twangster

We started today two sea days on our way back to Shanghai. Good time to check some ship activities. Let me know if you want me to check something specific or to take a picture of one of the locations.
Weather is very good ,not too hot and too windy so perfect sea day.
Currently they have  Fencing which I will try if the lines are not long , as I know its first time they have this activity , they also have the bumping cars but lines are crazy (as expected) and later archery and laser tag (extra money for the laser Tag).
Few word about the Casino , as expected , most of the space in the Casino is being taken by the Baccarat tables , but they are not the most poplar , it seems that the 3 card poker is the most poplar table as its always full. No Crap tables , some roulette tables.
There very few slots machines , less than 100 and most as expected are more from the Chinese type. 
On this cruise , 3 out of the 7 days the Casino was closed due to port regulations. As all the rest of the activities on the ship the currency is US Dollars.   
   

Most cruises have a two year sales cycle.  Plenty of time for people to plan vacations, book cruises, get cheap airfare, etc. 
When Cuba was trumped it put the cruise lines in a very bad spot.  When they had to cancel Cuba overnight with no notice it left them with two empty ships.  Expenses for those ships don't stop and they can't just park them somewhere and fire the crew.
What's better?  An empty ship with no guests but still requiring a crew onboard or minimizing losses by filling the ship with guests who will buy drinks, dinners at Chops, photos, gamble in the casino, contribute to crew compensation VIA daily gratuities, etc.
Some folks may spend more than normal on board since they got a good deal on the cruise fare.  They might not normally do Chops or Chef's Table but heck, "We paid so little for the cruise, let's splurge!" 
I'm going back to Empress and I'll be buying a Chops dinner again and drinks, again.  I'll buy Voom too.  I'll also be paying the daily service charges aka gratuity so crew still make money.  
Cuba was highly profitable so yeah, some of those profits are being offset in the short term but the alternative is worse.  They never planned to do this, they are dealing with the circumstances they find themselves in.  Perhaps in the near future a more business friendly administration will take office.
 

Cruise Summary
This was a bucket list cruise for me and I am so glad I did it.  Like my first time to Alaska I suspect this may be repeated in the future.  
The newer O3b internet platform worked great over the length of the cruise.  
Ovation of the Seas once again did not disappoint.  
The sea days flew past and the three port days in a row including an overnight stop made the rest of cruise very enjoyable.  Debarking in Honolulu was a breeze.  I'm glad we had a day in Seattle to visit as a port of call and not simply as an embarkation/debarkation city.
Cruising to Hawaii is very different compared to cruising in the Caribbean, in a very good way.  The ports are very interesting with a lot to choose from.
I picked my excursions carefully and watched some of them fill up and become unavailable so I'm glad I booked them when I did and saved quite a bit of money by watching for sales as the months went by.  
The tendering process was mostly a pretty good experience other than that one night coming back late when there was a wait.  Still it was quite impressive to see them perform such a large tendering operation as efficiently as they did.
I'm torn between picking a smaller ship next time to Hawaii to gain a few more ports that only smaller ships can visit or repeat on Ovation.     
I wish I could have stayed on for the next cruise to Sydney but that will have to wait for another year.  
I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.

Our progress back to Oahu somewhat in the middle of the Hawaiian island chain.

Debarking was super easy.  Just walk off.  They scan your SeaPass card one last time and from there you follow the flow and exit the terminal.  We pre-cleared US customs and immigration in Vancouver so none of that was needed here since all of our stops after that were in the US.
The port is a quick ride share away from HNL airport.  Almost as convenient as Port Everglades.  

Signs direct you to the ride share pickup area a short walk past the taxi stand area. 

Day 11 - Honolulu
Up early the lights of Waikiki tell the story of how the island of Oahu or at least this Southern area is very different compared to the other islands.  It's basically a big city like feeling.

Amazing sunrise to start my last day on the ship.  

Up to the Windjammer for a last breakfast before debarking. 
A view over to the famous Diamond Head peak and the hotels of Waikiki in the distance to the left.

