Florida sues to reopen cruise ports

[harkinmr]

11 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

 

I'm with you. I really just don't get it. If they wanted to bolster their argument, explain why these steps are so difficult to process and show us your 'robust tiered plan' you have in place. I'm afraid they are working in the opposite direction of their goal with each day that passes. Is there something to hide? Something ugly we don't want to bring attention to? Their level of refusal is going to become suspect. If they are not quietly working on these plans behind the scenes, they've wasted more time complaining than it would take to move forward as asked. 

 

At this rate of spurning, why not ditch the VSP and the noro protocols? After all, what other industry has to report on that? Hotels don't. Airlines don't. Theme parks don't. 

They won't show us their "robust tiered plan" because they either (1) don't have one, or (2) don't want to put it in writing and affirm it.  That would put them in a position of answering to their customers who don't like the plan, or those customers (and the CDC!) who will hold them accountable for it.  You know: "adjust protocols accordingly".  They want everything to be as flexible as possible.

[morechances]

10 hours ago, rch3 said:

Don’t mistake the term “vaccine passport” and the federal bureaucratic oversight it connotes, with proof of vaccination. It is an entirely different thing for the government to require issuance of a health-based passport in order to travel, and private sector requirements for safe access to services. I don’t view the governor’s actions to be inconsistent.

 

Having said this, and being fortunate enough to have received my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday, my concern is with what the EU will require of U.S. citizens as we continue to rebook again and again.

What will countries require? Pretty simple.....

An accurate and not easily falsified record of proof of vaccination.

Something like, oh, say, a government issued vaccination passport.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Wondering  why  cruise lines and or CLIA  do not join the lawsuit or start their own? Are TAs clamoring for re opening or relying on  others?

At a guess, I'd say that the cruise lines recognize that lawsuits would be costly and have little or no hope of being successful. A state governor, on the other hand, can do so at no personal cost as the residents will pick up the tab.

[hcat]

7 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

At a guess, I'd say that the cruise lines recognize that lawsuits would be costly and have little or no hope of being successful. A state governor, on the other hand, can do so at no personal cost as the residents will pick up the tab.

Quite possible. Hopefully they are talking behind the scenes.

 

Maybe the Cruise lines /CLIA could buy a few newspaper ads  explaining where things stand, from their perspectives,  instead of asking  their customers to push the issue???

 

We'll  take our cruise if it sails but are starting to lose interest. 

 

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

Hopefully they are talking behind the scenes.

I imagine that there may be more of that going on than we are privy to. Hopefully so.

[KWW88]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

Quite possible. Hopefully they are talking behind the scenes.

 

Maybe the Cruise lines /CLIA could buy a few newspaper ads  explaining where things stand, from their perspectives,  instead of asking  their customers to push the issue???

 

We'll  take our cruise if it sails but are starting to lose interest. 

 

Again it was an ask not a demand.  Not being forced to hit send and submit the form.  

[RICCruisers]

On 4/8/2021 at 4:00 PM, PTC DAWG said:

Florida sees the cruise business sailing away to other islands/ports, literally...I don’t blame them. 

IMHO there is no chance X leaves Florida in the long term. They have way too many beds to fill without having their main ports in the US. Could they make a little noise about moving?  Sure, like they are doing now with St Marteen. But look at their current bookings for the cruises starting in June. They are running at 50% capacity and are only.booking half of the one ship sailing. They have way too much debt and can’t continue to kick the can down the road by issuing more debt or offering more shares that will do nothing but dilute value. 
 

 

[Oville]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Quite possible. Hopefully they are talking behind the scenes.

 

Maybe the Cruise lines /CLIA could buy a few newspaper ads  explaining where things stand, from their perspectives,  instead of asking  their customers to push the issue???

 

We'll  take our cruise if it sails but are starting to lose interest. 

 

Unfortunately not to many people read paper newspapers anymore.  I subscribe to 5 online and only get a paper copy of one and only on Sunday.

