Last Friday afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) enacted an order which requires all travelers to wear masks on public transportation in order to help control the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC defined travelers to include all “passengers and crew.” The order applies to travel by bus, train, plane, vessel and other conveyances,
The Latest Number of Infected
The highly publicized debacle of the SeaDream 1 COVID-19 outbreak continues to unfold. The last count of people infected during the cruise increased to nine (7 guests and 2 crew members) so far. There may be more people infected who are scattered around the world. Incredibly, last weekend
Friday afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifted the “no-sail” order and entered a “conditional sail” order, as I expected on Friday morning.
The CDC Gives a Thumbs-Up to Cruising During a Deadly Pandemic
The order starts off by mentioning that COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly around the world with no
The latest “no-sail” order (NSO) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set to expire this weekend, on Saturday October 31st at midnight. There is an obvious scientific basis for the CDC to protect U.S citizens by extending the order for several months, as discussed below. The Director of the CDC, Robert
Last Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that “travelers defer all cruise travel worldwide.” The CDC issued a level 3 warning – “Avoid Nonessential Travel – Widespread Ongoing Transmission.” The CDC stated that “Cruise passengers are at increased risk of person-to-person spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, and outbreaks
A reader of this blog sent me videos, one of which you can see here, of what it’s like on a MSC cruise ship with its much touted COVID-19 protocols.
The screenshot from the video is from the MSC Grandiosa. It says in part:
“. . . two weeks ago in Europe an
Today, President Trump joined the 7,324,716 Americans who have contracted COVID -19. In a tweet sent this morning at 12:54 a.m., the President disclosed that he and the First Lady tested positive for the virus.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
The science-skeptical President down-played the virulence of the virus over the past six months. He has largely refused to
Robert Redfield (above, far right), the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was reportedly prepared to extent the “no-sail order” on passenger cruises from U.S. ports until February of 2021, according to AXIOS News. However, according to sources with direct knowledge, the White House reportedly overruled the CDC and limited
NCL’s Del Rio – It’s “Absolutely Safe” to Resume Cruising
Royal Caribbean – Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)’s “Healthy Sail” Panel made its recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week in an effort to resume cruise operations. Travel magazines, cruise writers, travel bloggers, and even major newspapers excitedly reported on what
Yesterday, Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio introduced proposed legislation, called the “Set Sail Safely Act” in an attempt to circumvent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from evaluating whether it is safe to resume cruises from ports in Florida, according to the Florida Politics (FLAPOL) website. The text for S.4592 has not
Yesterday’s zoom meeting for the tourism and ports committee brought executives for the major cruise lines together with Miami-Dade commissioners. Agenda item number one involved Miami-Dade County Tourism and Ports Committee Chair Rebeca Sosa discussing the “opening plan for the cruise line.”
The problem, of course, is that none of the Miami-based cruise lines in
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) extended its “No-Sail Order” until October 1st after finding that the cruise lines “continued to allow their crews to attend social gatherings, work out at gyms, and share buffet-style 
meals,” according to the New York Times. The CDC concluded that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)
Reducing the occupancy of ships once the industry is permitted to return to sailing is an integral first step toward combating the spread of COVID-19. But fewer passengers means fewer cruises fares sold. And most significantly, reduced occupancy means reduced onboard revenue from alcohol sales, casinos, gift shops, specialty restaurants and shore excursions. I have
Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line recently announced that they hired a panel of former public health officials to advise the cruise lines regarding how to safely return to cruise operations. Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio announced that they created the “Healthy Sail Panel” to
Yesterday Breaking Travel News published an interview with Frank Del Rio, NCL’s president and CEO. He claimed that a cruise ship can be “safer than anywhere else in the world.”
On March 13th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a “no sail” order which prohibited cruise ships 
from sailing from
This afternoon CNBC interviewed Royal Caribbean Richard Fain about when his cruise line will re-start operations and when his crew members will finally be repatriated. Here is a portion of the interview:
“CNBC: . . . we know that this is a challenging time. We really appreciate you spending time with us today.
The president of Carnival Cruise Line, