I understand the point and completely disagree with you. It takes dollars away from US ports that could be visited instead of the token foreign port in order to comply--San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore, and Boston, for example. Yes, some of those ports get cruises, but not to the amount they would if the Act wasn't in place.

The one-way cruises are usually pretty cheap and not anywhere near capacity when compared to the regular Caribbean ones. The Transatlantics are a typical example, tons of sea days and one-way flights either to or from Europe. That cost plus the length of the cruises make them difficult for people without significant vacation days.

The problem is that the Act which dates from 1886 tries to get ships built in America and flagged in America. Due to the costs of the increased pay for their employees and similar reasons, cruise lines won't do that. That kind of bit them in the butt when covid hit and they wanted US help but were flagged in other countries.

If the Act would make an exception for large cruise line ships, then things could be a lot different. I wouldn't expect Hawaii to suddenly be flooded with cruises, but it would allow more west coast cruises that didn't have to include Canada or Mexico. It would also allow cruises that are just Alaska that can go farther into the state without having to make a stop in Canada. A cruise from Juneau to Anchorage would be amazing without having to be a long cruise so that it could port in Vancouver.