Originally Posted by
mduell
While I think the above posters are right about the immediate cause, the next question is "why the heck do Alaska cruises go out of Canada?"
And the answer to that is the
Jones Act; if they went out of Seattle, they'd need to be a US-crewed/US-owned/US-built ship.
I know this is an old post, but it's also incorrect on multiple counts. First, the Jones Act only applies to cargo. Cruise passengers are covered under the Passenger Vessel Service Act. Second, there are Alaska cruises out of Seattle (and San Francisco). The restriction is that they have to be round-trip.