Located on the east coast of the United States, in the middle of the mighty Grand Strand beach in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach is one of the country's most tempting tourist destinations.
A winning blend of subtropical climate, and beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see, make Myrtle Beach a winner for fun and sun loving visitors. In fact, it is estimated that more than 14 million people make the trip down South every year.
There's one more reason why Myrtle Beach is such a crowd pleaser. Just three miles offshore, the casino cruise ships are open for business. In the last century, a three mile limit off the coast was set as the boundary of the United States. This was based on the distance a shore-based cannon could fire.
UPDATE: As of 2016, cruises to nowhere are no longer available from US ports of call. To learn about alternative cruise vacations, please call 1-800-377-9383. A cruise to nowhere may seem a little crazy, but it's actually a great opportunity to get away for a quick time and to really experience cruising and all that cruise ships offer. Singapore allows cruises to nowhere, helping a struggling industry. That means socially distanced buffet lines, electronic monitoring and hand sanitizer at the slot machines. The World Dream.
All Aboard
Entrepreneurs seized upon the fact that – if you took a boat into international waters – US laws did not apply. Simple: equip your boat with all the accoutrements a casino needs, load up with eager punters, and head out to sea for a distance of three miles.
Known as the ‘cruises to nowhere', the casinos rapidly became big business. Happy holiday makers enjoyed the opportunity to have a flutter and the state's political leaders soon realised there were revenue raising possibilities with the offshore betting boom.
Earlier this year, residents of Myrtle Beach and South Carolina were asked a simple question: would you rather raise infrastructure funding through a tax on petrol or through gambling?
These questions, however, related to land-based casinos. This would be a disaster for the casino cruise business which already operates legally. The last thing it wants is the introduction of land-based casinos.
Bet on Blue
The Myrtle Beach casino cruises operate mainly from the Little River waterfront which is also home to the annual Blue Crab Festival
There are several gambling boats, including the SunCruz Aquasino and the Big M Gambling Boat.
The SunCruz Aquasino is a 220 foot long boat that can accommodate 600 passengers. Trips normally last for five hours and a wide range of classic casino games are on offer, including blackjack, craps, and the ever-popular slots.
All You Can Eat Action
The Big M is a slightly smaller boat that claims to pay out ‘more jackpots than any other casino in South Carolina'. Games on board include Let It Ride, 3 Card Poker, and the ‘loosest' slots. All it costs to enjoy a five hour trip is $25 and there is an all you can eat buffet on board.
Frequent Myrtle Beach visitor and casino cruise fanatic Todd Jones is a regular daytripper on the Big M Gambling Boat.
'Me and my family have been coming to Myrtle Beach for as long as I can remember. We live in Columbia and it takes less than three hours to get to the beach,' he said.
'The kids are grown up now so now my wife and I can do exactly what we want. The Big M is the third boat that Diamond Management have owned. The first time we tried a casino cruise, we sailed on the Southern Elegance. That was eventually replaced by the Diamond Girl Two and now the Big M.
'We enjoy the actual cruise as much as we enjoy ourselves playing at the casino. It's a lot of fun and the staff are very patient. They are friendly and helpful because there are a lot of novice players to consider.
'I do remember one time when the surge was quite strong and the roulette chips flew all over the table. It definitely adds another dimension to the game,' he said.
Sing a Happy Thong
There is – of course – much more to Myrtle Beach than just the casino cruise business.
Crime writer Micky Spillane used to help judge the Miss South Carolina Pageant at Myrtle Beach in the 1950s. These days, you could face a fine or even arrest if you bare too much skin. Thongs are banned and revealing any portion of the buttocks is not permitted.
Country music lovers are also well catered for at Myrtle Beach. The Carolina Opry was opened in 1986 by Calvin Gilmore and has earned a reputation as the best country and western music destination outside of Nashville.
And Finally…
Struggling to choose a holiday destination for 2015? Of the 14 million annual visitors to Myrtle Beach, only 100,000 are from outside the US. So, if you want to experience some deep south hospitality, blue crab, and a famous cruise to nowhere, you know where to come.
