photo credit: lemoncat1

Here’s a story I still haven’t quite figured out. Under current policy, foreign flagged cruise ships that visit more than one U.S. port are also required to make a stop outside the United States. Many cruise ships are foreign flagged, but owned and operated by companies in the U.S. This policy goes back to the U.S. Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 (over 120 years ago) and was intended to protect U.S. ships from foreign competition. I’m not certain how this pertains to current day cruise ships, but the industry has managed to abide by it, by making short stops. For example, a cruise from San Francisco to Alaska has to make a short port call in Canada before continuing on their journey.

But now a branch of the Department of Homeland Security is calling for changes to tighten the rule. Instead of a quick stop in a foreign country, they want foreign cruise ships to stay at least two days on each itinerary. In order to meet this requirement, foreign cruise ships would have to completely reorganize their schedules and modify which ports of call they will visit. Most vacationers prefer the short stays, as a 2 day visit to Canada may not be of any interest.

According to the Cruise Lines International Association, a Florida based trade group that represents most U.S. cruise ship companies, this change would cause some U.S. stops to be scrubbed in order to give them more time to meet the 2 day visit requirement, resulting in less tourism in the U.S., but more tourism in those foreign countries where the ships would be required to stop.

So with all that being said, can someone explain to me what exactly this has to do with Homeland Security? Or why they are using our tax dollars to increase tourism outside the U.S.?