Jones Act Violation fine $300 each

[flashdog_1]

I'm wondering if anyone, who for whatever reason, did not embark at the original port and had to go to the next port which was also in the US (in my case Tampa and then Key West) and had to pay the Jones Act fine, was able to get reimbursed from his/her travel insurance?

 

Thanks

[johnql]

If I'm understanding your scenario correctly, it doesn't sound like you would incur the fine. If you board in Tampa and then disembark in Key West, without having stopped at a foreign port, I believe you would be fined.

 

The only problem that I think you would have is getting the cruise line to agree to let you board in Key West. I would contact the cruise line and make sure they will allow that.

 

As far as getting reimbursed, I doubt if any travel insurance would cover being fined for breaking the law.

[flashdog_1]

Our original itinerary was to board in Tampa, but my daughter forgot her passport, so the travel insurance flew us to Key West after putting us up in a hotel in Tampa. They arranged for a courier to pick up the passport. My husband had to drive 200 miles round trip to find the passport, but it did arrive before our flight to Key West. On a 3 way call between HAL and Travel Guard I mentioned the Jones Act and no one responded, just that the ship would let me board in Key West. The ship ultimately disembarks in Tampa, so I boarded in one US port and disembarked in another, so the fine is real. I had to sign for it when we checked in.

[nparmelee]

If you went to a port out of the US, you should not have had to pay the Jones Act fine. For example, if you do an Alaskan cruise and have to catch up in Alaska for some reason, missing the Canada port, then you'd have to pay it, but if you make the foreign port you shouldn't have the fine. Plenty of cruises start and stop in the US. Is it that you also missed the foreign port(s)? Sorry to hear about the problems, I hope you had a good time once you caught up to the ship.

[DanJ]

If you went to a port out of the US, you should not have had to pay the Jones Act fine. For example, if you do an Alaskan cruise and have to catch up in Alaska for some reason, missing the Canada port, then you'd have to pay it, but if you make the foreign port you shouldn't have the fine. Plenty of cruises start and stop in the US. Is it that you also missed the foreign port(s)? Sorry to hear about the problems, I hope you had a good time once you caught up to the ship.

 

The foreign port requirement is only one part of it. You also cannot be transported from one US port to another without a distant foreign port call, which is generally Aruba or any of the so-called "ABC Islands" if sailing the Caribbean. Boarding the ship in Key West and disembarking in Tampa is a violation.

 

Talk of this usually flares up in August and September when all those cruise ships can't make it back to their original Florida port and go to another Florida port to disembark passengers.

[JLC@SD]

OP doesn't want to know if she should have been fined.....she was....;)

 

OP wants to know if anyone has been fined and then been reimbursed by insurance....:)

[Mark]

The Jones Act is a joke and nothing more than an outdated and obsolete attempt that was made by Washington bureaucrats to protect the US Maritime Industry ( passenger liners ) from unfair foreign competition. Well, since there is no US Maritime Industry to speak of today, why is this law still on the books? Someone needs to wake up in Washington and get rid of it since it does nothing except hurt the American cruise passenger!:cool:

[discjoker]

The Jones Act is a joke and nothing more than an outdated and obsolete attempt that was made by Washington bureaucrats to protect the US Maritime Industry ( passenger liners ) from unfair foreign competition. Well, since there is no US Maritime Industry to speak of today, why is this law still on the books? Someone needs to wake up in Washington and get rid of it since it does nothing except hurt the American cruise passenger!:cool:

 

While I do agree that the Jones Act is a joke, I must correct you on one thing. There is a US Maritime Industry (in regard to passenger ships). NCL America operates a fleet of US Flagged/US Manned vessels.

[Mark]

You are correct there is a NCL fleet of two ships and soon to be three ships but I would not call that a US Maritime Passenger Line Industry. What it represents is one company that is owned by a multimillionaire and incorpated in Malaysia who chose to get around the Jones act by flagging three foreign built ships with 70% to 80% US Citizens. Yes there are green card non-US citizens working on the ships. Forget that POA hull was built in US, the ship was built in Europe. We build the best Naval vessels in the world and man them with the best naval officers and sailors in the world and yet we cannot successfully compete against the Europeans in building cruise ships and manning them with qualified officers...something is not right here?

 

What Congress should be doing is figuring out a way to help US companies compete in the passenger liner industry by successfully bulding, flagging, staffing and competing against the foreign companies. Yes the NCLA ships do fly American flags but I don't really consider sailing on them as sailing with an American Cruise Line. Amercian companies are at a disadvantage in competing against foreign companies who are subsidized by foreign governments like shipyards and against a labor force who desires to make in one week what most Americans exceed in one day.

[joeinsb]

Mark,

 

Well said and spot on! Unfortunately, you and I are wasting our energy getting worked up over this. It ain't gonna change!

 

As for Congress, the fact that the Meyers family (I think that's the one that's bent out of shape about their son's disapperance off Celebrity) can convince Congress to conduct an investigation of cruise industry practices, speaks volumes about our elected representatives. Dumber than dirt (now Cruise Critics in that lot) and out for all the press they can get.

