Cruise with No Ports

[JER/MPR]

Watching the current pandemic continue around the world, realizing how difficult it will be for ships to be welcomed back to ports around the world.  I ask fellow Viking cruisers if they would sign up for a scenic cruise?  No ports of call, depart and return to the same port.  Similar to repositioning cruises, but return to the same starting point.  If you love sea days this may be for you!

[Clay Clayton]

I certainly would!  We love the TAs as it gives us plenty of time to enjoy the amenities aboard Viking ships. 

[Captain_Morgan]

But who's going to let a ship enter port for the purpose of embarking potentially asymptomatic passengers?

[TayanaLorna]

I would love it especially if it was scenic cruising such as the Fjords and protected waterways of Norway or the Fjords in Chile.  I love gazing out those big windows to land.  However I would be reluctant to get on a ship with the potential for people carrying the virus.  Taking ones temperature is no indicator.

[aungrl]

Count us in.  Of course, with international travel restrictions, it would probably have to be US-based ports for US citizens, UK-based for UK, and so on.  But we’d still do it if it was offered.  Nice to dream, isn’t it? 🙂

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, aungrl said:

Count us in.  Of course, with international travel restrictions, it would probably have to be US-based ports for US citizens, UK-based for UK, and so on.  But we’d still do it if it was offered.  Nice to dream, isn’t it? 🙂

This is not allowed in the US, unless the crew all have H1-B work visas (difficult and costly to obtain) instead of the common crew visa.  Known as "cruise to nowhere".

Edited April 3, 2020 by chengkp75

[aungrl]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

This is not allowed in the US, unless the crew all have H1-B work visas (difficult and costly to obtain) instead of the common crew visa.  Known as "cruise to nowhere".

Oh, right...that’s the whole Alaska itinerary thing, yes?  

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, aungrl said:

Oh, right...that’s the whole Alaska itinerary thing, yes?  

No, that is the PVSA that requires a foreign flag ship to call at a foreign port for a "closed loop" cruise.  "Cruises to nowhere" are actually still allowed under the PVSA, but after a casino resort in the Bahamas started using their passenger boat that normally carries guests from Florida to the resort, for gambling cruises to nowhere in between, CBP ruled that this made the foreign crew essentially full time workers in the US, so they would need a work visa.

[aungrl]

6 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

No, that is the PVSA that requires a foreign flag ship to call at a foreign port for a "closed loop" cruise.  "Cruises to nowhere" are actually still allowed under the PVSA, but after a casino resort in the Bahamas started using their passenger boat that normally carries guests from Florida to the resort, for gambling cruises to nowhere in between, CBP ruled that this made the foreign crew essentially full time workers in the US, so they would need a work visa.

How do you know all this stuff?  I’ve watched in amazement as you’ve posted on various sailing topics for a couple of years now.  If there’s any technical topic, I pretty much just wait to see that you’ve posted, since you’re always the detailed voice of reason.  (I particularly appreciated all of the time you took to respond to the long Viking thread after the incident last year.). In any case, I’ve always learned lot from your posts, and - obviously! - still am.

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, aungrl said:

How do you know all this stuff?  I’ve watched in amazement as you’ve posted on various sailing topics for a couple of years now.  If there’s any technical topic, I pretty much just wait to see that you’ve posted, since you’re always the detailed voice of reason.  (I particularly appreciated all of the time you took to respond to the long Viking thread after the incident last year.). In any case, I’ve always learned lot from your posts, and - obviously! - still am.

I've been a merchant ship's engineer for 45 years, sailing on nearly every type of merchant ship there is, including time with NCL on their cruise ships.  Been sailing Chief Engineer for about 35 of those years.

[DaKa2002]

21 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I've been a merchant ship's engineer for 45 years, sailing on nearly every type of merchant ship there is, including time with NCL on their cruise ships.  Been sailing Chief Engineer for about 35 of those years.

I am another member who has appreciated your technical and detailed information!  Thank you.

[JER/MPR]

36 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I've been a merchant ship's engineer for 45 years, sailing on nearly every type of merchant ship there is, including time with NCL on their cruise ships.  Been sailing Chief Engineer for about 35 of those years.

I also thank you for your incredible knowledge of all things on the seas.  Does this apply for all countries or just the US?  Maybe once the 5 minute Coronavirus test is readily available it would make a cruise more feasible?  Just thinking it may be a very long time until most ports will welcome cruise ships again.      

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, JER/MPR said:

I also thank you for your incredible knowledge of all things on the seas.  Does this apply for all countries or just the US?  Maybe once the 5 minute Coronavirus test is readily available it would make a cruise more feasible?  Just thinking it may be a very long time until most ports will welcome cruise ships again.      

This only applies, as far as visas are concerned, to the US.  However, the Viking ships are flagged in Norway, and since Norway is not an EU member state, they cannot do these cruises either, but in that case it is a cabotage law, much like the US's PVSA.  Domestic sea transport within an EU member nation is limited to ships that fly the flag of an EU member nation.  So, a Dutch ship could do this from a German or French port, but not a Norwegian or Bahamian flag ship.

[Jim Avery]

54 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I've been a merchant ship's engineer for 45 years, sailing on nearly every type of merchant ship there is, including time with NCL on their cruise ships.  Been sailing Chief Engineer for about 35 of those years.

