wrp96

Cruising is back in the US. Celebrity Edge will sail from Port Everglades with PAYING passengers on June 26th. Expect other sailings and cruise lines to follow!

Boggie Dog

Or maybe not.......!

CDC approves first revenue cruise from Florida, but governor may stand in the way

Federal health officials have approved the first passenger cruise from the U.S. from Fort Lauderdale in June — but Florida’s governor insists he will block company plans to require passengers be vaccinated.

mahasamatman

Florida needs the cruise industry a lot more than the cruise industry needs Florida.

If the cruise lines decide to cave in to this extortion, since the penalty is just (up to) a $5,000 fine, that may just get passed on as an extra $2 "port fee".

Boggie Dog

If CDC is requiring all or x% of people on board be vaccinated I don't see any cruise line being able to operate out of Florida with such restrictions as being demanded by the Florida's governor. If I was a cruise line would be looking for a move to Mobile.

BamaVol

Because, yeah, Mobile has multiple large cruise docks, a huge international airport and a weeks worth of activities for those coming off cruise ships.

Maybe, New Orleans? I don’t know that any state has the port facilities to handle a full Caribbean slate of cruises besides Florida. The fight is between DeSantis and the Feds, not the cruise lines. Not that I’d be in favor, but maybe an executive order would fix this.

Boggie Dog

Agree that the fight is between Florida and the CDC with the cruise lines caught right smack in the middle of the fight. New Orleans, Mobile, and Galveston could all take additional traffic when things start up again. Galveston has two working cruise ship docks and I believe that New Orleans has at least two docks. I've seen cruise ships birthed at Mobile but not sure how many they can handle at one time. If DeSantis pushes back hard enough I wouldn't blame the cruise lines for pulling out completely for a period of years just to show Florida what will happen to the ports when the state oversteps. That's a lot of revenue to see going away!

wrp96

Galveston can handle even the largest ships so would be the most likely port if Florida doesn't get it's head out of it's rear end.

Boggie Dog

The current cruise docks at Galveston can handle two ships. Royal Caribbean is building a new terminal/dock at Galveston increasing total capacity to 3 ships. Looks like it will be located a bit closer to the mouth of the channel.

New renderings released of Royal Caribbean's new cruise terminal in Galveston

freecia

Is it really a fight between Florida and the CDC, though? It seems to me that the cruise industry complained to a friend that the CDC was being a bully, egged them on to sue the CDC because they didn't want to take on a direct fight. Friend goes and does so while enjoying the media attention. Said friend also wants to be popular themselves and sees a way to gain some followers by banning something the industry could really benefit from to get restarted. Cruise industry is sad the "friend" is doing something which prevents them from monetarily capitalizing from their relationship and showing "true colors" or possibly playing a longer game as is needed when building any large assets takes them a few years & restarting at the same load with more crews isn't necessary, yet. CDC's the more cautious and mature entity who finally came up for air from one of the biggest challenges in their life. It is eyeing them while doing some of the other stuff which went into backlog & clean up the aftermath, hoping they don't create more work. Doing their best to be diplomatic while cautious because they really need a breather before being able to tackle things in the fall and the cruise industry tends to try to cut corners based on many years of experience.

I think it's more a question of what the cruise industry will do. They'll act like a business. Is there anything in it for them to hold a grudge, especially if "friend" hopes to get a promotion and leave his current job in 3 or so years? What if the new position would let them go back to cheaper more polluting oil, dump trash into water, gut the CDC, and have fewer pesky maintenance standards? A possibility of that would probably keep the door open and donations flowing.

A lot of people will vote based on values even to their financial detriment. Those in the very top income brackets simply donate enough to make sure their issues are his issues at some point.

Randyk47

Indeed Galveston is increasing its capacity but it will never be a viable port for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean, at least not for the “bread and butter” 7-day Florida based cruises.

