Cruise Industry High Seas Lawlessness
Supported By Blind Eye United States Lawmakers
February 12, 2008
That sucking sound you hear, I hear, we all hear, is the sound of United States law going down the drain. The deep pockets of the major corporations within the industry have lawmakers so deep in their pockets, there is not a chance in hell that any American laws will be enforced to the letter, even handedly, straight across the board, as long as there are Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) lobbyists wandering the halls of congress.
While we have laws on the books to protect United States registered cruise ships from unfair competition by cheaply run, foreign flagged ships calling in American ports, they have not been enforced to the point, that even after extensive complaints by Norwegian Cruise Lines, with their U.S. flagged ships home ported in Hawaii complaining loud and clear, nothing has been done about the blatant lawlessness of the competiting cruise lines.
The law is clear. No foreign flagged ship can go from one U.S. port to another without first stopping in a foreign port between the two U.S. ports. The 'stop' is suppose to be a bonafied port of call. But, in the case of those California cruises to Hawaii, with a stop in Ensenada, Mexico, the port of call has clearly been manipulated to the point of violating the law.
A port of call is one where the cruise ship visits a port, and passengers have the opportunity to leave the cruise ship to visit the port. It is not a port of call, when a ship pulls into port, and tells the passengers and crew they can not leave the ship, because the ship will only be there for an hour.
Yet, this is how foreign flagged ships are robbing American flagged ships of passengers, by offering cheaper cruises on ships that do not sail under the laws of the U.S. Not only do they stop over in Mexico only as a formality, but they do so for only an hour, have no expenses for tenders, no port expenses at all for that matter, outside of normal at sea operations.
The U.S. government can't even say they were not aware of the problem, with the itineraries posted right on the web, with easy access.
The complaints by Norwegian Cruise Lines are really aimed at Holland America Line and their Hawaiian cruises that call in Ensenada, Mexico for only four hours whether the ship departs San Diego, California or British Columbia Canada.
Prior cruises had a stop of only one hour, termed a 'service call' that was simply to comply with the U.S. laws. While they did meet the law technically, they did not meet the spirit of the law and it was seen by NCL as a deliberate attack on Norwegian Cruise Lines profits.
Now, the rule before federal regulators would require a 48-hour stay in a foreign port before a ship could visit another U.S. port. In practice, it means that a cruise ship leaving a California port would have to spend two days in Ensenada, Mexico, or Vancouver, Canada, instead of the quick stops cruise ships now make on trips to Hawaii or Alaska.
Truth be known, once you have spent 4 hours in Ensenada, you have seen all there is to see. The time it takes to drive the few blocks into town, get off the van, walk around and buy some cheesy, poor quality, handmade goods, hear a bit of Mariachi music played on a local street corner by a group of lecherous Latin lovers, as you cram a one bite, mystery meat tiny taco purchased from a street vendor into your face and stop in at a dingy bar to have a Mexican beer or Tequila drink or two on the way back to the 'boat', it is really time to get back on the van, and back on the ship, before the sun sets.
Ensenada is a dangerous town after dark, and spending two full days there is not something I would want to do, having been there dozens of times myself, leaving well before dark, after some initial misadventures and close calls in my younger days. This fact alone is reason enough to take an American flagged ship, so you don't have to make that useless stop in Ensenada.
Now, NCL has pull not one but two ships from their Hawaii runs, and has exited to other more profitable markets, having pulled their U.S. flag.
It wasn't just CLIA fighting to have law makers look the other way when it came to laws written to protect American cruise lines, it was a battle being fought by governors and mayors who didn't want to see their tourist trade disappear as ships exited the U.S. market, unwilling to call in foreign ports for 48 hours in order to visit two American ports.
Truth be known, I doubt there are many Americans who dream of flying into a foreign city on an expensive international flight to take a cruise that never touches an American port, leaving them even more vulnerable than they are now to the lawlessness on the high seas without recourse. The price of the international flight alone would put those cheap, short, Caribbean cruises out of range of many who have only begun to cruise, since cruising got dirt cheap.
At least when a ship is home ported in the U.S. there is some sense, whether perceived or real that passengers have the leverage of the U.S. government in the event all hell breaks loose on a cruise. Thanks to CLIA that leverage has been suppressed quite successfully to date.
There is one fact that can not be denied. If all hell does break loose on a cruise, you need to hope there is a lawmaker or one of his/her dear family members on the cruise with you. That is the ONLY way justice will ever be served, and the only way laws on the books will ever be enforced.
There are any number of Americans who will tell you that a traffic light was not installed, passing lanes were not added to roads, road markers were not placed in dangerous areas until somebody important, or at least somebody loved by somebody important died at that very location. That is when change takes place in the U.S.
For now, Americans can only hope that the foreign flagged ships pull out of American ports, with 48 hour foreign port call requirements enforced. It means more ships will rush to raise the American flag, or loose those American passengers who will choose to vacation on American soil or at minimum on American lakes and rivers in order to avoid the high cost and hassle that an international, post 9/11 flight involves when taking a three, four or five day cruise.
There are millions of Americans cruising every year. That is alot of leverage, if only Americans were bright enough to use it. All they would have to do is "just say no" to foreign flagged ships calling in American ports, refuse to buy the tickets and suddenly cruising would have integrity or lacking such, would have laws that allowed compensation when a healthy portion of integrity was not served on the cruise ship menu.
Passengers and crew members would have their rights restored. A new industry would be born in the U.S. as dozens of American flagged ships hire Americans, thereby off-setting the loss of all the other jobs lost when American manufacturers lobbied Washington DC enough to allow them free trade tax havens in foreign cities with dirt cheap labor and few laws to regulate work place conditions.
With the extra tax dollars from a cruise industry forced into honesty, maybe the federal government could figure out what to do with the hundreds of vacant factories sitting empty all across America, slowly rotting into the ground, now daily reminders of other failed acts by U.S. legislators, that have contributed to the embarrassment of Americans from sea to not-so-shining cruise ship polluted sea.
