I was on a cruise last week , and one of the ports was Victoria BC. According to the daily schedule, due to regulations they could only have one bar per deck open while in this port. Additionally , there were restrictions on the entertainment - they couldn’t use the production staff ( those who work on the big shows) or guest entertainers. Does any know the reasons behind these restrictions? I don’t recall any other ports having such restrictions.
a Canadian thing it seems:
You have no idea how I tried to find something like that - I guess I couldn’t figure out the correct search terms.
Was there ever a problem with booze-starved Canadians storming on board ship to get drinks? 
How would anyone but passengers and crew even get on the ship? Everyone has to go through security every time you board.
I suspect (though I could be wrong) that the rule is there to encourage cruise ship passengers to get off the ship and spend money in port, by forcing the ships to close down some of their onboard entertainment while in a Canadian port.
In the past, visitors from land at port were common.
Just curious, any idea how long ago in the past?
I finally realized why I’ve never noticed this in other Canadian ports - the other times, we were in port during the day, when the entertainment tends toward bingo and fruit carving demonstrations. This time, we were in port from 4 pm till midnight.
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Canada has a lot more restrictions on alcohol than most of the USA (Except Quebec - those French-Canadians, you know…). We never went through country-wide prohibition and so never had country-wide relaxation of all liquor laws. many provinces still sell liquor and even wine only through government-run stores. There are still a few “dry” communities. Liquor laws are a provincial concern, I assume the ports rules are a compromise between the feds and the provinces. (However, we have not fallen for the American helicopter parent hysteria about young people, many provinces still have drinking at 18, and Ontario at 19).
As for entertainment - I suspect too this has to do with labour restrictions. They don’t want concert organizers or such to get around Canadian labour permit rules by having their concert on a docked foreign-registered ship. We have roughly the same rules about any undocumented foreign workers as the USA, but we enforce ours.
I searched on this, and it appears that greater security was put into place after 9/11. I don’t remember a lot of security when I took the QE2 in 1980, but that was a while ago. Ditto for a cruise in 1986.
BTW, it appears that Canada, besides regulating bars, can also not let you leave the ship if you have a criminal record.
It’s always been the case that the casino shuts down when you are in port.
This is probably related to either work licensing requirements or union rules (or both).
Many locations have strict requirements for entertainment workers, relating to licensing & safety (especially fire safety) training. It’s quite likely that the low-paid, foreign workers on cruise ships have not taken the required safety courses or have the appropriate licenses to do stage production work in Canada. And many stage occupations are strictly limited by union rules & training – stage electricians vs. stagehands vs. sound/light board operators etc. – each are trained only to do specific jobs in a crowded entertainment venue.
You realize that Canada is a completely separate country with our own immigration laws?
Liquor laws are mostly enacted by the states and vary considerably. For instance Oregon allows the sale of distilled spirits only by state run liquor stores. This isn’t all bad because IME these stores offer a remarkable selection, given the burgeoning local distilling industry.
While it’s true helicopter parenting hysteria was involved, the federal National Drinking Age Act operates through the threat of witholding some federal highway funding from states that refuse to enforce a drinking age of twenty-one. It doesn’t prohibit states outright from adopting a lower drinking age.
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Just mentioning a different law doesn’t mean we’re unaware of this.
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You’d be surprised at the number of visitors from south of 49 who don’t seem to get this point.
It often comes up in relation to trying to bring guns across the border, apparently on the assumption that the 2nd Amendment applies world-wide, but it can come up in other contexts.
I won’t even try to imagine why they try to bring their guns in.
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Generally hunting, and it’s not all that hard, as long as you know the law and comply with it in advance. It’s generally not gangbangers going to Regent Park, but hunters going to northern Ontario. You know, the same places your own gun-owning hunters go to.
From watching Border Security it’s also people going from WA to AK and don’t understand that there are different laws in the middle part.
Uh, yes. But I’ve been on cruises to lots of other countries and I’m unaware of that kind of background check.