Chief, its about time for you to retire and join me on  a Viking World cruise.  Haha, there are worse things you could do....🍸

[chengkp75]

7 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Chief, its about time for you to retire and join me on  a Viking World cruise.  Haha, there are worse things you could do....🍸

Would be nice, but just spent my retirement fund on a new lake house here in Maine.

[tsakishuman]

14 minutes ago, JER/MPR said:

I also thank you for your incredible knowledge of all things on the seas.  Does this apply for all countries or just the US?  Maybe once the 5 minute Coronavirus test is readily available it would make a cruise more feasible?  Just thinking it may be a very long time until most ports will welcome cruise ships again.      

I know there is a lot of news about the “five minute test.” Let me clarify a few things as I am a clinical laboratory scientist manager  who has been trained to run the Abbott Laboratories ID NOW test. As the test is based on RNA amplification of the virus, a positive test can be detected as early as five minutes however if there is no virus to replicate, the time to result a negative is closer to 15 minutes. Additionally this test can only perform a single sample at a time so it is not practical to consider it as a mass testing application. It’s use is more suited to situations such as a patient needing emergency surgery and must be tested prior to surgery. 

[jimdee3636]

I'm still trying to figure out this PVSA stuff. Would a cruise line's private island count as a foreign port if that was the only stop on, say, a ten-day round-trip out of Miami or San Juan? (I know Viking doesn't have a private island, but most cruise lines do). If so, is there anything, theoretically, stopping Viking from working out a deal with Carnival, Norwegian, or Royal Caribbean to "rent" their private island for a day when it wouldn't otherwise be used---or to share the island for a day with a Carnival-brand ship? I'd be tempted to take such a cruise if it existed.

[chengkp75]

1 minute ago, jimdee3636 said:

I'm still trying to figure out this PVSA stuff. Would a cruise line's private island count as a foreign port if that was the only stop on, say, a ten-day round-trip out of Miami or San Juan? (I know Viking doesn't have a private island, but most cruise lines do). If so, is there anything, theoretically, stopping Viking from working out a deal with Carnival, Norwegian, or Royal Caribbean to "rent" their private island for a day when it wouldn't otherwise be used---or to share the island for a day with a Carnival-brand ship? I'd be tempted to take such a cruise if it existed.

Yes, the "private" islands are part of the Bahamas, so a foreign country.  Viking could rent the island, but I don't see the other lines doing this, as this cuts into their business.

[Heidi13]

On 4/4/2020 at 3:15 AM, Jim Avery said:

Chief, its about time for you to retire and join me on  a Viking World cruise.  Haha, there are worse things you could do....🍸

Hi Jim - Should have joined us for the 2nd half. I suspect we are now pushing 50 sea days. Almost akin to being back at sea on a cargo ship. 

[pacruise804]

On 4/3/2020 at 9:15 PM, Jim Avery said:

Chief, its about time for you to retire and join me on  a Viking World cruise.  Haha, there are worse things you could do....🍸

 

On 4/3/2020 at 9:23 PM, chengkp75 said:

Would be nice, but just spent my retirement fund on a new lake house here in Maine.

 

Sorry for the slight thread drift, but I have a question for the Chief: spending a career at sea, does cruising as a vacation appeal to you?  I love being on the water, but I think I've seen you post before that you never really noticed the "joy" of the sea 😞 

 

Congratulations on upcoming retirement and thank you again for sharing your wisdom with us.

[chengkp75]

4 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

 

 

Sorry for the slight thread drift, but I have a question for the Chief: spending a career at sea, does cruising as a vacation appeal to you?  I love being on the water, but I think I've seen you post before that you never really noticed the "joy" of the sea 😞 

 

Congratulations on upcoming retirement and thank you again for sharing your wisdom with us.

I've done cruises, they are enjoyable, but I just don't have an unquenchable thirst for it.  The sea is fine, but its just an environment you work in, like a forest if I were a lumberjack.  My problem is the unstoppable urge to walk through the "crew only" doors to get where I want to go faster than via passenger areas.  My wife has to keep reminding me, "your not the Chief here".

 

Living in Portland, near the sea, second home on a beautiful lake in Maine, and vacations to Cape Cod, with a wife who loves to walk on the beaches is enough for me.  I don't quite have the urge of the mariner of folk tales, who put an oar over his shoulder and walked inland until someone asked him "what's that pole on your shoulder?".

[pacruise804]

Thanks for the explanation.  Spending most of my life in "Penn's Woods" I also have an affinity for the forest but it took having a friend visit and comment on the beauty of my property before I could see beyond the phone/power/cable wires and overgrown brush to the stunning mountain views that are there if I take the time to look 🙂 

 

My husband and I used to visit Renaissance Fairs and I always liked "Marching Inland" which I think is based on those folk tales: "never drop your anchor less than ninety miles from shore / there'll always be temptation to go to sea once more" 😉 Enjoy your retirement and time with your wife ❤️ 

 

 

[chengkp75]

Many thanks, and I won't give up my "real" job of posting here on CC.

[Redtravel]

You do NOT want to be on that cruise. I was on Oceania in March. Only stopped in 2 ports on a 10 day cruise. All other ports became sea days.  No apology, no refunds or fcc, tons of stress.  Added to the cruise was the quarantine. It may be a very long time before I will leave home, much less cruise. 

[Redtravel]

Update.......oceania sent an apology letter to my travel agent one day after disembarkation.  Since my travel agent is no longer available, I was not notified about the letter.  Only after I contacted Oceania directly did I learn about the apology letter with fcc.