Ships could be staffed by American crews. Hiring domestically would most likely be a condition in return for relief from the PVSA.

The higher labor cost will more than likely translate to a significant higher cruise fare... if that happens, the appeal of closed loop cruise as describe would be less desirable. There are smaller river cruises that operates all around the US that may be a better option at that point. There are only so many people that are willing to pay a premium and I don’t think it’s enough to fill a typical cruise ship that transport over thousands of passengers.

The one cruise ship that was operating within American waters is the Pride of America. It had no problem operating at full capacity.

Pride of America operates in a niche market of Hawaii sailings. They can charge a premium for Hawaii cruises. However, it won’t really work right now with Hawaii’s COVID-19 quarantine requirements for incoming travelers. It’s successful as it was the only ship able to cruise Hawaii without visiting a foreign port but apparently the numbers weren’t good enough for them to continue operating Pride of Hawaii and that ship was transfer to regular NCL operations and renamed Norwegian Jade. If it was truly successful, other cruise lines would of followed NCL’s lead.

But the fact that Norwegian decided to transfer Pride of Hawaii, a newer ship that carry more passengers, to regular NCL operations seems to tell me that there are only so much demand for cruises when priced over $200 per person per night during the regular off season.

Pride of Hawaii was not an American-built ship. At the time it was cruising around Hawaii, I believe there were three NCL ships doing the same. There was an over-capacity problem, so NCL ditched the other two ships that needed to add Fanning Island to the itinerary.

As an aside, we cruised on the Norwegian Jade around Norway, shortly after it repositioned there. It was a delight to be surrounded by the Hawaii-themed interior while in Nordic waters.

Hiring US crew would be great and I’m not against it.. I just don’t think there is enough of a demand for passengers to pay a premium to go on a cruise around various regions in the US. If there was a demand, “cruise to no where” and “coastal” cruises wouldn’t be so cheap every time its offered. In addition, there would be more US built cruise ships if the demand was there.

There are niche markets like Hawaii and Alaska that can justify the premiums and people will pay... Also small river cruises have a market. The problem is in the US we are limited in places cruise ships can go that can attract enough of a premium to cover the cost of labor. That leads into the question of are vacationers willing to pay a higher cruise fare to cover the cost?

Most loyal of cruisers would, like how frequent flyers will pay more and even go out of their way to fly on their preferred airline. Same goes for cruise lines... the loyal and most frequent cruisers will more than likely to continue to cruise regardless of destination and routing. The question is will there be an enough of a demand for regular and first time cruisers to pay the premium to go on cruises to places they can drive to or fly to easily.

All of this was accurate in 2019 when the "niche markets" were competing against other cruises. Would they still apply in 2020 when nothing else is cruising? To make it work financially would require higher fares but as other travel options are quite limited the question is whether there would be sufficient numbers of cruising diehards who would take a closed-loop cruise in their own countries.

It would not necessarily be the U.S. either. There could be a UK-only cruise for UK residents, an EU cruise for residents of member nations, etc.

I am not following this thread. I used to do one and two day cruises to nowhere out of Manhattan all the time in the early 2000's and it was not a violation of Passenger Vessel Services Act. I did a few bachelor parties back then, four to a cabin we never visited other to get out of a bathing suits when the pool closed.
Wasn't CTN's banned due to some employee tax issue for gambling day cruises and daily Bahama cruises out of Florida, claiming the employers did not have to by income tax even though employees on the were in the US every day .
All the mass market cruise lines did CDN's to get back on their rotation schedule when coming to NY for a season.

There is definitely a demand outside the US where you can probably put something together for a cruise to stay within one country. Alaska is pretty much dead for this year as the season ends in early September. As for Hawaii, there may be some demand in the winter if Hawaii decides to open the state up to travel without quarantine... People may go to Hawaii to cruise if that’s their only option, the question is more if the US relaxes the rules and allow other cruise lines to operate within the US provided they staff the ship with US crew... I personally don’t think theres enough people willing to pay the premium for something that used to be pretty much a bargain.

Cruise To Nowhere technically didn’t visit any other ports. The PVSA / Jones Act prohibits non US Flagged cruise ships and ocean liners from visiting multiple US ports without first visiting a foreign port. It also prohibits non US flagged cruise ships and ocean liners from transporting passengers between one US port and another US port without first visiting a “distant” foreign port. So this leaves two possibility of cruises... the more common one that leaves and return to the same port. And than the Panama Canal cruises that always stop in either South America or Panama. This is also why Hawaii cruises tend to have random ports like Ensenada or Vancouver or some random out of the way island in the Pacific. Also why Victoria, BC is on almost every sailing to Alaska from Seattle. Cruise to Nowhere satisfied all the requirement because they are technically not transporting anyone between 2 US port... they’re just going out and back.