> That's also why all major US cruise ships touch a foreign port in their journey In a pedantic sense, major US cruise ships don't need to touch a foreign port

> That's also why all major US cruise ships touch a foreign port in their journey In a pedantic sense, major US cruise ships don't need to touch a foreign port in their journey. The catch being there is only one major US cruise ship - The Pride of America, which generally does Hawaiian cruises: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America The other major cruise ships you see operating in the US are actually foreign-flagged so they can avoid US environmental, gambling and employment regulations, etc. These are the ships that must touch a foreign port during their journeys.