Alaska unhappy Canada extending cruise ban until 2022
Sorry, but this is one time we can’t say sorry.
Ottawa’s latest extension of the ban on cruise ships in Canadian waters — this time until March 1, 2022 — angered three Alaska politicians to the point that they released a terse statement Friday. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Don Young expressed strong disapproval of the move, over concern for their affected constituents in the state.
“Canada’s announcement to ban all cruise sailings carrying 100 people or more travelling through Canadian waters, without so much as a courtesy conversation with the Alaska delegation,” said the angry U.S. Republican delegation to Congress “is not only unexpected — it is unacceptable — and was certainly not a decision made with any consideration for Alaskans or our economy. We expect more from our Canadian allies.”
Well, we can say “Ouch.” After extensions in May and October, the Canadian government issued a new order extending the prohibition of cruise vessels in all Canadian waters for a year through Feb. 28, 2022, saying it “continues to monitor the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it is having on the marine and tourism sectors. Keeping Canadians and transportation workers safe and healthy are top priorities for Transport Canada.”
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra Tweeted the announcement last week:
The government’s interim order prohibits:
■ all “adventure-seeking” pleasure craft in Arctic waters, but does not apply to local pleasure craft;
■ passenger vessels carrying more than 12 people are prohibited in Arctic coastal waters, including those of Labrador;
■ of most concern to the cruise industry, cruise vessels carrying more than 100 people are still prohibited from operating in any Canadian waters.
Individuals who break the pleasure craft prohibition could be fined up to $5,000 per day and groups or corporations can be liable for fines up to $25,000 per day.
Those who break the passenger vessel prohibition could be fined up to $1 million or to imprisonment for a term of up to 18 months, or to both.
While there is no national ban for smaller cruise ships certified to carry fewer than 100 people, they must follow all other health authority protocols for the area they are in.
The government continues to advise Canadians to avoid all travel on cruise ships outside Canada until further notice.
The extension effectively kills the Seattle-Alaska cruise season for foreign-flagged ships, Cruise Industry News says, as it does for ships under foreign flag in other cruise areas such as the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and Canada/ New England.
And therein lies the frustration: It is possible, under U.S. federal law, for U.S.-flagged cruise lines to go non-stop from Seattle to Alaska, but ships that sail between two American ports under foreign flag must call en route at a Canadian port, such as Victoria. And the larger U.S. cruise lines mostly register with foreign nations — most of Carnival’s ships, for instance, are registered in Panama, and Holland America ships fly the flag of the Netherlands. To circumvent Canada’s new ban, it could be possible for Alaska to request Washington waive that regulation.