Free Republic

Titanic meets Icon of the Seas

Cruise ship companies are thrilled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended its COVID-19 monitoring program that tracked how many COVID-19 cases were reported ship-by-ship. On Monday, the constantly updated spreadsheet was gone without a trace, replaced with this notice: It is hard to make sense of why the CDC would pull back from a detailed monitoring program just as COVID-19 cases are again rising worldwide. (The World Health Organization says cases in Europe have tripled in the last six weeks, and hospitalizations have doubled.) When the site took down the monitoring page, 93 of the 95 ships...

Windstar Cruises is joining the list of cruise operators canceling soon-to-depart sailings amid the worldwide surge in COVID-19 cases. The small-ship cruise specialist on Thursday began notifying passengers on upcoming trips that it was pausing operations across most of its fleet through at least Jan. 28. The pause will affect every Windstar ship currently operating except the Tahiti-based Star Breeze. For more cruise guides, tips and news, sign up for TPG’s cruise newsletter Also canceling a significant number of sailings on Thursday for the first time during the latest surge of COVID-19 cases was British line Fred. Olsen Cruises. The...

he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday said it is actively investigating or observing 86 cruise ships following COVID-19 outbreaks on board. Why it matters: The Omicron variant has driven up infections across the U.S., upending vacation plans and disrupting travel. The new strain is the latest sign of the pandemic's hold on the cruise line industry.

Good luck if you’d like to know how many people infected with COVID-19 are coming into South Florida seaports aboard cruise ships. Cruise lines and government agencies are not making that data publicly available as the cruise industry resumes operations from U.S.-based ports. Critics who want to see more transparency say cruise consumers and community members deserve to know how successful cruise lines are at preventing spread of the virus. Twenty-seven ships that currently operate or will be operating in U.S. waters have reported COVID-19 infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since cruising resumed this summer, according...

Cruise Hive The Public Health Emergency in the U.S. has been extended which impacts the Conditional Sailing Order and cruise ships. The Public Health Emergency Status in the United States has been extended again for the sixth time. A declaration that the Public Health Emergency is over would have meant that the conditions in which cruise ships are operating under the Conditional Sail Order would effectively be over. It is not to be as Secretary of Health, and Human Services Xavier Becerra extended the health emergency on July 19. A declaration of a public health emergency ensures government organizations have...

Recent reports of COVID-19 infections aboard cruise ships — along with simple math — suggest that it will be nearly impossible for any cruise line to return to the seas without the coronavirus lurking. All vaccines are less than 100% effective, so chances are strong that at least some passengers will be infected among the thousands aboard even “fully vaccinated” voyages. Chances of more severe outbreaks are even greater in light of a court ruling Friday in favor of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who wants to stop cruise lines from requiring vaccinations. Cruise lines faced with infections will have to perform...

Two guests aboard the Celebrity Millennium tested positive for Covid-19 in required end-of-cruise testing, the cruise line said in a Thursday news release. Celebrity Millennium -- the first major cruise ship allowing American passengers since the pandemic forced a pause on the industry -- set sail on Saturday. The two positive guests, which shared a stateroom on the ship, are asymptomatic and are now in isolation while being monitored by a medical team, the release said. "We are conducting contact tracing, expediting testing for all close contacts and closely monitoring the situation," the news release said. The ship is sailing...

Florida is seeking an immediate injunction to overturn the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order that is keeping cruise ships from sailing from U.S. ports. Two weeks ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit seeking the same result. Last week, Alaska’s governor announced that his state would join the lawsuit. But as the weeks pass without the federal government or CDC filing arguments in the case, Florida has taken another step to ramp up the pressure. On April 22, Florida filed a motion in a district court in Tampa, asking for an...

A Vancouver-based company, TraceSafe, is working with cruise lines to develop onboard contact tracing systems that could help the industry return to operations. TraceSafe, which specializes in wearable technology, has entered into a partnership with Tritan Software, a Miami company that provides health and medical operations to 95 percent of major cruise lines, as well as the commercial shipping, energy and mining industries. TraceSafe makes medallion wristbands, about the size of two poker chips stacked on top of one another, said Wayne Lloyd, CEO of TraceSafe Inc. The wearables use Bluetooth Low Energy, which uses very low power to let...

