Thread: B-B's on 1-way Alaskan cruises (same ship) -- PVSA violation?

Originally Posted by Char

And remember that your back to back cruises are 2 seperate cruises...not lumped into one cruise.

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As far as the PVSA is concerned it is just one cruise. When you first board till when you disembark is the transit that you must abide by the rules.

For instance, a cruise from San Diego to Vancouver, then continuing from Vancouver to Seattle, would be in violation. You can however, make a same day transfer at Vancuver to a different ship to sail to Seattle.
Another example, actually a cruise I was on, from Seattle to Alaska ending in Vancouver would be fine. If you stayed on the ship as it sailed to Honolulu, you would be in violation. If you then stayed on the ship as it sailed to Ensenada you would no longer be in violation.

The rule is that you can't board a ship in one US port and disembark in a different US port without visiting a deep (distant) foriegn port. There are no such ports in either North or Central America. That is why a Panama Canal cruise calls at the Netherland Antilles, ie, Aruba, Curacao or a South American port. The rule covers from when you board a specific ship to when you disembark, no matter how many separate segments are involved.

Reggie

I don't know if this is still possible, but a couple of years ago someone took a Holland American cruise to Alaska, an Holland American coach trip around Alaska with accommodation and a different Holland American ship to return on.

This sort of vacation appeals to me.

Originally Posted by Norman

I don't know if this is still possible, but a couple of years ago someone took a Holland American cruise to Alaska, an Holland American coach trip around Alaska with accommodation and a different Holland American ship to return on.

This sort of vacation appeals to me.

That would still be possible. You have many choices as far as cruise line and time spent on the land portion of the itinerary. You might also do the northbound on one cruise line and southbound on a different cruiseline.

Reggie

Now my biggest problem is our girl's school district. They just announced this week that they are dropping the idea of starting the school year in mid-August this year due to the budget crisis (I guess if they delay the school year for a few weeks, they'll have some $, but also they would save on air conditioning too). But I can't find out if that's all the public schools, aside from the charter schools (which can set their own calendar) including the high schools that started early this year. And also what would be the schedule for the '12 to '13 year.

So it could be possible that the girl won't be starting school this fall til sometime in September. And go through to mid-June (with the possibility of having a limited summer next summer). Or if she doesn't get into her first couple of choices and has to go to the closest school (which she doesn't want to do), that one will definitely start in mid-August as they are a charter school. Plus have to go through their summer academy.

So will have to wait and see how this all sort out.

Isn't it always fun watching the civil servant types get their acts together. For some reason they don't seem to care about the people's schedules or how much they are interfering with them.

True. My hubby has a civil service job and some of those people who work there are just so inefficient or uncaring.

My problem is that the schools make such a big deal about how they don't want vacations scheduled while school is in session. I get that. But how can families plan a trip together if the district is changing the dates around. (not to mention telling us that even during breaks, it's so gosh darn important to make sure the kids are reviewing their subjects...let them have a real vacation)

So it's possible that next summer for the girl will be shorter. If she was starting in August and got out in early June, we could have scheduled the trip then. But there's also any summer school to figure in too (she wants to attend an academic program this summer that starts the Monday after her eighth grade ends and goes through the end of July and we don't even know if she could get credit for taking Geometry in that program for her high school).

It boggles my little mind.