(a) For the purpose of the regulations in this part, a vessel is a passenger vessel if:

(1) Engaged on an international voyage by sea, it carries or is authorized to carry more than 12 passengers; or,

(2) Engaged on a coastwise voyage by sea or a voyage on the Great Lakes, it carries or is authorized to carry more than 16 persons in addition to the crew.

(a) A foreign voyage for the purpose of marking passenger vessels with subdivision load lines is a voyage by sea between a port under the jurisdiction of the United States and a port of a foreign country, its colonies, territories, or protectorates, or conversely (a voyage exclusively on the Great Lakes excepted).

(a) A coastwise voyage by sea, for the purpose of marking passenger vessels with subdivision load lines, is a voyage in which a vessel in the usual course of her employment proceeds from one port or place in the United States to another port or place in the United States or from a port or place in a possession to another port or place in the same possession, and passes outside the line dividing inland waters from the high seas (a voyage exclusively on the Great Lakes excepted), as well as a voyage in which a vessel proceeds from a port or place in the United States or her possessions and passes outside the line dividing inland waters from the high seas and navigates on the high seas, and then returns to the same port or place.

A Great Lakes voyage is any voyage from a United States port or place on the Great Lakes to another United States port or place on the Great Lakes or to a Canadian port or place on the Great Lakes, or conversely.

A new passenger vessel is a vessel whose keel was laid or was a vessel converted into a passenger vessel on or after May 26, 1965.

An existing passenger vessel in respect to its voyage is any passenger vessel that is not a new passenger vessel as defined in § 46.05-25.