Posted on 05/29/2021 12:48:29 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
With Florida's ban on vaccine passports, cruise line restart plans are becoming complicated. The first cruise ship aims to resume in June.
Celebrity Cruises announced it would start sailing at the end of June with the Celebrity Edge from Fort Lauderdale on June 26. Carnival Cruise Line received permission to start sailing from three US ports (including two in Florida), and Royal Caribbean is underway to start operations from Florida. This week has been full of great news for the cruise industry. But there might be a catch.
Governor DeSantis of Florida has made it clear again he is not amused with the CDC’s mandate for cruises with vaccinated guests only. Florida’s Governor recently signed a new bill that would ban businesses from requiring customers to present a vaccine passport.
A Fine for Asking Passengers to Show Vaccine Passport A statement issued by the Governor’s office made it clear where he stands regarding Celebrity Cruises’ first cruise in more than 15 months from the United States.
Although the Governor presented himself as a fervent supporter of the cruise industry, he has also been opposed to the vaccine requirements and there could be a fine of $5,000 each time a cruise line asks a passenger to show a vaccine passport. The statement said the following:
“Celebrity Cruises’ vaccine requirements violate the spirit of the Governor’s Emergency Order 21-81, which prohibits vaccine passports and protects the fundamental rights of Floridians – including the right to medical privacy. The policy would also be a violation of Florida’s recently enacted law banning vaccine passports, SB 2006, effective July 1. Companies doing business in Florida, including Celebrity Cruises, should immediately cease to impose such discriminatory policies upon individuals. Companies that violate this law would be subject to a fine of $5,000 each time they require a customer to present a “vaccine passport” for service.”
While the cruise lines have maintained that they do not see any issues with the new bill, Governor DeSantis sees this differently. The question is now whether or not the Governor’s bill has any legal standing regarding the cruise lines.
Catering to His Base
Some say that DeSantis is merely catering to a section of his supporters. Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen. Nonetheless, Jim Walker, a maritime lawyer, said this to USA Today:
“It is conceivable that Gov. DeSantis could blink, so to speak, and the Florida statute could be withdrawn, but he seems committed to making a direct political move catering to his base.”
Christina Pushaw, who acts as the press secretary for Governor DeSantis, disagrees. In a statement, she believes that requiring cruise ship passengers to be vaccinated “not only violates civil liberties but also discriminates against families with children who enjoy vacations.” The CDC has “no legal authority” to set requirements for cruise lines. If the CDC and the Department of Health have no authority to set requirements for cruise lines, it stands to reason that this also counts for Governor DeSantis’ bill.
Dr. Jay Wolfson, a public health and law professor at the University of South Florida, told WTSP 10 Tampa Bay:
“They’re not a Florida company. I don’t think any of them really are. Cruise ships are requiring vaccinations to protect not just themselves and the other passengers, It really protects the economic viability of the cruise ship industry.”
With most cruise lines having offices in the State of Florida, in most cases, the companies are ‘officially’ based elsewhere. The CDC’s authority overrules DeSantis concerning health requirements on cruise ships, but a cruise line would likely have to take the Governor to court to clarify this. There is a solution that could put DeSantis’ bill in the bin; a federal statute requiring proof of vaccination would override state law.
Cruise Vaccine What are the Cruise Lines Saying?
Celebrity Cruises, in the meantime, seems unaffected by the threats from the Governor’s office. The cruise line says it will go ahead with the first cruise from US soil since March last year, with vaccinated guests:
“Our commitment to sail with fully vaccinated crew members and guests still stands, as it is a meaningful layer to ensure we make every effort to help keep safe our guests, crew, and the communities we visit,”
Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio made it clear earlier this month he believes a compromise is possible, however, if not, he has no issues to pull his ships out of Florida:
“At the end of the day, cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and God forbid we can’t operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from, and we can operate from the Caribbean for a ship that otherwise would have gone to Florida,”
The bill would also put the simulated voyages in danger that are scheduled for June as well. Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruises plan to make these test cruises. The issue here is that the CDC still requires the cruise lines to check the vaccination status of the guests onboard. Something the DeSantis bill will prohibit.
The entire situation is placing a black cloud over what would otherwise have been a month of celebrations as one of the last industries to be on hold is resuming business once again. If it turns out there is a legal basis for the bill, we could see even more cancelations once again.