A cruise to nowhere by definition is a short itinerary that sails roundtrip from a port of call without making any stops.
Casino Cruises To Nowhere
Essentially, the ship leaves port and sails in a big circle only to return a day or two later.
This type of cruise was generally most common when a short itinerary was needed to help fill out the schedule of a ship.
For example, if a ship returned to its homeport on a Friday fresh off a special 12-day itinerary and was slated to begin doing regular, 7-day sailings on Saturday morning, the cruise line might opt to throw a one-time-only one-night 'cruise to nowhere' into the mix.
Why? Doing so meant that the ship could set sail with passengers and generate revenue rather than spend the night sitting at the dock, racking up port charges and facility fees.
FACT CHECK: Do Cruise Lines Pay Taxes?
Cruises to nowhere were a win/win for the lines, given that they weren't paying for a ship to sit empty and the amount of revenue generated during the short sailings tended to be fairly high.
After all, on-board spending is known to be higher on sea days than when a vessel is visiting a port and guests are disembarking to spend their money elsewhere. A ship is most profitable when guests are onboard spending money in the casino, the bars and the spa.
Many Americans loved jumping on a quick cruise-to-nowhere, whether to celebrate a special occasion without having to take a full week off work or as a way of taking a ship they'd never sailed on a 'test drive' to see what they thought of it.
Sports betting sites not on gamstop. Unfortunately, those days are over — at least for now — as cruises to nowhere are illegal in the United States.
Why Did Cruises To Nowhere Stop?
Prior to 2016, a number of U.S. cruise lines offered a few one- or two-night sailings without port calls, targeted to first-timers, ocean lovers and gamblers.
They weren't technically legal then, but officials choose to turn a blind eye to a practice that generated just a tiny fraction of overall cruise industry revenue.
It was a court decision that brought things to a halt.
In 2013, a company called Bimini Superfast, owned by Asian casino giant Genting, began offering gambling-themed cruises to nowhere from PortMiami.
When the company tried to expand its operations to sailings out of Port Everglades, it caught the attention of Customs & Border Protection, which filed and won a lawsuit.
CBP officials told the line that in order to operate cruises to nowhere, they must 'employ persons legally authorized to work in the United States, since such cruises did not touch a foreign port.'
As all major U.S.-based cruise lines employ mostly foreign crew, the decision applied to them as well. As a result, cruises to nowhere were discontinued by companies such as Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line in 2016.
'Due to recent changes in how ships are cleared into and out of the United States by U.S. officials, certain short duration cruises without a foreign port of call are subject to itinerary changes beginning in 2016. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be permitted to operate cruises-to-nowhere,' a spokesman with Carnival Cruise Line told Cruise Radio shortly after the ruling came down.
According to a CBP statement at the time, to be legal, ships offering cruises to nowhere 'must be staffed by U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents authorized to work in the United States.'
The majority of cruise ship crew members hold D-1 visas, which the CBP says makes them eligible to 'serve as a crew member on a vessel only if the crew member ‘intends to land [in the U.S.] temporarily and solely in the pursuit of his calling as a crewman and to depart from the United States with the vessel.''
Since cruises to nowhere do not land in a foreign port or territory, the CBP adds, D-1 visa holders are not eligible to serve as crew members.
Florida Gambling Cruises To Nowhere
The current mass-market cruising model does not support the higher costs that would result from hiring U.S. workers and having to follow U.S. labor laws and protections.
Who Can Sail A Cruise To Nowhere
Technically, there is one U.S.-flagged cruise ship with a majority of crew members who are U.S. citizens: Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America, which offers seven-night cruises around the Hawaiian islands, without a stop at a foreign port.
Conceivably, this ship could be used to operate cruises to nowhere, though it seems unlikely Norwegian would relocate and repurpose the ship from high-margin Hawaiian cruises to sail shorter, lower-cost cruises to nowhere. That said, in these unprecedented times, anything is possible.
Cruise lines can use a cruise to nowhere to show off brand new vessels to media and travel partners, known as a preview or shakedown cruise.