This was pretty much a full day excursion arriving back in port 30 minutes prior to the last tender back to the ship.
Looking back it was very informative and I feel like I know so much more about the volcanoes of Hawaii but also how life has evolved here over time.  We covered a lot on this excursion covering the early religion introduced by the missionaries, a stop for some famous Kona coffee,  a lot of lava and volcano knowledge, a beautiful beach with unique black sand and the world famous Southernmost bakery.
The people of the big island were very friendly and thankful for our visit.  Even away from Kona the news of the biggest cruise ship to ever visit the state coming to call on Hawai'i was well known across the island.  I could definitely see myself coming back to Hawai'i (the big island, not meaning the state in general). 
Back in Kona at the harbor it was time to board a tender and head back to the ship.



After a shower and a few happy hour drinks it was time for yet another beautiful Hawaiian sunset as we began to sail away.


Yikes, time for that ugly word.  Packing.  
Next stop Honolulu.  

Our last stop is the Southernmost Bakery in the USA.


Who can resist the smell of freshly baked goods?



Our last stop and restroom break before the ~90 minute drive back to Kona.  

Our next stop was Punalu'u Beach or Black Sand Beach as it is sometimes called.

Molten lava reaching the ocean would explode hitting the cool water breaking into small pieces.  Wave action over time further broke the lava down into black sand. 

The beach is frequented by Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles which are protected.  Signs warn people to stay back at least 30' with stiff penalties for anyone who approaches or touches a turtle.  A recent visitor left a trail in the sand when they came up to bask in the sun on the black sand..





The stark contrast of blue sky and water against the black lava and sand made for breathtaking scenery that looks so much better in real life compared to these feeble pictures.



Lots of other wildlife is on hand as well resting in the branches.

It doesn't take very much imagination to picture molten flowing lava flows slowly creeping towards and into the ocean.




This would also be our lunch stop where they brought out sandwiches, chips and soft drinks for us.
We had one more stop on this tour.  A bakery used to be located here at the beach but it became so famous the small beach parking area and roads were overtaken with traffic to the bakery so they moved it closer to a nearby village.

Back into our bus we headed towards the coast. 
Lava flows generally flow down hill and our driver tells us of the occasional holes that open up in the roads around Hawaii.  Like sink holes sometimes a cavity is created or a lava tube hidden deeper below the surface opens up resulting in a collapse of the road.  We crossed over a couple such spots where they created a temporary bridge over such an opening while they work to rebuild the main road.

Another bird unique to Hawaii is the Nēnē.  They are the state bird of Hawaii.

It is believed these are a variation or evolution from the Canadian Goose arriving around 500,000 years ago being blown off course during a migration.  They have evolved by growing small talons on their feet and other adaptations over time to suit Hawaii.  It's believed in the 1800's there were as many as 25,000 but those numbers dwindled to around 30 in 1952.  Conservation, breeding, protection and re-introduction has brought that number up to around 2,500 today.  

The tour continues with our first sitings of old lava flows.  Not the Kraken variety.
Driving along the highway everything looks normal then you come across a barren section of land where it looks like someone has tilled the land but really it's a lava flow from decades or hundreds of years ago.  In some cases plant life is starting to make roots.

The brown area may look like dirt but it isn't.  It's more lava rock.

There are three predominant types of lava found on Hawaii.  Most of this is an example of aa lava, a very fast moving form that causes the flow to crack and break into pieces.

This is the big island.  The whole island was like this once but in areas that haven't received new flows a soil has formed over hundreds or thousands of years.  The isn't soil very deep though and lava rock like you see here is never far from the surface.  That makes it hard for trees to take root or to plant electric poles like this one.   This is an example of pahoehoe lava and it moves slower allowing a skin to form that protects the molten lava within so it doesn't crack in the same manner as aa lava.

The side of the lava exposed to air oxidized and became the porous lava rock we use in our BBQ grills while the lava flow further from the surface cools at a different rate that often causes it to crack and splinter.  

Note the brown lava rock versus the black lava rock.  More on that later.

The Southernmost point in the US in the distance.


To give you an idea how slowly plant growth comes back there are three lava flows in this area.  The oldest flow is brown in color now because of the high iron content.  It basically rusts over time turning the lava rock into a color that looks like soil.  It's not soil though, just more lava rock.  

The brown lava rock is believed to be from a flow between 750 and 1,500 years ago.  The darker "newer" lava flow is from 1907.




Note there are no trees on the darker flow, only the 1,000 year old lava has plant life.

This one species of tree has adapted to life on lava and it produces an enzyme that can break down the lava rock and allow its root to penetrate the rock.  The tree and the red flower that blooms on them have a storied beginning in Hawaiian folklore.  More on that later.