ALL ports are bleeding red from lack of cruise tourist $$$ - they are ready for things to resume.
If they demand for passengers to prove vax to disembark and visit OK - those passengers must stay aboard.
The cruise lines should communicate to their customers that you travel at risk if not vaxxed and if you get sick must be quarantined to your stateroom.
It shouldnt be that difficult.
Has anything about the pandemic been honestly discussed by our public health officials? In what is perhpas the greatest deception of all, the CDC is now counting as a covid case, for vaccinated people, only people who test positive with 28 or fewer amplifications on the PCR test AND who are hospitalized or die. The unvaccinated, even with zero symptoms, will still count as a "case" if a PCR test with 40 or so amplifications shows a positive test result.
What a way to diminish the number of "breakthrough" cases but keep the number of cases among the unvaccinated high. If this had been the way "cases" had been counted we would surely been out of all lockdown rules months ago.
I wonder if there are so many people who will get a mild case of Covid-19 even though vaccinated because they never had it in the firsts place. The CDC deception specialists cannot let it be known how many people had their lives disrupted with quarantine, missing important events, etc, because they had a positive PCR test but did not have Covid-19 at the time.
Agreed.
That is why the vaccine passport is so questionable, and opposed by many Americans.
A big underlying problem is our so-called Medical Experts have been proven to be wrong about this covid virus and can't be trusted.
A friend of mine had covid many months ago, and got over it. His doctor talked him into getting the 2 shot vaccine as a precaution .
Now they say no, don't do that, if you had a covid infection and recuperated from it.
Don't get the experimental shots, you don't need them.-Tom
It should be unconstitutional, but I’m not a dimwit. Lots of stuff going on these days is unconstitutional. This country is f’d.
Let's test that premise because the 10th Amendment says otherwise.
If you don’t want a vaccination, then don’t get one... This is a flu.
It’s not smallpox or polio... It’s a flu and if you prefer to go without protection then so be it. I haven’t had the flu since I was a teenager and it must have been a very serious strain because my DNA analysis says that I’m less likely to catch corona type viruses, and I’ve never had a seasonal flu vaccination in my life, but tomorrow I’m getting my second shot of AstraZeneca and that was my decision.
Vaccination passports are BS. This virus kills under 1% of the people it infects, so taking your chances is likely worth it if you prefer not to be vaccinated.
On the other hand if you want the vaccine, there is now plenty of it available. So go ahead and get vaccinated if you want. But don’t be smug or foolish enough to expect everybody else to do the same.
It's not that simple.
If I was taking a cruise I'd want everyone vaccinated so an onboard Covid outbreak didn't ruin the cruise.
Who wants to risk being quarantined in their room and having every foreign port refuse entry?
Just curious, where in Mass do you live? My hubby is from “Dahchestah...” and I lived in Jamaica Plain for almost six years (Somerville before that). I’m very curious what it’s like up there. Most of my friends up there are good little aparatchiks.
I’m thinking in Boston and Cambridge, they’d gladly wear burkas if they were told.
“All the cruise companies have to do is say: “Country X were we are stopping requires vaccinations for these diseases. If you don’t have it, they won’t let us port there. So, it ain’t us asking, it’s them!”
So, don’t dock in Country X. Find another port. Country X will quickly drop any Kung Flu vaccination requirements because tourist dollars speak loudly.
“Don’t get the experimental shots, you don’t need them.-Tom”
Oh, crap. A statement like that will trigger an attack from FR’s brainwashed old goats and old hens. Suit up in armor, Capt. Tom, and grab your cutlass.
I was born in 1935 and raised in the Dochester section of Boston. Savin Hill to be exact.
Now I live in the most Irish town in America ,Scituate Mass. -Tom
Time makes all things clear. -Tom
Yes.
I love Scituate!!
We left Massachusetts in 2002, and moved to Central Florida (I’m from New Jersey, raised in Florida, and then spent about 8 years in Boston before I decided to go back to Florida, with hubby in tow.) I love the South Shore.
As for Dorchester, I know the area pretty well. Went to college with the writer Dennis Lehane, and he talked to me at length about Savin Hill, Dorchester and Southie.
Desantis knows which way the wind is blowing....
“Desantis knows which way the wind is blowing....”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And DeSantis is cranking it up. Read below. -Tom
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