The economics of cruise ships In the wake of coronavirus and tanking stocks, cruise companies have sought assistance from the US government. But for decades, the industry has done everything in its power to avoid paying into the system. Cruise ships are often called “monsters” of the sea. If you’ve ever seen one in action, you’ll understand why: A vessel like Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas is longer than 12 blue whales. At 228k gross tons, it is 5x the size of the once-formidable Titanic. It can hold 6,680 passengers and 2,200 crewmembers, the population of a small American...

This week’s Senate Transportation Committee meeting made painfully clear what the current state is of cruises leaving from Florida. It’s proving to be toilsome and there is a long road ahead before sailings can effectively resume. Michael Rubin, the Florida Ports Council government representative, told members of the Senate committee that it would be months before a resumption will happen. It could also be 2022 or later before we see cruises on any significant level, let alone the same levels as pre-pandemic. Are the CDC’s Measures Too Harsh? If we look at the immediate start of cruises from Florida, it...

When cruise lines begin sailing in and around the United States again, passengers will be required to wear a mask for much of their time on board to help battle COVID-19. The new mandatory mask mandate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) applies to all forms of public transportation, including “aircraft, train, road vehicle, vessel or other means of transport.” The order went into effect on February 1, but there are exceptions for children under two years old and passengers with a disability that inhibits wearing a mask, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Passengers...

-- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced it will make face masks mandatory on all forms of transportation within the United States, including aboard cruise ships and inside cruise terminals across the country. The new guidance, which will take effect February 2, will also mandate the use of face masks by all travelers within, to or out of the United States onboard all airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, busses, taxis and ride-sharing services like Uber. In addition, all bus stations, subway stations, airports and cruise terminals will also require all travelers to use face masks...

-- With numerous cruise lines suspending their 2021 seasons into spring – and in some cases, beyond -- is it possible that the companies are simply waiting to restart operations until a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available? It's a plausible theory, although no cruise line executive has said that publicly. As of early December, numerous lines have cancelled voyages into March and April, while some have postponed sailings into June and even the fall for select vessels. While the lines have cited the restart regulations put forward by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the reason for...

It looked like we finally had a return to cruising at the end of October when the CDC lifted the No-Sail-Order. The Conditional sailing framework’s implementation looked to be a hurdle, but not an insurmountable one; indeed, by December, we could be cruising again. In September, the major cruise lines fought with the CDC about lifting the No-Sail-Order, which director Redfield wanted to extend until February. It took an intervention from the White House to stop the CDC. How different it has turned out to be. Now we have cruise lines canceling voyages on their own until March, April, and...

All cruise lines are losing money hand over fist. But how much loss can these companies realistically bear? As the pandemic rages on, cruise companies are starting to feel the pressure. As we look at a resumption of cruises in the first months of 2021, we take an in-depth look at the staggering numbers released by Stock Apps. The Largest Cruise Company, Burning The Most Cash On August 31, 2020, the third quarter ended for Carnival Corporation. During the pandemic, the first full quarter showed the full effect the operations pause was having on the largest cruise company in the...

Many communities around the world are suffering economic damage due to the lack of cruise ships visiting the areas and providing the necessary boost to local economies. While these communities are scrambling to get cruise ships back in town, the residents of Key West, Florida, have now taken a different route. The Key West Committee for Safer Cleaner Ships has been campaigning not to ban ships completely from the islands in southern Florida but to shrink the cruise ship tourism footprint in Key West. Cruise ships are the backbone of the local economy, however, not all the effects of visiting...

Florida news outlet WESH 2 reports that The Governor of the state of Florida, Ron DeSantis, said on Tuesday that he would like to see a return to cruising and that he is in contact with the White House on how that can be done. The statement was made in the same week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to decide whether the No-Sail-Order should be extended further or if cruising would be allowed from U.S. ports again. While everyone is hopeful the CDC would allow cruising, there has been no indication from CDC on what...

What will happen in the U.S. once cruising resumes? There is no denying that the pandemic is hitting the United States hard. With the largest number of cases and deaths worldwide, the country struggles to keep the virus under control. Once cruising does finally resume, the cruise lines will need to implement and enforce rules and regulations that go much further than the protocols that are implemented ashore. Those people that would typically refuse to wear a mask or practice social distancing will be forced to do so on board. As is the case in Europe, cruise lines sailing to...