[KWW88]

10 minutes ago, RICCruisers said:

IMHO there is no chance X leaves Florida in the long term. They have way too many beds to fill without having their main ports in the US. Could they make a little noise about moving?  Sure, like they are doing now with St Marteen. But look at their current bookings for the cruises starting in June. They are running at 50% capacity and are only.booking half of the one ship sailing. They have way too much debt and can’t continue to kick the can down the road by issuing more debt or offering more shares that will do nothing but dilute value. 
 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6025/

[cruisemom42]

41 minutes ago, KWW88 said:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6025/

 

Yes, but we are talking about filling tens of thousands of berths week in and week out. Not just a few ships (1-2 per line) starting up operations at reduced capacity.

 

Ships will definitely return to the US. In 2019, pre-pandemic, about 1/3 (32%) of ALL cruise ships worldwide were deployed in the Caribbean with sailings from the US. Add another 5% for Alaska and possibly another 5% for Mexico and New England/Canada sailings -- where are cruise lines going to deploy all those ships if not to the US?

 

[KWW88]

5 hours ago, Fouremco said:

At a guess, I'd say that the cruise lines recognize that lawsuits would be costly and have little or no hope of being successful. A state governor, on the other hand, can do so at no personal cost as the residents will pick up the tab.

Like the FL gov or not (I do not) he has a vested interest to his state to do what he can to get cruises going.  Thousands and thousands of people in his state rely on the cruise industry to provide for themselves and their families, you know kitchen table issues, paying the bills etc.  Port employees, suppliers, farmers, taxi/Lyft/Uber drivers, hotels, restaurants where we all stay the night before our cruise.  Yes he is a politician and politicians do what they do, but I would venture a guess that the folks in his state who have endured what they have the past year, appreciate his efforts.

Edited April 10, 2021 by KWW88

[Fouremco]

3 minutes ago, KWW88 said:

Like the FL gov or not (I do not) he has a vested interest to his state to do what he can to get cruises going.  Thousands and thousands of people in his state rely on the cruise industry to provide for themselves and their families, you know kitchen table issues.  Port employees, suppliers, farmers, taxi/Lyft/Uber drivers, hotels, restaurants where we all stay the night before our cruise.  Yes he is a politician and politicians do what they do, but I would venture a guess that the folks in his state who have endured what they have the past year, appreciate his efforts.

They would probably be happier if he chose an approach with a greater chance of success than launching a lawsuit. JMO

[KWW88]

17 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

They would probably be happier if he chose an approach with a greater chance of success than launching a lawsuit. JMO

I am pretty sure that the 150,000+ citizens of Florida, directly and indirectly employed by the cruise industry, appreciate ANY effort to help them get back to work.  

[D C]

21 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

They would probably be happier if he chose an approach with a greater chance of success than launching a lawsuit. JMO

The CDC is a depressingly slow government behemoth. A year into this, they're not acting much different than they were last April.  Less than a month ago, the head of the CDC had zero clue that her organization was responsible for the cruise hiatus. 

 

Even if the lawsuit is merely a publicity stunt intended to bring the debate to the forefront of various media outlets and get the CDC off their butt, I sincerely applaud the decision. 

[D C]

8 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Royal Caribbean also sent me a version of this letter as well as the one I got from Celebrity.  I plan to respond.  It can't hurt.  We need to publicly pressure Congress AND the cruise lines to find a way forward with the CDC.

This very much needs to turn into a debate that is being held in public, I believe.  Otherwise, the CDC does not care. 

 

Let's equate the CDC to everyone's favorite government agency.... the DMV. If you have a 3 hour wait, they don't care.  If you can't get an appointment, they don't care. If you show up just before closing and still wait for 2 hours, they still don't care (but they get the overtime pay).  They have absolutely ZERO vested interest in helping you accomplish what you want to do in a reasonable time period. Time does not matter, if it doesn't get done today, there's maybe the day after tomorrow, and they'll still get paid. 

 

The cruise industry is perfectly in line to bring the debate into the public eye imho. 