The one condition: the ship has to sail within territorial waters for a foreign port to get signed off.
American-flagged river operators like UnCruise Adventures, Alaska Dream Cruises, and American Queen Steamboat Company can also sail a cruise to nowhere as the law would not apply to them.
Cruise To Nowhere Alternatives
Cruisers can still do quick trips, but the sailings are likely to be at least three-days long because of the requirement that the vessel calls upon a foreign port.
In Florida, you can do three-night cruises from both Orlando (Port Canaveral), Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades), and PortMiami. These short trips typically run over the weekend and will call to Nassau, Freeport or one of the cruise line private islands in the Bahamas.
In California, shorter itinerary options are typically done from Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles and will call to Ensenada, Mexico.
Cruises To Nowhere in 2020
Quantum of the Seas will sail cruises to nowhere from Singapore in December 2020. (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean)
/Trier-56a3acaa5f9b58b7d0d3200c.jpg "Gambling")
Crime writer Micky Spillane used to help judge the Miss South Carolina Pageant at Myrtle Beach in the 1950s. These days, you could face a fine or even arrest if you bare too much skin. Thongs are banned and revealing any portion of the buttocks is not permitted.
Country music lovers are also well catered for at Myrtle Beach. The Carolina Opry was opened in 1986 by Calvin Gilmore and has earned a reputation as the best country and western music destination outside of Nashville.
And Finally…
Struggling to choose a holiday destination for 2015? Of the 14 million annual visitors to Myrtle Beach, only 100,000 are from outside the US. So, if you want to experience some deep south hospitality, blue crab, and a famous cruise to nowhere, you know where to come.
A cruise to nowhere by definition is a short itinerary that sails roundtrip from a port of call without making any stops.
Casino Cruises To Nowhere
Essentially, the ship leaves port and sails in a big circle only to return a day or two later.
This type of cruise was generally most common when a short itinerary was needed to help fill out the schedule of a ship.
For example, if a ship returned to its homeport on a Friday fresh off a special 12-day itinerary and was slated to begin doing regular, 7-day sailings on Saturday morning, the cruise line might opt to throw a one-time-only one-night 'cruise to nowhere' into the mix.
Why? Doing so meant that the ship could set sail with passengers and generate revenue rather than spend the night sitting at the dock, racking up port charges and facility fees.
FACT CHECK: Do Cruise Lines Pay Taxes?
Cruises to nowhere were a win/win for the lines, given that they weren't paying for a ship to sit empty and the amount of revenue generated during the short sailings tended to be fairly high.
After all, on-board spending is known to be higher on sea days than when a vessel is visiting a port and guests are disembarking to spend their money elsewhere. A ship is most profitable when guests are onboard spending money in the casino, the bars and the spa.
Many Americans loved jumping on a quick cruise-to-nowhere, whether to celebrate a special occasion without having to take a full week off work or as a way of taking a ship they'd never sailed on a 'test drive' to see what they thought of it.
Sports betting sites not on gamstop. Unfortunately, those days are over — at least for now — as cruises to nowhere are illegal in the United States.
Why Did Cruises To Nowhere Stop?
Prior to 2016, a number of U.S. cruise lines offered a few one- or two-night sailings without port calls, targeted to first-timers, ocean lovers and gamblers.
They weren't technically legal then, but officials choose to turn a blind eye to a practice that generated just a tiny fraction of overall cruise industry revenue.
It was a court decision that brought things to a halt.
In 2013, a company called Bimini Superfast, owned by Asian casino giant Genting, began offering gambling-themed cruises to nowhere from PortMiami.
When the company tried to expand its operations to sailings out of Port Everglades, it caught the attention of Customs & Border Protection, which filed and won a lawsuit.
CBP officials told the line that in order to operate cruises to nowhere, they must 'employ persons legally authorized to work in the United States, since such cruises did not touch a foreign port.'
As all major U.S.-based cruise lines employ mostly foreign crew, the decision applied to them as well. As a result, cruises to nowhere were discontinued by companies such as Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line in 2016.
