making it a B2B cruise. Not allowed, sorry!

 

Why not? Is the distance between ports not great enough to classify as a foreign port?

[Toto2Kansas]

Why not? Is the distance between ports not great enough to classify as a foreign port?

It's a foreign port, but not a DISTANT foreign port.

[cruzedude]

Write your Congressman. The law is an anachronism. There is NO US passenger ship industry to speak of so the law hasn't protected anything. Still the law remains on the books and as such Princess can't legally sell you a ticket they know is in violation of the law.

 

The law should have been scrapped 80+ years ago when airlines replaced ships as most common form of passenger transport.

[SadieN]

You ran afoul with the Passenger Services Act of 1886

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Vessel_Services_Act_of_1886

 

One problem is that Vancouver is not a distant foreign port outside of North America.

 

I've read several threads of this happening with the Alaska cruises.

 

Even if they allowed you to sail to San Francisco you still would have to pay the full cruise fare.

[JLC@SD]

You must be misinformed. If the cruise ends in Canada (which it does) and then stops in San Francisco (which it does) and there are no US ports in between the two, then you should be able to do the cruise. As long as you depart from a foreign port you can do that. I would check on it again.

 

She doesn't depart from Canada....she is departing from Whittier, Alaska and staying on the same ship.

[Coral]

It's a foreign port, but not a DISTANT foreign port.

 

And a DISTANT foreign port is defined by Congress (I believe). Not necessarily by distance.

 

It is confusing but long story short - on the West coast, you can not get on a ship in one US city and get off a ship in another US city. It can be RT from the same city.

[Pam in CA]

Write your Congressman. The law is an anachronism. There is NO US passenger ship industry to speak of so the law hasn't protected anything. Still the law remains on the books and as such Princess can't legally sell you a ticket they know is in violation of the law.

 

The law should have been scrapped 80+ years ago when airlines replaced ships as most common form of passenger transport.

As long as the Act is protecting the US airline industry, it won't be repealed. This is why you can't take a British Airways flight from NY to LA, for instance or Air France from NY to FLL. Many foreign airlines are at least partially-owned by and subsidized by their country. The US doesn't own or subsidize any airline that I'm aware of but they do protect them with the PVSA.

[Cruise Junky]

I am so disappointed! We are cruising from Whittier to Vancouver and then wanted to stay on from Vancouver to San Francisco to sail part of the way with friends who are staying on to Fort Lauderdale but we are not allowed to because of some law that says you can't sail from US port to US port :confused: Even though we finish a cruise in Vancouver we are still not allowed to get back on that evening and sail the 2 days to San Francisco :mad: Just don't understand it.

 

Your only option if you want to do this is to get on in Vancouver, do the Back to Back in Alaska and then you can stay on for the San Fran portion. The law looks at where your originally boarded and where you get off. Doing it as you first wanted to it's Whittier to San Francisco..no allowed. Doing it as proposed above is Vancouver to San Francisco...allowed.

[Toto2Kansas]

And a DISTANT foreign port is defined by Congress (I believe). Not necessarily by distance.

 

It is confusing but long story short - on the West coast, you can not get on a ship in one US city and get off a ship in another US city. It can be RT from the same city.

That's my understanding. I should have phrased that a bit differently. That it is not 'considered' a distant foreign port. ;)

[Pam in CA]

Why not? Is the distance between ports not great enough to classify as a foreign port?

You're confusing two issues. If the cruise is a "closed loop" cruise that embarks and disembarks from the same US port, the ship must stop at a "near" foreign port. Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, etc. are near foreign ports. This is why you can take a R/T cruise to HI that stops in Ensenada to satisfy the PVSA. If you miss the ship in Hilo and catch up with it in Lahaina, you've violated the PVSA and will be charged the fee.

 

The OP wants to embark in one US city and disembark in another, then they must go to a "far" foreign post.

[hillslife]

Yeah, we experienced the same thing a few years ago. Wanted to catch a Princess ship in Vancouver to do RT Alaska, then take the ship reposition on to LA.

 

Not possible - so we did Holland America in Alaska, RT Vancouver, then got off, walked across the terminal and boarded the Princess ship to LA.

 

We were just lucky the dates worked out - but I was a nervous wreck we would get stopped boarding the 2nd ship....

 

It does seem silly - but the cruise lines are very serious about it and won't budge on making the reservation. However, someone else has a blog going on CC about a Princess ship doing RT Vancouver and they booked a B2B to come to LA. I believe it is on the Sapphire - so you may want to check it out. Doesn't seem possible to me, but they have booked, as well as others.

 

Good luck

[Ashryn]

Your only option if you want to do this is to get on in Vancouver, do the Back to Back in Alaska and then you can stay on for the San Fran portion. The law looks at where your originally boarded and where you get off. Doing it as you first wanted to it's Whittier to San Francisco..no allowed. Doing it as proposed above is Vancouver to San Francisco...allowed.

 

Yes, that would be great but we only have so much time and since we are travelling such a long distance we want to see some of Canada and also go to Denali while we are in Anchorage. It is disappointing but obviously there is nothing we can do about it.

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, that would be great but we only have so much time and since we are travelling such a long distance we want to see some of Canada and also go to Denali while we are in Anchorage. It is disappointing but obviously there is nothing we can do about it.

 

Does it have to be San Francisco? another option would be to do the Alaska cruise as planned and then stay in Vancouver for a day or two and catch another ship south. There are usually a few that head down to LA. San Francisco there's usually just the one.

[Ashryn]

Does it have to be San Francisco? another option would be to do the Alaska cruise as planned and then stay in Vancouver for a day or two and catch another ship south. There are usually a few that head down to LA. San Francisco there's usually just the one.

 

Yes, we were going to stay on because our friends are staying on the ship and sailing to Fort Lauderdale. We thought it would be nice to stay on a bit longer before flying home, so if we don't sail to San Francisco we will just head home from Vancouver.

[sultan_sfo]

This is legal because before Ft. Lauderdale the ship will visit a "distant" foreign port.

 

Yes, we were going to stay on because our friends are staying on the ship and sailing to Fort Lauderdale. We thought it would be nice to stay on a bit longer before flying home, so if we don't sail to San Francisco we will just head home from Vancouver.

[Ashryn]

Yes, I realise their cruise is legal but until today, didn't realise that we couldn't just sail to San Francisco.