 
This lava flow rock is very sharp.  If you fell down it would hurt and probably cut you.  This is what the native population had to deal with prior to modern times.  No roads, no cars but to navigate Hawaii the native population had to deal with navigating across these types of flows all over the island for hundreds of years.  

Cruise Compass from this sailing has been posted:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/ovation-of-the-seas/fri-2019-09-20-0000
 

Correct.  You must always inquire if re-pricing at prevailing rates impacts any promos, credits and perks you booked on day 1.  
Often it doesn't make sense to re-price if you managed to get a lot of extras included in the original booking.

Most cruises have a two year sales cycle.  Plenty of time for people to plan vacations, book cruises, get cheap airfare, etc. 
When Cuba was trumped it put the cruise lines in a very bad spot.  When they had to cancel Cuba overnight with no notice it left them with two empty ships.  Expenses for those ships don't stop and they can't just park them somewhere and fire the crew.
What's better?  An empty ship with no guests but still requiring a crew onboard or minimizing losses by filling the ship with guests who will buy drinks, dinners at Chops, photos, gamble in the casino, contribute to crew compensation VIA daily gratuities, etc.
Some folks may spend more than normal on board since they got a good deal on the cruise fare.  They might not normally do Chops or Chef's Table but heck, "We paid so little for the cruise, let's splurge!" 
I'm going back to Empress and I'll be buying a Chops dinner again and drinks, again.  I'll buy Voom too.  I'll also be paying the daily service charges aka gratuity so crew still make money.  
Cuba was highly profitable so yeah, some of those profits are being offset in the short term but the alternative is worse.  They never planned to do this, they are dealing with the circumstances they find themselves in.  Perhaps in the near future a more business friendly administration will take office.
 

Observation - Day 4 drinking card - 12 drinks up  to 12 $  - cost 68 $ !
I talked to some people at the bar (they have allot of time to talk as many times we are the only customers) most of the people on the ship just do not drink and if they drink they drink beer , so they try to do whatever they can , seem that not many even bought the drinking card .
Oh well , more alcohol left for us.  

