Need a link to U.S. law that covers leaving a cruise ship in a foreign country in the middle of a cruise.?

Question

Need link to actual law or statute or authority not just an opinion. I want to know if I can leave the cruise ship with my stuff at one of the stops in the middle of the cruise, like the cruise would leave Miami and supposed to return to Miami and I get off in Cancun and fly back to U.S. I've heard there's a law that says you can't do it.

Answer 1

You can get off the ship in a foreign port (with very few exceptions - like Russia mentioned above).

Remember that US Law means nothing on foreign registered ships when their not in US ports or Waters.

The US Law that you may be refering to is the JONES ACT.

I have supplied a link below for full information, but it basically states that passengers can not be transported between US states on a foreign vessel. Keep in mind that all major cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Celebrity and Crystal, have "foreign-flagged" vessels.

This means that when you board a Ship departing Miami, you can not disembark in Key West or New Orleans etc. Cancun - you can do what you like.

Answer 2

How can there possibly be a law to prevent you from not returning to a cruise ship. It is unlikely that the cruise ship will even fly the US flag. The US does not pass extra-territorial laws for things like this. The local country's immigration law would be the jurisidiction.  There may be a law that requires cruise ships leaving from the US to inform the US if passengers do not return from a port and the cruise ship may force you to sign a contract that you will return or pay damages if you don't communicate this.

Answer 3

in 95%+ of the port you will visit leaving the ship will not be a problem at all.... However.....

There are some countries where you cannot get off without a valid visa. Take St. Petersburg, Russia for example; to go to St.Petersburg on a cruise you do not need a visa to go ashore, they have made an exemption for cruiseship passengers - PROVIDED you only go ashore on officially sanctioned tours. To go by yourself will require a russian visa. Therefore, if you try to disembark there, the officials will not allow it as they will consider you an illegal entrant.

Again, you are very unlikley to fall foul of this as most of the countries that have those requirements are not the sort of countries cruiseship companies like to go......

Another potential problem is if you try to cut short a US based cruise, say for example an Alaskan cruise. Due to an ARCHAIC american law that makes life miserable for non US owned and flagged ships (thanks for that by the way) non US ships will get fined for loading or disembarking cargo or passengers in a second consecutive US port - designed to protect the US merchant marine.... (fat lot of good it did but anyway....)

Cruise ships in alaska have dispensation in that they can carry passengers to ports around alaska, but so long as none get off. If they do get off the Cruise company will get fined $300 PER PERSON who disembarks or embarks....

So although the cruise line will not stop you leaving the ship, they will instantly pass that fine on to you, and if you are a family of 4 it will cost you $1,200 to finish your cruise a few days early... your call...

EDIT... if you want the official source, the passenger fine stems from american legislation called  "Passenger Vessels Service Act"

Answer 4

My family and I did just that in Mexico.  The cruise was sooo boring from LA to Puerto Vallarta we actually decided to get off the ship with all of our stuff, spend a couple of days in P.V. and fly home.  There were no hassles.  We informed the ship's Guest Services desk who then hooked us up with the appropriate ship's officer - there was some paperwork to fill out and a Mexican Customs Officer was required to come aboard and process Mexican paperwork.

We had to show our passports, answer what the heck we were doing, promise to arrange travel out by a certain date and show proof we were able to book and pay for a hotel.  The luggage was inspected and we were off the ship.  You can write me at [e-mail] if you need more info, but there's no legality from the U.S. side if you don't want to use the ship to come home.  The cruise line will certainly not care and they will not give you a credit for unused ship time, so that's a down side.