[Mark]

Absolutely Correct

[flashdog_1]

No, the fine did not spoil our cruise. I knew it would happen. So, has anyone been reimbursed thru travel insurance for a Jones Act violation? Thanks

[nycruiser2006]

Flash dog:

Can you post over in Tampa:post/pre cruise and let me know how the Sailport was?

Thanks :)

[flashdog_1]

Consider it done.

[JLC@SD]

The Jones Act is a joke and nothing more than an outdated and obsolete attempt that was made by Washington bureaucrats to protect the US Maritime Industry ( passenger liners ) from unfair foreign competition. Well, since there is no US Maritime Industry to speak of today, why is this law still on the books? Someone needs to wake up in Washington and get rid of it since it does nothing except hurt the American cruise passenger!:cool:

It is a hugh joke........but we do have the US Maritime Industry protected...........at least all of it that sails between the 4 Hawaiian Islands.........:rolleyes:

[hvsteve1]

Another all American cruise line is Delta Queen,which won't be effected by the Jones Act unless they can figure how to put a foreign port on the Mississippi,Cumberland or Ohio rivers.

[momofmeg]

I understand very little about law but I am surprised the insurance would cover for anything since you forgot a passport. I thought that was for unexpected occurances- like illnesses , lost bags, not someone forgetting something like a paassport. If I "forgot" my luggage would I expect Travelguard to buy me clothes and toiletries?

 

Now I am not trying to be mean and hateful-that is just a thought-and we WERE in a similiar situation. Our daughter's passport had expired. We did not realize this until the night before we boarded and we were already in FL and away from home. Her passport, she had received at age 14 and apparentily they only last 5 years under age 16-we did not realize this-she would have taken her birth certificate if we had known.

 

Anyway they let her on ship anyway-and allowed it to slide but told us not to expect her to be able slide with that passport again.

 

So we came close to losing our money on that cruise-but I would have never expected the insurance to reimburse us-I would have just marked it down to life's experience-you know learning the "hard way".

[flashdog_1]

The travel insurance considers it a lost travel document even though it was just left behind. They paid for the courier to get it to the hotel before the flight. Would have been the same if it had been some other travel document. The courier would have transported it. Travel insurance is for dumb dumbs as well as ill passengers.

[smarterman64]

that's rather easy. Stick an embassy on a port, have everyone disembark throguh the embassy and voila, you've been on foreign land

[momofmeg]

The travel insurance considers it a lost travel document even though it was just left behind. They paid for the courier to get it to the hotel before the flight. Would have been the same if it had been some other travel document. The courier would have transported it. Travel insurance is for dumb dumbs as well as ill passengers.

 

Lordie as many idiots are out there it is a wonder they don't go broke. I am very surprised.

[flashdog_1]

I'm sure they have something like actuary tables they use for life insurance. Think of all the cruises you've insured and never, thank goodness, had to make a claim. It's their business and they do a good job.

 

One thing to note, however, is that if you were on a 7 day cruise and paid, for round figures $700 per person, and missed one day, the amount available for trip interruption would be $100 per person (policy says trip cost, but is actually the trip cost divided by the numbr of days you missed), which will cover your hotel and dinner only.

 

The baggage and travel documents limit on our policy was $500, so the courier to get the passport to the hotel $300 is covered. The travel delay portion limit was $500 so covered the $320 air fare to fly us to Key West.

 

I was just hoping that that since our expenses did not exceed the limits, that the surplus might be applied to the Jones Act. I'll let you know in a few months when it is settled.

[flashdog_1]

I could not get the edit button to work, so am posting again.

 

I buy travel insurance for the emergency medical evacuation only. This is my first and only claim, so am inexperienced in all of this. Just wanted someone who had been fined to tell me if their insurance had covered the Jones Act fine. Thanks.

[momofmeg]

I could not get the edit button to work, so am posting again.

 

I buy travel insurance for the emergency medical evacuation only. This is my first and only claim, so am inexperienced in all of this. Just wanted someone who had been fined to tell me if their insurance had covered the Jones Act fine. Thanks.

 

No offense flashdog I am just a very stupid and "dingy" person at times and never thought I could make a claim for such things-I would make them broke for sure.

[flashdog_1]

And you know, i thought of being a harping mother and saying the day before she left home, "do you have your passport packed?" But she wants to be treated as an adult (she's 29 and owns her own home) and I bit my tongue. I won't refrain in the future, but I bet she never forgets it again.

 

It may sound like a "free ride" but it was really nerve wracking. The agent said, "this is why you buy travel insurance." I was not able to relax for 24 hours until the courier brought the passport to the hotel. I did not enjoy the 24 hours of waiting, even with a free hotel night. That's just me. I wish I had been able to relax and trust that we'd be able to board the next day, but I'm a worry wart.

 

Guess no one has ever been fined and tried to recoup the loss thru insurance.