Cruises are authorized to start up again in three months by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Things will be a bit stricter, but for those who’ve been looking forward to getting somewhere warmer like the Caribbean or more adventurous like Alaska, the future is looking brighter.
Cruise lines have been hit hard by this pandemic, with hundreds of big cruises cancelled as ships were blocked from leaving American ports in Florida and elsewhere across the country.
That’s why it’s good news for cruise operators – and those who want to take a cruise! – that ships will once again be anchors aweigh and heading off into the wild blue yonder.
What Will You Need to Cruise?
Beginning mid-July cruises will open back up in the Land of the Free without restrictions – with one exception. People taking the cruise and those operating the cruise will need proof they have been vaccinated against COVID.
Wait, what?
So essentially what we’re talking about here is a vaccine passport if you want to go on a cruise?
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – one of the few standing up to the infringement on our liberties – sued the federal government over shutting down the cruise industry and has vetoed any attempt to put in place vaccine passports in Florida. So what happens when we get out on the water?
Last week the CDC put out what they call a conditional sail order allowing cruise lines to do test cruises that “establish agreements at ports where they intend to operate, implement routine testing of crew, and develop plans incorporating vaccination strategies to reduce the risk of introduction and spread of COVID-19 by crew and passengers.”
As DeSantis says, the CDC is being “unreasonable” here and hampering the ability of cruise lines operating in the United States to do business. People will simply go to other countries to take cruises leaving from there instead.
NEW THIS MORNING | @CDCgov says cruise ships *could resume sailing by MID-JULY. 🛳
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So… will you go?
Details this morning on @WFTV! 📺📸: @PortCanaveral @JamieHolmesWFTV @BrianWFTV @deneigebroom pic.twitter.com/EcrXEt1nwd
— Nancy Alvarez (@NAlvarezWFTV) April 29, 2021
What About Onboard Testing?
The CDC has said that cruise passengers can get a rapid COVID antigen test when they get onboard if necessary. They haven’t responded to DeSantis’ lawsuit, but he deserves a lot of credit for taking a stand against these busybody bureaucrats who aren’t saving any lives and are ending thousands of jobs.
The fact is that cruise lines have the ability to fully sanitize rooms and you can always open windows. Plus much of the time on cruises is on deck in the open air, so why is there this huge focus on vaccinations?
“We acknowledge that cruising will never be a zero-risk activity and that the goal of the [sail order’s] phased approach is to resume passenger operations in a way that mitigates the risk of COVID-19 transmission onboard cruise ships and across port communities,” said CDC official Aimee Treffiletti who’s heading up the cruise issues.
“[The] CDC looks forward to continued engagement with the industry and urges cruise lines to submit Phase 2A port agreements as soon as possible to maintain the timeline of passenger voyages by mid-July,” another spokesman said.
“Maintain the timeline?”
This sounds like a lot of bureaucrat speech and after more than a year of Faucism and goalpost moving, people I know are sick and tired of having the promises that are made constantly changed on them.
What we need are more people like DeSantis who are willing to take a stand and call out the weird excuses and half-truths of these bureaucratic bumblers.
Maybe 2024 can help turn things around, although that’s a long way off…
Speaking of 2024, is anyone else getting chills imagining President Trump running again with DeSantis as his VP pick?
