Welcome to Cruise Talk the Internet's most popular discussion forum dedicated to cruising. Stop by Cruise Talk anytime to post a message or find out what your fellow passengers and industry insiders are saying about a particular ship, cruise line or destination.
>>> Reader Reviews >>> CruisePage.com Photo Gallery >>> Join Our Cruise Club.
Latest News...Disney Cruise Line announced today that the honorary role of "godparent" for its new ship, the Disney Treasure, will be held by The Walt Disney Company cast, crew, Imagineers and employees around the world. The profound declaration is a heartfelt tribute to the more than 200,000 dreamers and doers who make every Disney entertainment, vacation and at-home experience possible. Disney Cruise Line is proud to celebrate...
Latest News...Carnival Cruise Line is adding to its line-up of 2026/27 deployment with sailings from New York City on Carnival Venezia, and more Long Beach sailings on Carnival Firenze and Carnival Radiance. “Our two Carnival Fun Italian Style ships offer great options from the east and west coasts, conveniently connecting New York and Long Beach to popular destinations, while delivering unique experiences on board...
Latest News...Vacationers are in for more ways to make memories across Royal Caribbean’s latest combination of tropical and Northeast 2026-27 getaways. The lineup of 12 Royal Caribbean ships rounds out a variety of adventures across Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and the Northeast for every type of family and vacationer to get away any time of year. Crown & Anchor Society loyalty members...
Best, Onno
It covers all ships in International trade, and those in Domestic trade to the extent that their Governments wish.
Doug had a good description not long ago - Joe did too.....peter
Joe at TravelPage.com
Wish Joe had done his before I did mine, it would have saved me a lot of trouble ...
quote:Originally posted by gohaze:it is an International Convention, one of many, administered by a United Nations Agency called the Internatinal Maritime Organization which operates from London.It covers all ships in International trade
It covers all ships in International trade
I think it's important to note that the while the IMO makes the laws, they can't enforce them. Generally there are two ways of enforcing SOLAS laws:
1. Flag states. They completely "farm out" inspections to classification societies who are paid by the shipowners. In general they do not enforce the laws very well, though some do much better than others (if you take a flag-of-convenience state like Liberia for instance, you could pretty much use anything that floats and nobody would care).2. Port states. These are the people who do most of the enforcing. Port State Inspections are mostly done by the US and countries which agreed to the Paris or Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding on Port State Control (abbreviated Paris MoU or Tokyo MoU). Of course as always there is a big variation in enforcement, but this at least shows some attempt by SOMEBODY to enforce the law which is quite refreshing. In US and European countries the enforcement is generally quite strict; which is why people often think that SOLAS applies only to ships trading to or from US ports.
[ 06-22-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]
Canada also has quite stringent inspection standards and catches quite a number of substandard ships.
Cruise ships at least those of the major international cruise lines, are usually maintained to quite high standards of safety and maintenance and it is rare that an active cruise ship is detained under Port State Control. A notable exception was the recent Ocean Glory (ex Enrico C) which was caught by British PSC, detained, sold and eventually disposed of.
Canada began using Regulation 19 back in 1967, many years before the MOUs, although it was also possible to hold a ship under the Canada Shipping Act.
It was actually a quite simple process as the ship was told to correct the deficiencies to comply with it's Solas Certificate before it would be allowed to sail.
Over a period of time, that plus the very strict safety inspection of the ship's cargo gear here on the West Coast, stopped a lot of clunkers from coming.
....peter
Ultimate Bulletin BoardTM 6.1.0.3
More Vacation & Cruise Specials...