Thank you for a delightful ride along I enjoyed every post

Just to further clarify...
The CAS terms and conditions has verbiage that is open to interpretation so all we can do is report what the CAS has been doing lately. 
In my experience (never using travel agency rates) at the moment it is the cabin type that has determined my points multiplier.  For a single traveler, studio cabins receive one point per night, standard double occupancy cabins receive two points per night and suites (Junior and above) receive three points per night.  This has been regardless of any single supplement paid or reduced, above or below 340 points.
The official verbiage is:
One Cruise Point for each completed night of sailing and an extra Cruise Point per night when you purchase and sail in suite accommodations (categories RL, RS, PS, SL, TS, A1, A2, A3, CL, OS, FS, GS, JS) and/or sail in any category and pay a single pricing type for double occupancy staterooms. All other rates including Travel Agent rates are excluded from single price type extra point promotion. Cruisetours are included as an additional night per each day on the cruise tour. Points will be awarded by rate paid not rate berthed, for example, in the instance of an upgrade from an outside to a suite category including reduced rate upgrades. Allow up to 30 days from the date of debarkation for Cruise Points to post to your account. Requests to add missing Cruise Points may be submitted up to 12 months after the debarkation date of your sailing. I have been above 340 for over 13 cruises.  Over the course of those 13 cruises above 340 I have at times paid no single supplement (100%), 150% single supplement and 200% single supplement.  In all cases I received double (standard cabins) or triple points (Junior and Grand Suites).  I have not booked into a studio cabin so none of my cruises were single point per night.
When I have paid 100% single supplement I inquired with CAS to see if double and triple points would be offered for that cruise for single guests.  They assured me they would be.  
The 150% reduced single supplement for being at or above 340 does have some restrictions.  It does not apply to a cruise that departs in July or August, certain holidays or cruise voyage packages.  The official verbiage is:
Single members must have 340 Cruise Points earned in order to receive the single cruise fare at 150%. This offer is based on availability with certain restrictions. Ocean Voyage Packages, Holiday sailings (Christmas and New Year) and the months of July and August are not included in this offer. CAS balcony discounts are prorated for single cruisers.  For two eligible guests booking into a balcony the CAS balcony discount may be $X but for a single eligible cruiser the balcony discount is something less than $X.  
Balcony and Suite Discounts are a per stateroom discount applicable on balcony and suite categories only available to Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle Crown & Anchor Society members. Savings are not redeemable for cash and are non-transferable. When reserving, a valid Crown & Anchor Society membership number must be included in the reservation. Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle Crown & Anchor Society members will receive an increased discount for making a reservation for a sail date outside of six (6) months. Within six (6) months of sailing, if the guest cancels and reinstates the booking, applies a fare change, changes categories, or changes the ship or sail date of the booking, the discount will be automatically adjusted to the lower value. This offer can only be combined with the Onboard Booking Bonus while making a reservation onboard a Royal Caribbean ship. This offer cannot be used with certain restricted fares and is not combinable with any other promotion or offer, including, but not limited to Shareholder Benefits, and other dollars off and onboard credit offers, MyCruiseSM Upgrades, Companion Fare and Free Cruise promotions and benefits.  Single occupancy guests paying less than 200% cruise fare will be eligible for a prorated value of the Offer. Note that CAS verbiage does not specifically state triple points for a single cruiser in a suite but that has been what they have been providing in practice regardless of being above or below 340 points.
When it comes time to consider the RoyalUp upgrade program, single cruisers always pay a 200% upgrade charge.  If you bid $100 for an upgrade, that is doubled to $200 as you step through submitting a bid.  Being at or above 340 points has no bearing, single cruises pay twice the bid amount no different than two people on a booking submitting a bid. Successful RoyalUp bids into a suite do not include any extra points per night that you would not have received for the original booking.  
The official discount code for the reduced single supplement is DP340.  Any guest over 340 points can apply this discount code along with their CAS number when making a booking on the Royal website.  If you use a travel agent they can use the DP340 discount code along with your CAS number to price a cruise. 
Group cruises, both the type offered here on the blog and anytime a travel agent has group space available typically do not include a reduced single supplement rate.  To have a travel agent book you into group space you typically must pay 200% single supplement even if you are above 340 points.  Having said that they can sometimes take a direct booking that you made yourself and import that into the group space.  That may not improve your price but it may make you eligible for other group space promotions. 
Typically charter cruises do not include reduced single supplement rates.  
When visiting NextCruise on board they can price reduced single supplement rates for anyone above 340 points.   Make sure to instruct them to do so.  In some cases they don't always know the rules and may suggest that cruises outside of July & August or other holidays such as Memorial or Labor Day are not eligible.  They are, stand your ground and politely request they apply DP340 anyways.
The reduced single supplement for being above 340 points does nothing when you book a studio cabin.  You rate will be the same as everyone else booking a studio cabin.  CAS balcony discount might apply to studio balcony cabins but does not for studio interior cabins.
Frequently my point multipliers for being solo are not automatically awarded.  A simple and friendly phone call has always corrected it.   

I went to check about the internet yesterday , (beside the Voom is 600 KB for download) to understand why the blog site is blocked . The WIFI expert tried it from her phone and got same result but when she tried from the laptop it worked which mean it's not blocked in the cooperate level bus some were in some " nerd talk warning" ACL in the router/FW/Proxy between the guest WIFI and the ship internet connection, I asked her if she can run some traceroutes for me , she looked very confused and told me she will call IT tommorow. I understood asking for TCP dumps on their router  will be too much. 
Anyway I will check it again later on today but it's very annoying not be able to update when I want and we have tow more sea days ahead of us.

Day 4 Kobe .
We left Osaka at 4 am and arrived Kobe at 7 am, that's what we have been told but we were sleeping as we did not planned any excursion for Kobe.


We woke up late and most of the places were already closed  so we went to 270 which always a nice late breakfast option. We then went to get orgnized for the port and went to catch a shuttle to the city. The port arrange free shuttle the downtown Kobe or you can take  the subway. At port I exchanged 20$ to Yens as there some street food stands which will no accept credit cards. The exchange rate was better than Google rate , welcome to Japan , they really trying here. After 10 minute ride we got to China town , since we just arrived from Chains we continued to o a covered street near by with tons of shops and restaurants.

