Posted on 08/19/2023 9:11:32 AM PDT by Saije
All the other parents I told about my plan for “dead week” reacted in the same way. “What a great idea!
“Dead week” in Juneau is the week before school starts, when there are no camps, and the district-sponsored after-school and summer program takes a break to prepare for the school year...I realized that for $299, I could take my first-grader on an Alaska cruise.
I’d never been on a cruise and, as someone who has lived in Juneau through the cruise industry’s explosive growth, I have mixed feelings about it...
I booked last minute and the total came out to more like $500 with taxes and those port fees and head taxes we know all about in Juneau. But I was thinking about everything my kid would experience...
We flew on a mileage ticket to Anchorage. We woke up early and took the train to lovely Seward. We boarded the ship early in the afternoon and had already hot tubbed and hit the buffet twice before we shoved off... we managed to cruise all the way back to Juneau without incurring any additional expenses...We slept in when the ship docked in Juneau...And then we walked off the ship to head home.
“Why do you want to end your trip early?” the guest services manager asked me when I told her we were disembarking.
“Because I live here!” I said proudly...
She asked me this before she told me that the minute we got off the ship, I would be fined $941 per person (there is no child price) for violating the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, or PVSA.
The PVSA says simply that a foreign-flagged ship cannot transport people between two U.S. ports. That privilege is reserved for “U.S.- built, owned, and documented vessels.”
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
Should have used a US flagged vessel. Problem solved.
Cancel the credit card you paid with and tell them to f*** off
I’d rather take an ass-whipping than take a cruise or attend a sporting event.
The Jones Act is really not all the new. That the author does not know about the limitations of the Jones act is the crime of public education of Alaskans, a large portion of entire economy and expenses is based on what you can and cannot do with foreign built/ foreign flagged vessels.
If memory serves, the fine is from the US government to the company owning the vessel. It is not against the passenger. Correct me if I am wrong.
“I’d rather take an ass-whipping than take a cruise or attend a sporting event.”
LOLOL...you must be my long-lost brother!
We took an Alaskan cruise from Seattle to Juneau and Skagway a couple weeks ago. Our daughter and husband asked us to join them. It completely met my expectations — never again. It’s like spending a week at a crowded Disneyland. Ugh. I made it to age 72 without going on a cruise. I think I can safely say I’ll go another 72 years before I go on another one.
Proof that there are too many outdated laws on the books. I bet there isn’t a single member of Congress that knows the reason why this law was created without researching it. More than likely there was what seemed to be a good reason at the time, but if you look at the U.S. Constitution you won’t find a power granted to Congress to create such legislation. And no, the commerce clause does not cover this. That wasn’t the Founders’ intent.
They are two separate & distinct acts, and are not interchangeable.
I can't quote it exactly but I think it was Mark Twain who said something like, "A cruise is like being in jail but with the chance of drowning."
Indeed.
"OPINION: I decided to give an Alaska cruise a try. Then I got fined."
I haven't read the referenced law. But it sounds like the fine was intended for the foreign owners of the ship, not the passengers.
“In accordance with this law, cruise lines that operate foreign-flagged vessels are fined $798 for each passenger who boarded such a vessel in one U.S. port and left the vessel at another port.” —Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 (non-FR)
A scam?
PENALTYThe statute, 46 U.S.C. § 55103(b), provides in pertinent part that the penalty for violating the PVSA is $300 for each passenger transported and landed.
The applicable CBP regulation regarding penalties for violating the PVSA is found in 19 CFR § 4.80(b)(2), which provides that “[t]he penalty imposed for the unlawful transportation of passengers between coastwise points is $300 for each passenger so transported and landed (...as adjusted by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990).” However, when the violation is the result of a vessel in distress, CBP may remit without payment any penalty which arises for violation of the coastwise laws if there is satisfactory evidence that the violation occurred as a direct result of an arrival of the transporting vessel in distress. See 19 CFR § 171.11(c).
Garbage and outdated law in true.
I live near Tampa. Every year there is like port disruptions, weather, fog or hurricane, that interferes with a 4-day cruise out of Tampa. Trip cut a day short due to a late returning vessel or such. Next trip is a 4 day to Mexico. Can’t get there with only 3 days out. So our lovely govt will make a one-time exemption so they can ‘sail to nowhere’
Isn’t our govt great. There is no reason this should be possible with permission.
It also states that no foreign vessel larger than 5 tons, including ferries and other ships, shall transport passengers from one port within the US to another or face a penalty of $762 per passenger that was successfully transported and landed. The price at the time was $200 but has since been raised to $762 per passenger, where it currently stands.
Sounds like she is being charged both amounts. 762 + 200 = 962 with a 20 dollar rebate? I guess the price went up again from when this write-up was written that I am sourcing from. 😋
It may have been in the agreement she signed. But yes, she should have been made aware that she faced a fine if she disembarked at a different port than she had left from, and that the Cruise Ship line was operating under a foreign flag. In fact, that disclosure should have been made as she was booking the cruise.
Per the above...
“The applicable to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulation regarding penalties for violating the PVSA is found in 19 CFR § 4.80, which provides that “[t]he penalty imposed for the unlawful transportation of passengers between coastwise points is $300.00 for each passenger landed on or before November 2, 2015 and $778.00 for each passenger so transported and landed after November 2, 2015 (46 U.S.C. 55103, as adjusted by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015). See Federal Register.”
Thank you, Congress.
This is not the Jones Act of 1910
>> It does seem like there should have been some kind of disclosure before they disembarked. <<
There absolutely is. Because the author thought she knew everythng, she disregarded the warning. Frankly, I do not and cannot believe she is that stupid. Here’s why:
She wrote, “I helped report on the ins and outs of the law during the pandemic when Alaska’s delegation spurred Congress to waive the requirement that cruise ships stop in Canada when Canada’s ports were closed to keep the virus out.” That means she has some otherwise not-so-apparent financial interest in opposing the law.
Odds are this interest is considered officially disclosed because the article included, “She ... produced the “Midnight Oil” and “Cruise Town” podcasts.” If so, that’s compliance in letter but not spirit, because it’s not clear how producing a podcast creates an interest, but even if she’s not directly sponsored by the cruise industry, her business relies on theirs.
Jones Act. Massive drag on economy to protect corrupt unions.
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