Short Repositioning Cruises

[MCPayne]

Hi everyone.

I find it hard to believe these would be popular, but have any of you done a short repositioning cruise? I ask this because the ship I'm on in a few months is doing a couple of those. First a three night cruise from LA to Vancouver, then a one night cruise from Vancouver to Seattle, so it can shift to its Alaska itineraries from its Hawaii ones. I can't imagine that one night one would be very popular.

I also wonder why it didn't just sail from LA to Seattle, but I guess there's some sort of regulations about that? My understanding of the Jones Act was that it was just for roundtrip cruises that a ship had to stop in a "nearby foreign port."

[LisaP]

I haven't done a short repositioning cruise, although we've done a couple of round-trip weekend cruises. Nice for a quick fix when you don't have a lot of vacation time.

As for an LA-Seattle trip: that would not be permitted under the Passenger Services Act (sometimes referred to as Jones Act, although one addresses people and the other, cargo). The reason is because it would be, in effect, transporting passengers from one U.S. port to another -- a stop in a distant foreign port would be required to make it legal. For the same reason, the same passenger could not book the 3-night LA-Vancouver and 1-night Vancouver-Seattle back-to-back.

You're right in that a round-trip cruise need only stop in a nearby foreign port, as long as all passengers embark and disembark in the home port.

This is the best article I've seen on the PSA. The figures are outdated, but the rest remains valid to the best of my knowledge.

[Jim C.]

Which makes you wonder why they didn't just include the stop in Vancouver and make it a 4 day cruise. That would satisfy the law. How many people are going to want to do a 1 day to Seattle cruise? Then you have to get back to Vancouver to get your car!