 
Typical Japanese sign


We shopped for some souvenirs (Sake sets and some chopsticks) and got some Japanese cosmetics/medicines which you do not anywhere else beside Japan , you might find it online but price is much higher. Not sure what works and what not but hey they have the highest average lifespan so they must do something right :-). We thought to eat some Kobe beef in Kobe but after I read about the way they grow the cows for this meet we skipped it , don't get me wrong I have not a vegetarian and enjoy meet but its just did not sound right to us, so sorry no resturants stories from Kobe. We catched the shuttle back before big lines started to form. Got to to the ship , sign off the Sake bottle we bought and went to eat something. We went to bean &leave to drink cheese dragon fruit tea and cheese strawberry Drinks , it's much better than it sounds and we made it our daily drink , it also can come instead of a meal 

We had 6 PM appointment at the North star, apperently many other had and li es was around 30 minutes , shame on you RC. 
This is how it looked few hours before

I asked for 6 PM to catch the sunset but as someone said once , "they now how to take the reservation but not to hold  it" oh well we went up around 18:30, it was nice but for some reason the lights inside the gondola is really making me it hard to take pictures , here what I got





At least it's nice to take a picture of it from the outside


Dinner was in the MDR , we love the service , everything is super quick and they fill our wine  glasses before it finished. Not like the silver dining room the menu is changing daily and contains lots of western options and some far east




Finally an animal

Next we went to see the headliner show which was the Golden duo which are combination of dancers ,acrobats and comedians. It was nice to watch. The post activities was a wild west party which apparently was one of the most popular events. Well it was time to call it of , Tommorow Tokyo.
 

To add another layer to the puzzle, the check in people in the terminal are not cruise line employees, nor are they immigration lawyers.  
The company that provides the contract check in people also want to protect their company so the cruise line can't come back at them if a mistake is made, so they train their contract people to err on the side of caution.  If in doubt deny, regardless of the impact on a family's travel plans.  This way they don't get blamed by Royal and Royal doesn't get blamed by any government.  Every layer adds more CYA factor.  No one wants to be the scapegoat so CYA.  
In the case of OP, they are probably better bringing but not presenting the passports.  Use DL and BC to check in.  Bring passports in case something happens and they have to fly home, but as soon as you declare yourself out of compliance (soon expiring passport) it can be very hard to convince them otherwise because no one wants to lose their job.  
In somewhat related news, a British couple were denied re-boarding after their passports were lost mid-cruise.  Their stuff went missing in a small restaurant on land mid-cruise.  They notified the cruise line upon returning to the ship their passports had been stolen.  The problem now is that they basically told to the cruise line they were out of compliance to cruise - they didn't have passports anymore.  The cruise line can't turn a blind eye to this.  They now know these guests are non-compliant to travel.  The only choice the cruise line had was to deny them re-boarding.  
Had they simply got back on board and remained quiet they would have remained on board and dealt with it at the end of the cruise.  By informing the cruise line they were in violation of international travel requirements the cruise line had to act.  
The cruise line will always protect itself first and foremost.  

To add another layer to the puzzle, the check in people in the terminal are not cruise line employees, nor are they immigration lawyers.  
The company that provides the contract check in people also want to protect their company so the cruise line can't come back at them if a mistake is made, so they train their contract people to err on the side of caution.  If in doubt deny, regardless of the impact on a family's travel plans.  This way they don't get blamed by Royal and Royal doesn't get blamed by any government.  Every layer adds more CYA factor.  No one wants to be the scapegoat so CYA.  
In the case of OP, they are probably better bringing but not presenting the passports.  Use DL and BC to check in.  Bring passports in case something happens and they have to fly home, but as soon as you declare yourself out of compliance (soon expiring passport) it can be very hard to convince them otherwise because no one wants to lose their job.  
In somewhat related news, a British couple were denied re-boarding after their passports were lost mid-cruise.  Their stuff went missing in a small restaurant on land mid-cruise.  They notified the cruise line upon returning to the ship their passports had been stolen.  The problem now is that they basically told to the cruise line they were out of compliance to cruise - they didn't have passports anymore.  The cruise line can't turn a blind eye to this.  They now know these guests are non-compliant to travel.  The only choice the cruise line had was to deny them re-boarding.  
Had they simply got back on board and remained quiet they would have remained on board and dealt with it at the end of the cruise.  By informing the cruise line they were in violation of international travel requirements the cruise line had to act.  
The cruise line will always protect itself first and foremost.  

