Posted on 05/01/2021 7:33:04 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
It’s the good and the bad for the cruise industry in the United States this week. While the CDC pushed through significant changes to the Conditional Sail Order that will see Cruise operations from the US starting in July of this year, The US Senate blocked an attempt to see some of the Alaskan cruise season saved and allow cruise ships to bypass Canada.
While it is disappointing, the news does keep the door open for the cruise industry, although chances are becoming minimal.
No Changes to Passenger Vessel Services Act Senator Lisa Murkowski has been front and center of the efforts to return cruise ships to the fjords of Alaska a possibility. While the CDC’s changes give realistic hope for a cruise restart in the rest of the United States, the 19th-century law called the Passenger Services Act blocks any cruise ship traffic to Alaska.
The law was developed to protect domestic shipping and allows cruise lines based and operating from the US to sail without hindrance. However, as most of the cruise industry is foreign-flagged, these vessels may only sail inside the US if they also make at least one stop in a foreign port. As Canada has effectively blocked all cruise traffic until February next year, the law blocks all cruises to Alaska onboard cruise lines like Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and more.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski submitted a request to pass a waiver of the law for cruises between Washington State and Alaska. The amendment, called the Alaska Tourism Recovery Act, saw several changes and requirements from the cruise lines that would at least permit them to sail.
Murkowski said:
“These are simple, common-sense changes that ensure cruising is safe for passengers and for crew,”
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, two democratic senators that have been opposed to a cruise restart, supported the amendment, but unfortunately, it was not enough. The objection came from a fellow Republican, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who said the bill was a poison pill:
“Unfortunately the bill that’s now before us has deviated from that purpose. It now has poison pill provisions that add duplicative, unnecessary and unrelated regulations that will harm, not help the cruise industry,”
How the republican senator sees the bill hurting the cruise industry he did not clarify. However, the senator did clarify he wanted to see the Passenger Vessel Services Act repealed entirely— the amendment was unacceptable.
Is This The End For Alaska 2021? The fact that the bill did not pass the Senate will be seen as a severe blow to save the 2021 Alaskan Cruise season. While the chances are still there to save at least a few weeks, these chances are becoming slim.
Lisa Murkowski:
“Back home right now, people are not talking about the season for 2021 coming up. The motto is: ‘Get through to ‘22. That’s an awful way to be approaching our situation, and so they have asked for help. They realize that anything that we can do to try to salvage even a few weeks of a tourist season is going to be important to us.”
The hope now is that the CDC and cruise lines manage to push through the restart in July, while Canada would need to repeal the cruise ban they have put in place. With Alaska’s cruise season running from May until September, the window of opportunity seems to be closing fast.
To kill the 2021 Alaskan Cruise season is a real economic hardship on the costal Americans there in the towns that will face not one, but two years of reduced income.
IMHO keeping the oil pipeline open ,could have been used to bargain with Canada to allow Alaskan Cruises from the USA.
Unfortunately the Biden Group killed that oil pipeline immediately, costing American jobs and aggravating the Canadians. - Tom
Damn a—holes from CT telling me a Floridian I can’t cruise.
I left that state in 2006 cause of the CT crap and now I’m held hostage.
Asian airliners that stop in Guam/Alaska have to turn around and not continue-only American ones can. Think of how much $ Guam is missing out on.
The Biden Group has a few more curve balls for the Cruise Industry.
One I fear is punishing the Cruise Lines who have avoided the CDC regulations by relocating their ships to the Caribbean ports for departures.
The CDC could require American Cruise passengers on Airlines returning from various Caribbean airports to be tested, quarantined, this, that, or something else, to make an enjoyable cruise a hassle. Under the guise of covid prevention of course.-Tom
Read it again. Those a-holes from CT supported the ammendment.
It was the a-hole from Utah who stopped it.
That's why there's the saying, "Eat, Drink and be Merry, for tomorrow ye may be in Utah."
The cruise lines will move out of the US. Since many passengers must fly into the port of departure anyway, it would not be too difficult for the cruise industry to just leave the US and have the passengers fly into Vancouver or the Bahamas.
Actually may save the owners money.
What? Her buddies across the aisle didn't return the favor after all she did for them?
What a surprise...
-PJ
My wife and I are 0 for 2 with Alaskan cruises recently.
We had one scheduled for last August/September, which went away, and then we rescheduled for right about now. In fact we would be in Anchorage today.
But of course, it went away too.
At this rate, we’ll die before we get back to Alaska.
Senator CADAVER Puts his ugly nose in where it doesnt belong.
Lisa Murkowski MUST LOSE HER SEAT since she can’t even HELP HER OWN STATE and she votes WITH ALL THESE VILE DEMOCRATS!
In this case of Congress limiting where people can go on medical basis by pushing masks and other forms of quarantining people, the Supreme Court has clarified that medical quarantines are a state power issue, not the business of the feds.
Where medical lockdowns are concerned for example, note the reference to unique state powers to quarantine in the New York v. Miln excerpt below, the second item in the list.
10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
"State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” —Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"Inspection laws, quarantine laws, health laws of every description [emphasis added], as well as laws for regulating the internal commerce of a state and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c., are component parts of this mass.” —Justice Barbour, New York v. Miln., 1837.
"Obviously, direct control of medical practice [emphases added] in the states is beyond the power of the federal government.” —Linder v. United States, 1925.
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
In fact, the Supreme Court possibly got a clue about unique state power to regulate INTRAstate healthcare, including the power to quarantine, from the writings of Thomas Jefferson.
"Many are the exercises of power reserved to the States wherein a uniformity of proceeding would be advantageous to all. Such are quarantines, health laws [emphasis added], regulations of the press, banking institutions, training militia, etc., etc." —Thomas Jefferson to James Sullivan, 1807.
If Congress wants to order private ships what to do then Congress can buy the ships under the 5th Amendment imo.
Corrections, insights welcome.
I agree. That will be up to the Alaskans.
Unfortunately I live in Massachusetts, a state that produces the socialist , communist, American hating politicians that ruin this country and its Constitution, and work against making this a better stronger country,
Think recently of Barney Frank, Gerry Studds, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Elizabeth Warren, Ayanna Pressley, Maura Healy, etc.
And don't forget our present Trump hating RINO Republican Governor Charlie Baker. None of that group have I voted for. -Tom
Been wanting to do it again, but with a longer land portion to see a different part of the state. Oh, well. Maybe in another five years.
-PJ
If I wanted the cruise experience, I’ll go down to the mall and get drunk at the food court.
Check out the ALaska Marine Highway (ferry) system. Same ports of call, flexible schedules, plus you can bring your own car.
Thank GOD I live in Florida!!
Booked cruise out of Port Canaveral on MSC cruises, August 29th, 4 day cruise. Crossing fingers it will not get canceled.
I’M 0 for 6 for Europe...B2B in Oct 2020 and B2B2B2B in Oct 2021...
Both lots booked before the virus cancellations started and all good prices...
I managed to be on the last Alaska cruise Sept 2019...out of Vancouver...9 days...Icy Strait Point, Glacier Bay, Sitka, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan...
Dont hate me...
Well, 2019 wasn’t bad for us either. We spent the month of May working our way from Budapest to Amsterdam on a 15 day Viking cruise. Then finished up with a week in Paris and a week in London before heading back to Houston.
Then a week in NYC during the Christmas season to wrap things up.
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