Vancouver closed to cruise ships

[vozzie]

Canada has closed its ports to cruise ships carrying over 500 passengers and crews...until the end of July. 

That is going to cause big problems for the Alaska cruise season.

 

More discussion in the  Alaska Forum

Edited March 13, 2020 by vozzie

[Gwendy]

Took a lot of planning but finally managed to get family together for Alaskan cruise.  Oops still scheduled as it is late May, but no stop in Victoria BC now and SAN Francisco looks dodgy.  Direct flight from Brisbane to SFO already cancelled and who knows whether we will be allowed in any way.

[vozzie]

The problem is, I believe, that Ships departing a US port for Alaska, have to stop at an international port during the trip. If Canada is out...perhaps Russia ?????

[lissie]

42 minutes ago, vozzie said:

The problem is, I believe, that Ships departing a US port for Alaska, have to stop at an international port during the trip. If Canada is out...perhaps Russia ?????

 

Why - that's weird? 

 

We  are scheduled on the Queen Elizabeths repositioning from Sydney to Vancouver arriving 2 June - expect that will be delayed now or maybe cancelled.  Happy we hadn't booked any flights or non-refundable hotels 

[Docker123]

1 hour ago, vozzie said:

The problem is, I believe, that Ships departing a US port for Alaska, have to stop at an international port during the trip. If Canada is out...perhaps Russia ?????

I think it depend on whether it is one-way or return.

 

The Jones Act bans boarding in one US port and disembarking in another, without a foreign stop.  So, Vancouver as a stop from Seattle to Alaska, or reverse.

 

A return trip to Seattle should be allowed, assuming Seattle isn’t closed soon.

 

[MicCanberra]

Royal has just announced it has suspended cruising out of the US for 30 days. as well

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I am not surprised . Passengers come from all over the world to cruise Alaska .

[kaseyoz]

We are on hawaii to Vancouver early May on Ovation.

Interesting to see what happens to us.

[pmcl]

2 hours ago, lissie said:

 

Why - that's weird? 

 

We  are scheduled on the Queen Elizabeths repositioning from Sydney to Vancouver arriving 2 June - expect that will be delayed now or maybe cancelled.  Happy we hadn't booked any flights or non-refundable hotels 

No notification up on Aus Cunard site as of yet. In light of this decision I assume we will be offered a full refund rather than FCC.

[bazzaw]

At least now, I don't have to make any decisions any more!!!  It's all over - and all I have to do is be patient and wait for my money to come back to me. 

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, kaseyoz said:

We are on hawaii to Vancouver early May on Ovation.

Interesting to see what happens to us.

Cannot see it happening, all Canadian Ports are closed.   Vessels with less than 250 people can access Alaska, expedition ships etc.

 

[NSWP]

Just now, bazzaw said:

At least now, I don't have to make any decisions any more!!!  It's all over - and all I have to do is be patient and wait for my money to come back to me. 

Good one Barry, then you can rebook your trips to Iran, Italy and China.🤣

[pmcl]

48 minutes ago, bazzaw said:

At least now, I don't have to make any decisions any more!!!  It's all over - and all I have to do is be patient and wait for my money to come back to me. 

after the stock market fiasco, it might come in handy!,

[ivanp91]

4 hours ago, Docker123 said:

The Jones Act bans boarding in one US port and disembarking in another, without a foreign stop.

 

 

You mean the Passenger Vessel Services Act.

 

The Jones Act is similar but covers the shipping of goods between ports. That the Jones Act covers passenger cruising is a common misconception. I'm trying my best to push people into citing the right one 😉 

[lissie]

2 hours ago, pmcl said:

No notification up on Aus Cunard site as of yet. In light of this decision I assume we will be offered a full refund rather than FCC.

Its only a few hours since the Canadian announcement - I would expect at few days maybe a week before they make a choice - they could almost just loop the QE around Australia again and shift the trans-pacfiic a month later to arrive early July. We'd stay on it if that happened.  We haven't yet been offered insurance for the trip - once we have that offer then the decision becomes a lot more difficult - the insurance won't be  a small amount of money (pre-existing conditions not carona virus) 

[pmcl]

Anything not listed on the covered pre-existing  conditions sends insurance thru the roof, so I sympathise with you.

However a July vacation is out of the equation for us if this is the route Cunard decide to take..

We took advantage in good faith of the fares offered to us by our TA and Cunard to sail to Vancouver.I am not so wrapped up in the prospect of getting our money back as FCC for a trip that will probably be more expensive and not where we want to go.

If Cunard  can't deliver what they offered and sold, I hope they have the decency to offer an all out refund to those of us that would prefer, or a FCC with a bonus as other lines within the carnival group are offering to their passengers who elect to opt for another cruise.

[MicCanberra]

NZ have now closed their ports to cruise ships as well.