There is increased hope for the State of Alaskan’s cruise tourism economy as today, the US House of Representative voted in favor of the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act (HR 1318). This is identical to the US Senate passed last week to temporarily waive the federal requirement for cruise ships transiting to Alaska to stop in Canada. At the bill’s core, is a temporary waiver of the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) through February 28, 2022 – the date when the current cruise ship ban is set to expire in Canada. The PVSA prohibits the transportation of passengers between two different U.S. ports on any vessel other than a US-flag vessel that meets all requirements for US coastwise transportation.
To restrict the imposition by the Secretary of Homeland Security of fines, penalties, duties, or tariffs applicable only to coastwise voyages, or prohibit otherwise qualified non-United States citizens from serving as crew, on specified vessels transporting passengers between the State of Washington and the State of Alaska, to address a Canadian cruise ship ban and the extraordinary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Alaskan communities, and for other purposes.
H.R.1318 – Alaska Tourism Recovery Act
Today’s passing of the bill was the final hurdle as the bill’s next stop is President Biden’s desk.
Scott, have you heard anything about a similar motion for Hawaii cruises? DCL has a couple HI itineraries on the Wonder (yup. I am booked on one of them… selfish me!) starting or ending in Vancouver.
May be they will do Ensenada/LA or San Diego instead?
They are also over 7 days, so I am not holding my breath…
Thanks for any ideas!
This could be a perfect opportunity for DCL to return to Seattle! I could see the Pacific Coast cruise itinerary to be for the 5 Night from San Diego to Seattle:
Day 1 – San Diego, California
Day 2 – Ensenada, Mexico
Day 3 – At Sea
Day 4 – San Francisco, California
Day 5 – At Sea
Day 6 – Seattle, Washington
The 4 Night from Seattle to San Diego:
Day 1 – Seattle, Washington
Day 2 – At Sea
Day 3 – At Sea
Day 4 – Ensenada, Mexico
Day 5 – San Diego, California
I wonder if any Wonder cruises out of San Diego can take place now provided they stop in Ensenada, Mexico?
With the execption of the cruises that were set to go to and leave from Vancouver, all of the SD cruises are slated to go to Mexico.
The interesting thing would be sailing the Wonder over there, If she would go empty or try to get enough people for the canal trip. It could be a once in a life time for school age kids to ride thru the canal.
Currently with the limitation of 7 nights for passengers cruises there’s no way the Wonder can take passengers through the Canal to San Diego, even if they were to skip other ports and sail right through the canal it will likely exceed the 7 night limitation as it takes 5 nights from the Canal just to reach Puerto Vallarta.
This gives me so much hope for the EBPC this fall! I debated canceling it but I’m very curious to see what happens next.
The Disney Wonder is listed in the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska Schedule (updated on 5th May 2021) as sailing out of Seattle every Monday from the 12th July 2021. It then Makes 3 port stops before returning. Maybe Disney are more forward with their plans than we know (hopefully) https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1250
I wish this was a permanent change. While Vancouver is a nice place to visit it costs more to get there then Seattle. Heck, why not go farther and just get rid of this outdated law once and for all?
For now the language seems to be specific to Washington and Alaska. The reposition from Washington state to San Diego at the end of the season would not be covered by the bill. Sure the ship could make the trip without passengers….
Or they could just do the normal 5 night and replace Victoria (British Columbia) with Ensenada, Mexico?