Boggie Dog

I'd say that at this point it is decidedly an issue between Florida and CDC. CDC has set requirements for cruise lines to operate out of ports in the U.S. One of those requirements is to have X% of passengers/crew vaccinated against COVID. Florida's governor is saying the cruise operators cannot ask for COVID vaccination information. From my chair it looks like DeSantis is the roadblock for the resumption of the cruise industry in Florida. So as a cruise line executive do you sit back and just let things happen or go proactive by finding a port that will accommodate your business? Billions of dollars of revenue is at stake. Florida has lots of money tied up in its port facilities and stands to lose out if current policies remain in place.

Will all of these ports sit idle for the simple reason that cruise line operators cannot determine vaxx status of its passengers?

• PORT OF MIAMI (Miami)
• PORT EVERGLADES (Fort Lauderdale)
• PORT CANAVERAL (Orlando)
• PORT TAMPA BAY (Tampa)
• JAXPORT (Jacksonville)
• PORT OF PALM BEACH (Palm Beach)

Boggie Dog

I don't disagree but there are options other than Florida to get things rolling again. We're taking a cruise out of Galveston later this year that is going to Key West, Free Port, Nassau, and Half Moon Cay so some eastern destinations are possible. Heading further south would certainly be desirable to start in Florida. I'm sure the cruise lines would like to get started but their hands are tied at the moment.

freecia

I also think DeSantis is hindering instead of helping the Florida ports but not sure it is a multi year issue. As pointed out, cruise lines will restart from other areas if needed but Florida is likely more convenient, more capacity, and has invested in facilities. None of these are likely to restart at 100% capacity so they might offer fall or winter bookings from Florida as more ships are put back into service.

I think cruise lines can do test cruises instead of meeting vaccination bypass. That requires
This puts emphasis on vaccinating crew but I don't see where it states 95% of passengers must be vaccinated if they pass via test cruise https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruis...-components%20

FL ports could put in 0% vaccination requirement. The FL health board has already kind of said they won't do anything to stop cruises.

Cruise lines could ask crew about the vaccination status outside Florida, offer vaccinations within FL at those ports (which FL are paying to staff), and confirm again in international waters for documentation purposes. This will take at least a few weeks to month to staff and go through test cruise process. They will need to pick some starting ports & dates for these cruises so customers can start booking, though. Plenty of people will buy independent airfare soon if booking for July/August and if the departing port moves from Miami to Texas, that's not customer friendly.

Disney wouldn't have a chance at operating without such provisions while children under 12 aren't eligible for vaccines. Also likely why family oriented RCCL is starting the test cruise process.

I don't know if FL and GA customers can be asked to prove their vaccination status for cruises embarking from other US ports. What about FL residents who are vaccinated and willing to state so? Can they only make up 5% of guests or no-requirement ships because cruise lines can't ask in those states? Alabama might join in to ban vaccine passports https://www.al.com/news/2021/05/what...-industry.html

The CDC does provide different guidance on what can be done onboard around precautions like masking and social distancing with at least 95% of crew and 98% of passengers fully vaccinated https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruis...anual-cso.html which is closer to the experience many cruisers are looking for or at least the choice to do so. Plenty of people book cruises a bit further out and want the choice to go without a mask onboard and visit ports on their own. Some will acknowledge and agree to the restrictions and then cause a ruckus if someone tries to enforce it like they do on planes. Perhaps initial cruises without vaccination questionnaire or requirements will go to private islands to minimize outside contact?

freecia

Texas also has a vaccine passport ban for private businesses which receive state funds. https://www.khou.com/article/news/he...0-981143c3b2ec The Port of Galveston is owned by the city but is self sustaining and doesn't receive any taxpayer funding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_o...ayer%20funding. I guess that's very fortunate if no additional city funded incentives were offered and accepted.

San Juan Puerto Rico also has a few docking options but at added flight cost to the customer. Pier 3 can handle Oasis class.

BamaVol

I was thinking Nassau. In the past, there have been short, cheap flights from the US. The docks will hold more than a few ships, especially if you cut out the 3-4 night cruises and focus on 5-8 nights. It eliminates some business but gets things started sooner. I don’t know how cruise lines can play the long game with all the debt after a year sitting idle.