How difficult to get ok for son to join us after cruise starts?

[mamasylvia]

I didn't see this problem coming. :(

 

We are booked on 5/21 Pearl to Alaska, with our 2 adult children. My son is serving in the Army National Guard. His May weekend drill was just changed to the 19-21. Obviously, unless he can get released a day early (which he is looking into), he isn't going to make the May 21 sailing from Seattle.

 

Our first stop is Juneau, with a major airport, so flying there to join the ship would be simple enough. But I was wondering if anyone else has had part of their party unable to make the sailing and if NCL was okay with them joining the ship later. (Obviously they aren't going to refund anything, I'm just hoping he can join us for at least most of the cruise.)

[sailinglisa]

If your cruise is Seattle to Seattle it will not be allowed. It would violate the PVSA, You cannot take a foreign flagged ship from one US city (Juneau for embarkation) to another US city (Seattle for disembarkation) without stopping at a DISTANT foreign port (under the PVSA that means Colombia or one of the ABC islands - Aruba Bonaire or Curacao.)

[hawkeyetlse]

If your cruise is Seattle to Seattle it will not be allowed.

The 5/21 sailing is round-trip from Seattle, so as you explained, the OP's son probably will not be allowed to embark in Juneau. They should call NCL and ask, because the fact that the itinerary incurs a PVSA violation ($300 fine passed on to the passenger) doesn't mean that the cruise lines never allow people to do it.

 

The only way out would be for him to promise to also disembark a day early, in Victoria, but losing three days of the cruise would be a rotten deal (and I've never heard of NCL agreeing to something like this, but again, they can ask).

[chengkp75]

In addition to the PVSA violation, which the company cannot voluntarily violate, there is the issue of downstream boarding. CBP has changed the way it handles passenger screening in the last couple of years, making it more difficult and costly for the cruise lines to allow downstream boarding (or upstream disembarking), so they tend to not allow it for personal reasons, only for delays caused by weather, etc. When the ship sails from Seattle, the passenger manifest is provided to CBP, and they will use the entire week of the cruise to screen the passengers using the data provided on this manifest. This allows the disembarkation interview with CBP to be just a verification that the person standing there is the person they have cleared on the manifest. Now, whenever the passenger count changes (someone joins late or leaves early), a new manifest has to be provided, and submitted to CBP for clearance, as if a new voyage had started. Since CBP is now limited in time to screen passengers, they can decide to do a more thorough interview of all passengers at disembarkation (more like when a plane lands from foreign, and they have not had several days to vet the passengers), which can cause delays in getting to flights, and the cruise lines don't want the complaints. So, for the last 2-3 years, cruise lines have been reluctant to grant downstream boarding requests, even if the PVSA is not violated.

[sanger727]

Yes, as others have said, this is a big problem. It appears your cruise is round trip to Alaska from Seattle so he won't be permitted to board in any other US port. If the itinerary was reversed he could board in Victoria, but he can't board a cruise in Juneau and disembark in Seattle. Even if he were to 'miss' the Seattle embarkation he almost certainly won't be permitted to board when he tries to meet the boat in Juneau.

 

 

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[japit]

2 of our sons are in the Army national guard. The one was able to miss drill for a wedding, the other was allowed to visit a college. They had to make the weekend up at another time. This would probably be best if they will allow him to do it. Hopefully they will let him. You scheduled around his weekends and then the weekends were changed.

[Jetlagged787]

Wow! That seems harsh, but if they are the rules in the US then you have to go with them.

 

Tell me something though. What happens if on embarkation day you miss boarding, say through transport problems, delayed flight, etc? Is there no way that you can catch up at the next port or do you lose the cruise altogether? Thank goodness for insurance if that is the case.

[chengkp75]

Wow! That seems harsh, but if they are the rules in the US then you have to go with them.

 

Tell me something though. What happens if on embarkation day you miss boarding, say through transport problems, delayed flight, etc? Is there no way that you can catch up at the next port or do you lose the cruise altogether? Thank goodness for insurance if that is the case.

 

Understand that it is the cruise line itself that is fined by the US government for violations of the PVSA, but your ticket contract allows them to pass the fine on to you. PVSA waivers are routinely granted for reasons of weather (either missing embarkation, or missed port) or mechanical failures. If the missed embarkation is due to a personal reason (one guy here on CC had to go back for his wallet and missed the ship), or just too close a connection between flight and cruise, then you would be out the whole cruise, unless you could board at a foreign port.

[Budget Queen]

I didn't see this problem coming. :(

 

We are booked on 5/21 Pearl to Alaska, with our 2 adult children. My son is serving in the Army National Guard. His May weekend drill was just changed to the 19-21. Obviously, unless he can get released a day early (which he is looking into), he isn't going to make the May 21 sailing from Seattle.