Day 3 , still Osaka 
Today we are in port until 3:30 am so it's almost over night stay. We were back to the ship at 7:30 pm and went to eat dinner in the WJ for the first time as it was empty now . We took some noodles from the noodles station and some other Chinese food with some western add on. I must say , if I was from China I might complain about too many western options 





? And here is the finished product

Post dinner we went again to the port to take the big wheel. I had to convince my spouse to go up since she don't a fan of high places (unless she is just looking on it) , it took me some time but at the end she agreed not before she was saying that I am "selling" her for the blog . As if the only reason I wanted to take the ride is for the ship areal photo . Me no how can you think such thing. 
Here are some picture during the way up. We had private cabin which was nice .





And here is the Osaka city , although the smoke in port of Spectrum was very visible.


I heard they are planning to move her to smoke electronic cigarette but with the last incidents they keep her on regular one 


After we we went down from the wheel we went straight to the ship as it was time for Let it be AC/DC in the music hall. They are good , they were even better after finally we have done good use to the UDP. The only small issue was the small audience. Maybe due the fact that many still touring the city or it was not really to the taste of the Chinese audience.  We were something like 14 people , at one time of the show the lead guitar went down  and shake everyone hands saying "thank you for coming" Anyway it was allot of fun .





Immediately after this show the silent party started , which we had already enough alcohol to want and participate . No photos here , I run out of battery (good excuses) but as we were part of the entertainment I am sure you can find me as a star of some viral movies in the Chinese Facebook ?, if not I am sure my spouse will gladly post the movie she took as a revange for the big wheel. After the party and countless Chinese Red bulls we went to the next obvious station , Sorento , jus to see that what we all were hoping for happened , beside the Pizza they had also a section open in the WJ buffet adjust to the Sorento , it had sandwiches , salads and some noodles, whatever needed for post Alchool night. End of day 3 (well sort of).

Cruise Summary
This was a bucket list cruise for me and I am so glad I did it.  Like my first time to Alaska I suspect this may be repeated in the future.  
The newer O3b internet platform worked great over the length of the cruise.  
Ovation of the Seas once again did not disappoint.  
The sea days flew past and the three port days in a row including an overnight stop made the rest of cruise very enjoyable.  Debarking in Honolulu was a breeze.  I'm glad we had a day in Seattle to visit as a port of call and not simply as an embarkation/debarkation city.
Cruising to Hawaii is very different compared to cruising in the Caribbean, in a very good way.  The ports are very interesting with a lot to choose from.
I picked my excursions carefully and watched some of them fill up and become unavailable so I'm glad I booked them when I did and saved quite a bit of money by watching for sales as the months went by.  
The tendering process was mostly a pretty good experience other than that one night coming back late when there was a wait.  Still it was quite impressive to see them perform such a large tendering operation as efficiently as they did.
I'm torn between picking a smaller ship next time to Hawaii to gain a few more ports that only smaller ships can visit or repeat on Ovation.     
I wish I could have stayed on for the next cruise to Sydney but that will have to wait for another year.  
I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.

Cruise Compass from this sailing has been posted:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/ovation-of-the-seas/fri-2019-09-20-0000
 

Southwest for me on my upcoming Panama Canal eastbound.  
$97 home to Long Beach pre-cruise
$82 from Ft Lauderdale home post-cruise
I wanted a full transit experience, that is after all what the canal was built for.  
Currently reading "The Path Between the Seas" as a primer.  
Countdown: 26 days
EDIT: Staying on the Queen Mary in Long Beach.  That itself is a bucket list item.  I've stayed on her before.  The sense of history is incredible.  Not all Royal Panama cruises use San Diego on the West coast.  

The problem can come to the surface when any common carrier decides to exceed rules and regulations to protect themselves.  
If a common carrier transports a passenger in violation of rules and regulations they can be held accountable and be fined for allowing it to occur.  As a result you often see an airline or cruise line exceed the regulations just be make sure they are not putting themselves at risk.  
They often derive their own policy based on lowest common denominators.  They don't expect or train check in agents on the matrix of "if citizen of country X visits country B, then this rule applies".  Instead they take the worst case scenario and apply that across the board.  This is the safest approach for them since it exceeds actual law or regulations.  So they might train agents on the 6 month rule.  If not valid for 6 months, flag it and deny even though actual law may not require that for a US citizen.
It's not a problem until it is a problem.  All it takes is one new person sticking by their rules and once you are flagged talking yourself out of that hole can be very difficult, even if actual law is on your side.