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If you’re hankering for a primer on maritime law and the rules of cabotage — and really, who isn’t? — then ask Joan and Robert Miller of Ironton, Ohio to tell you their story:

“[The couple] planned to set sail on an Alaskan cruise, but missed the boat when the airlines cancelled their flight to Seattle. They were flown to Juneau, Alaska, instead, where they waited two days for the ship to port. Then, when they finally boarded, they were fined $300 per person, in violation of the Jones Act. The Jones Act was established in 1886 and states foreign ships can not transport passengers between U.S. ports. The Millers were out money they spent in Juneau, as well as the $600 fine. They have emailed lawmakers, the airlines and cruise lines to try and get reimbursed, but have had little or no help.”

(For the lawdogs in the house: The report technically misstates the law that covers this scenario. It’s the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, not the Jones Act, which passed in 1920. Zing!)

Besides reference to the wrong law, the article neglects to name the cruise line or the airline. (This passes for journalism?! Factual details are SO overrated!) As for the cruise lines, it could have been any of them. It’s exceedingly difficult to find a US-registered cruise ship. Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Pride of America launched in 2005, the first US-flagged cruise ship built in the last 50 years.

In order to get around the law, foreign-flagged Alaska-bound ships make a pit stop in Canada. That makes the voyage international, and no longer under the purview of the law. But if passengers don’t make that pit stop, like the Millers didn’t, then they’re in violation.

So who’s to blame? Plenty of blame to go around.

On the one hand, it’s an old, protectionist law designed to protect American shipping companies from foreign competition. That’s what our intrepid reporter, Deanne Stein, seemingly concludes with her headline “Federal Law Ruins Local Couple’s Cruise.” On the other hand, if the cruise ships had been registered in the United States, instead of going offshore to avoid stricter U.S. labor law, then there might have never been a problem. And don’t forget the mystery airline that started the mess by cancelling the flight, and not rebooking the Millers onto another airline, according to rule 240.

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