Free Republic

Though the coronavirus devastated the entire travel industry, cruising took a particularly brutal blow. After years of steady passenger growth and cruise lines competing with each other to launch the biggest and most elaborate ships, suddenly the industry went full astern. Ships like the Diamond Princess and the Grand Princess were major coronavirus hotspots, with passengers being locked in their staterooms as the disease spread quickly. Some countries also refused to let ships dock, leaving passengers stranded onboard for days. It was enough for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a No Sail Order on March 14,...

Florida files with the Federal Court to get cruises resuming immediately. The state is not waiting around on the result of its lawsuit filed earlier in April. After filing a lawsuit on April 8, receiving no answers or replies from the CDC for many months, and hundreds of thousands of people out of work in Florida, the state is tired of waiting around. Florida has now asked a federal judge to overturn the Centers for Disease Control Conditional Sailing Order. This is the order that is keeping the cruise ship industry from sailing again in the United States. No Results...

The increasing pressure from government representatives, cruise lines, and cruise passengers on the CDC to re-open the cruise industry in the United States reached a new highpoint today as GOP Governor DeSantis filed a lawsuit against the CDC and the Federal Government. While some still feel cruising is irresponsible, despite the many advancements the medical professions, and the cruise lines themselves have made in the last 12 months, the overwhelming feeling is that cruises should be able to sail. Millions or even billions of dollars are set to flow towards other regions such as the Bahamas and the Caribbean if...

Are you thinking about that cruise in the Caribbean this spring or summer? According to financial analysts at Truist Financial, this is unlikely to happen. Due to the slower-than-expected US roll-out of Covid vaccines, a surge in cases, and a demanding conditional order from the Centers for Disease and Prevention to restart sailings, any cruises departing from the US could be pushed back to July or even later. The Second Half of 2021 Under The Best of Circumstances That’s what Patrick Scholes, a Wall Street financial analyst at Truist Finacial, thinks is the earliest date we could potentially see cruises...

It might seem that the cruise lines have taken the biggest hurdle in the return to cruising. Looking at the regulations and guidelines that the CDC requires from the cruise lines, this might not be the case. The lifting of the No-Sail-Order is certainly not a free-for-all cruise lines to start putting guests back on board the vessels. We look at the various steps the cruise lines will need to take to take guests onboard and how these procedures will affect you as a guest on board. Keep in mind that we cover the 40-page document‘s highlights, and this is...