Posted on 03/20/2021 7:18:08 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
There is no doubt that the cruise industry in the United States is in crisis, especially now that cruise lines are working hard on finding alternative homeports in the Caribbean.
A major part of the industry is the hugely popular homeports in Florida, such as PortMiami, the cruise capital of the world. Miami-Dade Mayor has requested the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention director for a meeting on the resumption of cruise operations.
Letter Sent to CDC Director While cruise lines start to give up on the CDC on resuming operations out of the U.S., Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava is not. The mayor is eager to resume cruises again and has sent a letter to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Mayor Lavine Cava tweeted:
“As vaccination expands and we work to rebound and reinvigorate our economy, we are eager to partner with the @CDCgov to create a plan to safely restart the cruising industry – a cornerstone of Miami-Dade’s economy and prosperity.”
In the letter that’s dated March 17, 2021, the mayor clarifies that Miami-Dade Country is ready to work with the director to safely re-open the cruise industry. The goal is to get cruising going again by July 4, which is in line with President Biden’s aim to let families come together once again and celebrate.
In fact, there have also been rumblings that the Biden administration is thinking of allowing some limited international travel from mid-May. How this could impact the cruise industry remains unclear but there is the hope of a restart by early summer.
The major continued to mention how important the county is with cruise activity generating “approximately $7 billion and 40,000 jobs annually.”
The cruise industry supports related sectors, including air transportation, food and beverage, lodging, manufacturing, agriculture, travel agencies, hotels, port services, and a range of industries across Florida and beyond.
Some important more important points included in the major’s letter was that they are working on establishing an on-site COVID testing lab at PortMiami, a first of its kind in the country.
She touched on the fact that multiple cruise lines have announced new vaccination policies for when cruises resume, such as Virgin Voyages, which we reported just days ago.
Major Lavine Cava mentioned that the CDC could issue similar guidance to what countries like Israel have implemented. this has allowed Royal Caribbean to homeport its new Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship there from May.
She ended the letter requesting a meeting with the CDC director on how to further advance the resumption of U.S. cruise operations:
“We know that better, healthier days lie ahead, I respectfully request a meeting with you and my administration to discuss how we can advance the resumption of U.S. cruise operations as we work together to protect lives and livelihoods for Miami-Dade County residents and across the country.”
You can read the full letter from the Miami-Dade mayor below:
Letter from Miami-Dade Major Why No Cruises Yet?
Many will be wondering why the CDC has not yet released those much covered technical details to allow the U.S. cruises industry to resume. The CDC could just be waiting to see how the vaccine rollout develops.
To be honest, no one knows! We can speculate and guess, but we won’t know until the CDC releases an update on its current Conditional Sailing Order.
Carnival and Royal Caribbean have currently suspended operations in the U.S. through May with a limited start planned for June. However, Norwegian Cruise Line has even canceled cruises until July 2021.
Cruise lines may have already given up and we’re starting to see a trend of new homeports outside the U.S. including Israel, Bahamas, and St. Maarten. We could see even more while cruise lines remain on hold and await guidance from the CDC.
There will be more pressure than ever on the restart of cruise operations. Vaccines are rolling out across the U.S. and the UK has already set out its plan with the industry opening up from May 17, 2021.
Florida has put hundreds of millions of dollars into improving its ports for cruising, desiring to be know as the cruise Capital of the world.
It took the CDC frustrated Cruise lines moving their home bases elsewhere to get the politicians to get the needed help with our indifferent CDC.
Unfortunately Florida also has to deal with our socialist Govt. that is not likely to help them out, like they would California or New York.
Should be interesting to watch this development unfold. -Tom
How much cash did he bring with him?
Hey, if Florida wants help, bet all they have to do is sack their governor.
Wonder if Deep State will have the brass to state that in public...
Not enough.
Deep State doesn’t want money.
It wants DeSantis.
Well, that’s it. Economics is more explicitly political than ever. States need to band together to nullify Federal mandates, and CDC rules would be a great starting point. Texas and Florida should just announce that cruises will restart on May 1st and their state police will replace all Federal officers involved in the process. Let DC scream from within their barbed wire playhouse.
I’m not sure either state’s legislature and one of their govs has the testicular fortitude to do that.
This effort should be led by Gov. DeSantis in cooperation with all of the city mayors impacted by the CDC shut down. Kudos to the mayor of Miami for taking on the CDC. However, there is no chance he will succeed.
The cruise lines are now in the position of "He who hesitates is last".
There are are just so many homeports in the Caribbean and Bahamas for air and cruise traffic. -Tom
Is the Mayor Democrat or Pub?? The CDC has cost THOUSANDS of CRUISE RELATED JOBS!!
The CDC is a political organization funded with tax dollars, and any positive outcomes they create for public health (name three recent ones) are entirely residual and/or by accident.
Change my mind.
The CDC and FauXi OWNS the patents.
PAY THEM THEIR ROYALTIES>
PAY the seditious, treasonous, PRIVATE COMPANY
its royalties NOW,
..... or your business will DIE, you heathen masked slaves.
Just open the ports and tell the CDC to pound sand. Once enough people start rebelling they will fold like cheep umbrella being used as a parachute.
Mayor is a Democrat originally from NY. The mayor is a woman and of Jewish beliefs.
Just looking at her background, IMHO she is not a Republican.
Certainly on FR we have Floridians who would know first hand.-Tom
Botulism is eleventy billion times as deadly as covid
I knew when I posted this article there would be related follow up articles, since at long last the Cruise Lines are realizing they can’t rely on our CDC for fair treatment.
Below is the article. -Tom
https://www.cruisehive.com/the-cruise-industry-is-looking-elsewhere/48417
Oy vey
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