[Oville]

I’ve got to say comparing getting a license or license plates to dealing with a pandemic has hit a new low on here.  Agree they are both government agencies. 
25% of adults have been vaccinated in the US and that is great news.  Does it mean opening up cruising ASAP makes any sense?

[D C]

2 minutes ago, Oville said:

I’ve got to say comparing getting a license or license plates to dealing with a pandemic has hit a new low on here.  Agree they are both government agencies. 
25% of adults have been vaccinated in the US and that is great news.  Does it mean opening up cruising ASAP makes any sense?

 

If you fail to see that the CDC has no vested interest in the restart of cruising, whether it happens this year or 4 years from now, I can't help you understand the situation. 

[D C]

7 minutes ago, Oville said:

I’ve got to say comparing getting a license or license plates to dealing with a pandemic has hit a new low on here.  Agree they are both government agencies. 
25% of adults have been vaccinated in the US and that is great news.  Does it mean opening up cruising ASAP makes any sense?

And why does the percentage of adults vaccinated have ANY bearing whatsoever? 

 

If only 2% of the population was vaccinated, why should THEY be prevented from cruising together because the other 98% was not yet vaccinated? 

Edited April 10, 2021 by D C

[Josie201]

Did anyone catch the Pete Buttigeg comments today ?  Hopeful tone. 

 

I certainty care a lot about seeing the cruise sector thrive. I know that the CDC is hopeful that a lot of these operators will be in a position to be sailing by mid-summer"

 

 

[hcat]

12 hours ago, KWW88 said:

Again it was an ask not a demand.  Not being forced to hit send and submit the form.  

We did the first request via  the CLIA link to our elected reps . Received 1 automated gen "we care" response from 1 NY Senator. With so much going on in Wahington right now,  not sure a return to Cruising will become a top priority for the Legislative Branch of gov...some  are probably not  even aware of the issue or lawsuit.

 

???? PS.. can someone  tell me what the little blue hand is  that I see on some of the initials in the circles for some posters, seems to be quite a few   

 

 Also many posters have the same initial and color...makes it hard to see who is posting until you open.

[hcat]

10 hours ago, Oville said:

Unfortunately not to many people read paper newspapers anymore.  I subscribe to 5 online and only get a paper copy of one and only on Sunday.

 That is true. Sad to see them go but lack of interest, lower ad revenues and rising costs are factors. Luckily  in Fla we still have several reputable  print choices..both coasts, diff viewpoints.

 

But they could still do  online articles or  a large full page  in print "ad"  for major markets..

 

I'd be interested in reading  what they have done or are doing by any means available.  They are not getting word out very effectively

[ChucktownSteve]

The CDC has this week shifted their health threat priorities from cruising. Oh wait, it never was cruising.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-director-designates-racism-serious-public-health-threat-2021-4?op=1

Edited April 10, 2021 by ChucktownSteve

[hcat]

7 hours ago, Oville said:

I’ve got to say comparing getting a license or license plates to dealing with a pandemic has hit a new low on here.  Agree they are both government agencies. 
25% of adults have been vaccinated in the US and that is great news.  Does it mean opening up cruising ASAP makes any sense?

 

When DMV was essentially  "covid closed" for months in NY ( very little to no access),  it really impacted people , trucking, etc in a big way for getting renewals, plates etc & .also businesses that sell , register and insurers cars.

 

Different job  than CDC and  hopefully CDC did not "covid close"  or work remotely from home like many agencies and businesses like X.

Edited April 10, 2021 by hcat

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

 

???? PS.. can someone  tell me what the little blue hand is  that I see on some of the initials in the circles for some posters, seems to be quite a few   

 

 Also many posters have the same initial and color...makes it hard to see who is posting until you open.

The initial and colored circle is what you get if you haven't placed a Profile Photo in your Profile. The letter is your CC name first initial. I believe the blue hand indicates a newbie IIRC.

Edited April 10, 2021 by lyndarra
typo

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Also many posters have the same initial and color...makes it hard to see who is posting until you open.

Not sure what you mean....your photo area has a green circle with an H in it indicating the first letter of your sign on "H"CAT which is what the system installs if you don't load in a photo image.