Updated Version
Don’s Family Vacations, a Canadian Travel Agency, ran an informative video on the topic. The issue of no importance to most Americans, but vital importance to several million. The issue is international cruise travel. Don describes his video:
Cruise Ships Stuck in the Middle. The cruise lines are finding themselves stuck in the middle of a political battle. On one side the State of Florida. Facing them on the other is the federal Government and the CDC. There in the Middle are the cruise lines just trying to get back to work.
The U.S. has few registered passenger vessels that travel internationally, and only one that offers the kind of travel experience people expect from an “ocean cruise,” Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America. All others of the 323 are registered in other countries, usually in “flags of convenience” countries. Three companies control the market – Norwegian (incorporated in Bermuda), Carnival (incorporated in Panama) and Royal Caribbean (incorporated in Liberia). The reasons they are not incorporated in the US is that they would be required to be US-flagged and subject to US labor laws. Hours worked would be cut in half, requiring twice as many crew members, and pay – including overtime – would skyrocket even at minimum wage.
US Laws require that a passenger vessel on a voyage from a U.S. port to a US port must be US-flagged, unless its itinerary includes at least one stop in a foreign country. That allows the three industry giants, their subsidiaries and the 37 dwarfs to board passengers in the US, say Florida, sail to at least one foreign port during their journey, and return to a US port, usually the port of departure. That was the pre-pandemic normal, and in 2019 178,000 people in the US were employed in the industry, sales of goods and services to the industry were in the billions, and 13.8 million people took cruises.
The global industry was devastated by the pandemic, with panicked governments instilling fear at every opportunity and only now acknowledging that this wasn’t the Andromeda Strain, not every person was at equal risk, and except for the elderly almost no one died. It is far more difficult to turn a government policy than a cruise ship, which is why there are few cruise ship collisions and daily failures of government policies. Facts to which government agencies swore at the beginning of the pandemic turned out to be untrue, predictions of global devastation turned out to be the primary cause of the devastation, and few were ready to admit to error. Thus, panic-driven policies are only slowly being relaxed.
At the moment, the industry is the meat in a government sandwich. The Government of Florida, a sovereign state, has made it illegal to require vaccine passports, Federal Government documents identifying those who have been vaccinated against COVID19. As described by CNN,
“A vaccine passport is just proof that a person has been immunized against Covid-19. It could be in the form of a smartphone app or a written certificate, for those who don't have smartphones.
Some health experts argue that such proof of vaccination can be the ticket back to normalcy. It could reward people for getting vaccinated by allowing them into a crowded concert or ballgame, and offer them peace of mind that the person next to them has been immunized, too — thus helping to make crowded places safer.”
The Federal Government’s position is that cruising should be treated no differently than air travel, where international treaties make vaccine passports mandatory in some cases. It is settled law that international travel is primarily a federal issue.
The CDC, since it first imposed COVID19 restrictions on cruising in early 2020, has issued a dizzying series of statements reflecting best practice and following science, often reversing its last guidance within days. Masks have been off, then on, then off in some cases but on in others, pre-cruise and post-cruise testing and quarantining for periods that are changed more often than I change my socks. Crew have one set of standards and passengers another, bringing to mind the phrase “the peeing end off the pool.” Which brings to mind the CDC’s latest insane tweaking still requiring wearing masks out of doors by the pool.
CDC and Florida are the bread, and the cruise industry is the meat. Low-calorie plant-based gluten-free taste-free nutrition-free meat. Governor DeSantis is defying the CDC, and the cruise industry is obliged to follow Florida and federal law simultaneously.
My wife and I have used cruising as our primary vacations every twelve-to-eighteen-months for many years. I likely have one more in me, and it won’t be this year. I’m torn, because I believe in small government as the least threatening to liberty. So, in these disputes I’d normally side with DeSantis. But, as a small-government supporter, I don’t see Florida having the right to deny cruise lines the right to set their own standards including dress codes. I question CDC’s right to do the same, but acknowledge that for all its buffoonery of the past year-and-a-half it is still the gold standard of public health agencies. And, international travel is still a federal matter.
Florida already acknowledges that commercial aviation is a federal matter, and I see no reason not to include commercial sea travel in the same category. I reluctantly support the CDC’s position. Fortunately, they’re obviously in negotiation.