Legislation and Lawsuits Push for Cruises to Resume in U.S. by July

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While some cruise lines have announced summer cruises sailing from outside of the U.S., cruising to and from U.S. ports is still on hold due to Covid-19. The CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order is complex, and no large cruise line has successfully been approved to begin sailing in the U.S. yet.

This “pause” on cruising affects not only cruise aficionados, but also the thousands of people who work at the cruise ports and in cruise-related businesses. Some legislators have had enough.

Today, senators from Florida (Rubio and Scott) and Alaska (Sullivan) introduced the Careful Resumption Under Improved Safety Enhancements (CRUISE) Act. The bill calls for a work-around on the current CDC requirements in order for cruise lines to begin test cruises by July 4. The CRUISE Act proposes gathering the secretaries of Transportation, Homeland Security, and Commerce along with cruise representatives to charter a course for safe cruises. You can read more about the bill here.

Representative Maria Salazar from Miami plans to introduce a similar bill in the House of Representatives. And, a few days ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sued the CDC in an attempt to get cruising re-started in the U.S.

Will this even work? It’s too soon to tell. The states that have the most financial impact from the cruise industry are Alaska and Florida, so it’s no surprise that these steps are being initiated from those two places.

Meanwhile, most U.S. cruise lines have canceled cruises through June.