 

Our first stop is Juneau, with a major airport, so flying there to join the ship would be simple enough. But I was wondering if anyone else has had part of their party unable to make the sailing and if NCL was okay with them joining the ship later. (Obviously they aren't going to refund anything, I'm just hoping he can join us for at least most of the cruise.)

 

There is no insurance??

 

If not have you priced out what this would cost IF even allowed? Likely the $300 penality and flying to Juneau and Seattle hotel, changing current flight? Going to be over $500. Hardly worth it perhaps.

[Jetlagged787]

Understand that it is the cruise line itself that is fined by the US government for violations of the PVSA, but your ticket contract allows them to pass the fine on to you. PVSA waivers are routinely granted for reasons of weather (either missing embarkation, or missed port) or mechanical failures. If the missed embarkation is due to a personal reason (one guy here on CC had to go back for his wallet and missed the ship), or just too close a connection between flight and cruise, then you would be out the whole cruise, unless you could board at a foreign port.

 

Thanks for the explanation. Perhaps my insurance premium is good value after all.

[mamasylvia]

> You scheduled around his weekends and then the weekends were changed.

 

That is the tack he is going to take, but apparently it is totally up to the commander. I'll pass on the suggestion to offer to make it up another weekend.

 

> PVSA waivers are routinely granted for reasons of weather (either missing embarkation, or missed port) or mechanical failures.

 

Who has the authority to issue a waiver? If he can't get the weekend off (which i am still hoping), this might be worth pursuing, considering the circumstances.

[chengkp75]

> You scheduled around his weekends and then the weekends were changed.

 

That is the tack he is going to take, but apparently it is totally up to the commander. I'll pass on the suggestion to offer to make it up another weekend.

 

> PVSA waivers are routinely granted for reasons of weather (either missing embarkation, or missed port) or mechanical failures.

 

Who has the authority to issue a waiver? If he can't get the weekend off (which i am still hoping), this might be worth pursuing, considering the circumstances.

 

Remember that it is the cruise line that is fined, not the passenger, so the cruise line has to apply to the CBP for a waiver, and the CBP has guidelines for waivers, and as I said, personal reasons (regardless of whether it is the Guard or any other employer that causes the delay) is not a basis for a waiver.

[chengkp75]

Alaska cruises are the most problematic for PVSA violations with regards to late embarkation because of the lack of foreign ports.

[pizzalady1]

OK, I don't get it. What is the difference between:

1. Seattle-Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle and

2. Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle

 

?????? :confused:

[bury me at sea]

They don't depart from and return to the same port.

[thinfool]

OK, I don't get it. What is the difference between:

1. Seattle-Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle and

2. Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle

 

?????? :confused:

 

#2 is a one way cruise. US port to US port. Not allowed unless the ship stops in Japan or South America along the way.

 

#1 is closed loop, which, in the convoluted way of govt thinking, is a trip that has actually gone nowhere. Just sailed in a circle. (please don't say it is a 'cruise to nowhere' as those are no longer allowed)

[bury me at sea]

#2 is a one way cruise. US port to US port. Not allowed unless the ship stops in Japan or South America along the way.

 

Thanks, you said it better!

[sanger727]

OK, I don't get it. What is the difference between:

 

1. Seattle-Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle and

 

2. Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle

 

 

 

?????? :confused:

 

 

What the law says is a non-us flagged ship (so Not applicable to locally run ferries, US run river cruises, etc), cannot transport you from 1 US port to a different US port without going to a distant foreign port in between (Mexico, Canada, and Caribbean are not distant ports). All the matters for the 'transporting' is where YOU start the cruise and end the cruise. So if you start and end in Seattle, no violation. You weren't transported from one place to another. If YOU pick up the cruise in Juneau (a US port) and disembark in Seattle (a different US port), you were transported from one place to another and are in violation. Where the CRUISE starts and ends is irrelevant, simply where the passenger starts and ends.

 

So a panamal canal cruise that starts in Florida and ends in California and stops in Central America along the way is fine - they stopped in a distant foreign port.

 

Im going on a Hawaii cruise that picks in Honolulu and disembarks in Canada. It does this because it has to. It cannot drop me off in a mainland US port so it must end in Canada or Mexico (so it's not taking me from 1 us port to a different us port)

 

 

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[mamasylvia]

I waffled about whether to RT from Vancouver or Seattle. If I'd picked Vancouver, we wouldn't have any problem. :(

[thinfool]

 

So a panamal canal cruise that starts in Florida and ends in California and stops in Central America along the way is fine - they stopped in a distant foreign port.

 

 

 

 

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Central America does not qualify. South America does.

 

So stops in the ABC islands and/or Cartagena, Colombia are necessary to satisfy the PVSA.

 

 

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[Budget Queen]

I waffled about whether to RT from Vancouver or Seattle. If I'd picked Vancouver, we wouldn't have any problem. :(

 

why not just change it? You are before final payment.