US cruise industry urges government to consider lifting cruise ban
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has launched its ‘Safe to Sail’ campaign and hopes to be able to get back out on the water in early July
US politicians have urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to enforce recently issued safety guidance under the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) and immediately halt cruises if outbreaks occur onboard.
“We write today with significant concern about the prospect of premature resumption of cruise ship operations that could threaten public safety and increase the spread of the coronavirus. While the US is making significant progress in distributing Covid-19 vaccines, introduction and spread of Covid-19 by cruise ship crew and passengers could undermine this progress and require additional mitigation measures that delay our economic recovery and put public health at severe risk,” Congresswoman Doris Matsui and US Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote in a letters addressed to the CDC’s Director Dr Rochelle Walensky.
The letter continued: “While the US makes progress toward our shared goal of beating this pandemic, Covid-19 remains a grave public health risk that requires ongoing vigilance. Prematurely lifting restrictions on cruising – with thousands of people in close proximity and conditions ripe for spread of infections – threatens a serious setback in this progress. It is absolutely critical that we listen to scientists and health and safety experts over the industry and its profit-driven executives.”
Covid-vaccinated cruise voyages to relax cruising restrictions
As expected, the US cruise industry did not take lightly to this suggestion. US cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), which owns its Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises has launched its ‘Safe to Sail’ campaign as pressure mounts on health officials to overturn the ban on sailings from US ports. NCLH hopes to get lawmakers to allow cruising to resume in the US in July.
“The suspension of cruises operating from US ports is having a devastating impact on the entire cruise ecosystem consisting of American ports, labour, transport, the travel agency community, commerce, small business and other related industries, resulting in an estimated loss of several hundred thousand American jobs and billions of dollars to the US economy,” President and Chief Executive of NCLH Fran del Rio said.
He added that the SailSAFE health and safety protocols, which include ‘mandatory vaccinations combined with multiple additional layers of protection’, were in alignment with the CDC’s updated guidance that international travel is safe for fully vaccinated individuals and that Covid-19 vaccination efforts will be critical in the safe resumption of cruise ship travel.
More recently, US senators representing Florida and Alaska proposed an act that would force the CDC to repeal its CSO and restore summer cruise operations. Media outlets report that executives of the major US cruise lines met mid-April with the CDC and White House officials in order to initiate a timeline that would see cruises resume from US ports – this might include measures that insist upon cruise passengers being fully vaccinated against Covid, as is occurring over in the UK.
NCLH added that it: “continues to be optimistic the CDC will agree that this plan eliminates the need for the CSO and therefore, strongly requests the lifting of the order for Norwegian’s vessels, allowing them to cruise from US ports starting July 4.”