'Due to recent changes in how ships are cleared into and out of the United States by U.S. officials, certain short duration cruises without a foreign port of call are subject to itinerary changes beginning in 2016. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be permitted to operate cruises-to-nowhere,' a spokesman with Carnival Cruise Line told Cruise Radio shortly after the ruling came down.
According to a CBP statement at the time, to be legal, ships offering cruises to nowhere 'must be staffed by U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents authorized to work in the United States.'
The majority of cruise ship crew members hold D-1 visas, which the CBP says makes them eligible to 'serve as a crew member on a vessel only if the crew member ‘intends to land [in the U.S.] temporarily and solely in the pursuit of his calling as a crewman and to depart from the United States with the vessel.''
Since cruises to nowhere do not land in a foreign port or territory, the CBP adds, D-1 visa holders are not eligible to serve as crew members.
Florida Gambling Cruises To Nowhere
The current mass-market cruising model does not support the higher costs that would result from hiring U.S. workers and having to follow U.S. labor laws and protections.
Who Can Sail A Cruise To Nowhere
Technically, there is one U.S.-flagged cruise ship with a majority of crew members who are U.S. citizens: Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America, which offers seven-night cruises around the Hawaiian islands, without a stop at a foreign port.
Conceivably, this ship could be used to operate cruises to nowhere, though it seems unlikely Norwegian would relocate and repurpose the ship from high-margin Hawaiian cruises to sail shorter, lower-cost cruises to nowhere. That said, in these unprecedented times, anything is possible.
Cruise lines can use a cruise to nowhere to show off brand new vessels to media and travel partners, known as a preview or shakedown cruise.
The one condition: the ship has to sail within territorial waters for a foreign port to get signed off.
American-flagged river operators like UnCruise Adventures, Alaska Dream Cruises, and American Queen Steamboat Company can also sail a cruise to nowhere as the law would not apply to them.
Cruise To Nowhere Alternatives
Cruisers can still do quick trips, but the sailings are likely to be at least three-days long because of the requirement that the vessel calls upon a foreign port.
In Florida, you can do three-night cruises from both Orlando (Port Canaveral), Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades), and PortMiami. These short trips typically run over the weekend and will call to Nassau, Freeport or one of the cruise line private islands in the Bahamas.
In California, shorter itinerary options are typically done from Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles and will call to Ensenada, Mexico.
Cruises To Nowhere in 2020
Quantum of the Seas will sail cruises to nowhere from Singapore in December 2020. (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean)
Cruises to nowhere are being seen by some as a lower-risk way of resuming cruise operations, since there would be no on-shore interactions and the risks that come with them.
Royal Caribbean recently confirmed that it will restart cruising from Singapore on December 1, offering three- and four-night no-stop 'Ocean Getaways' for Singapore residents only. The sailings will be aboard the 4,180-passenger Quantum of the Seas, which will operate at half-capacity.
There are also some cruises to nowhere currently being offered in Northern Europe, and Australia has indicated that the concept may play a role when the industry is permitted to restart there.
With the uncertainty of Canadian border reopenings, Alaska State Representative Don Young is pushing to temporarily lift The Jones Act (Passengers Vessel Services Act) in order to allow cruises to sail to Alaska from Seattle.
Lifting the maritime rule would allow ships to sail from the United States without making the compulsory stop in Canada before returning home.
Both the Cruise Line International Association and Alaska Travel Industry Association support The Jones Act waiver. This single action would essentially save the 2021 Alaskan cruise season. The loss of the 2020 season saw the region shed 15,000 jobs and millions of dollars thanks to the loss of all cruise-based tourism.
READ MORE: Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886
Unless there's a legislative change, Americans will no longer get to experience a cruise to nowhere, despite the fact that cruise lines see such a product is ideal for introducing first-timers to the concept of a water-borne vacation.
And, in the current situation, short, no-stop sailings could also help re-instill consumer confidence in cruise safety by creating a safe 'bubble' with no outside interaction.
The bottom-line: until legislation is change, cruises to nowhere are almost certain to remain a non-starter.
Source link
