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Alaska – Oh Canada, help us out here, eh!


rcdave

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Not sure if this meets the maritime regulations, but.  If a ship does a touch and go at a foreign port does that count?  The XYZ ship, registered in Timbuktu, leaves Seattle headed to Alaska does a touch and go in Victoria/Vancouver – pulls into the dock, secures the lines , 1001, 1002,1003,1004, cast the lines and good bye – no one gets off or on the ship.  Of course the cruise line still pays a port fee. Does that meet the requirements? If so would the Canadian government allow this before July 1st? 

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I seriously doubt that any ship is going to be able to leave port anywhere before the fall so the question is almost moot. Experts even putting a hard maybe on domestic travel within the US until late summer and even into early fall. The PM of Canada has said the restriction could even last up to 18 months there. I am hopeful for your hypothetical but I think it will remain only a hypothetical for quite some time.

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What happens if there are sick passengers onboard? The captain will seek assistance at the nearest port.  Then the local government has an incident on its hands.

This is exactly what happened with the Artainia here in Perth. It was ordered to leave multiple times, ignored those orders and sat idle at Fremantle port for three weeks. Passengers and crew were taken off as needed (because hey, we have a heart) and treated, taking up hospital beds and resources, before finally, mercifully, leaving over the weeknd. The whole thing was a mess.

So to answer your question, I couldn't imagine any country or State authority who have strict border controls in place to allow a cruise ship to simply pull up and take a few photos. Too much potential for a disaster to occur.

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Nope.
There *will be* public opposition to allowing cruise ships in Canadian waters for the 2020 season for sure! Especially when too many of our neighbours to the South are so blithely oblivious about acting responsibly towards their own communities. ?
 

The “give me liberty and give me death” crowd will definitely be ruining it for the majority, for a while to come.

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whenismynextcruis had it correct - the example was hypothetical. So just wondering if the "touch and go" meets the maritime requirement of a cruise ship leaving a US port must stop at a foreign port before returning to a US port?  Well aware of Canada/US border/port restrictions - I live just across the lake from Canada. 

 

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The more likely situation (well, the most likely is that the Alaska cruise season is just not happening this year, but I will ignore that for this thought experiment) would be for Alaska to pressure the federal government to temporarily suspend restrictions and specifically allow Seattle based closed-loop cruises to sail without a foreign port stop in 2020.  If the ship kept out of Canadian waters then this would be an entirely US decision and simplify things quite a bit.

On a much smaller scale we've had this here in Ohio.  Restaurants providing takeout successfully lobbied the state government to allow them to offer takeout alcohol, which was previously not allowed.  Rules were drafted on which types were allowed and container requirements, and a temporary allowance was given.

So there is a way.  It would require cruising to resume within the Alaska cruise season, Alaska to make such a request, and the federal government to consider and approve the request.  Not to mention the cruise lines being on board and having the ability to make it work with crew, some of which may not have authorization to debark in the US.  So I would put the odds of it happening right around the Lloyd Christmas scale of "so you're telling me there's a chance".

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