Florida Governor wants the Cruise Industry back and may go to court over it

1. Florida has been opening up for tourism despite an increase in COVID-19 infections
2. The Cruise Industry in Florida remains stopped, but the same Governor who had liberalized rules to allow businesses to open despite Coronavirus wants courts to overwrite Biden’s executive rules and reopen the cruise business.
3. How many people would go on a passenger cruise with COVID-19 on the rise and in different versions remains to be seen

Coronavirus spread is still at an alarming increase, also in Florida. The United States is divided between Democrats and Republicans. The US President is now Democrat Joe Biden, but the Governor of Florida Ron de Santis is a Republican Governor.

Santis Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a discussion with Cruise Industry Leaders on Friday, he may ask the courts to decide on Bidens and the US Centers for Disease Control rules to keep the cruise industry idle.

In October, the CDC announced a new framework for sailing that requires cruises to have onboard testing and carry out mock voyages and many other requirements before they are allowed to restart in US ports. The industry was shut down a year ago after several coronavirus outbreaks erupted on cruise ships. 

“You can’t have an agency shutting down an entire industry based on outdated arbitrary capricious decisions and so we will take all legal action as necessary,” Moody said. 

The roundtable discussion included CEOs from Norwegian, Carnival, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Disney Cruise Line, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

DeSantis, a Republican who reopened all businesses and eliminated fines for people refusing to wear masks as COVID-19 ripped through the state last year, said the cruise industry had been idled for too long. 

US cruises are not expected to sail until May at the earliest. Royal Caribbean Cruises President and CEO Michael Bayley called the situation”devastating,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Florida is home to some of the world’s busiest ports including Miami, Port Canaveral near Kennedy Space Center, and Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale.

Through August 2020, Florida lost around $2.3 billion in wages and 49,500 jobs because of the cruise industry shut down due to the pandemic, according to a September 2020 report by the Federal Maritime Commission.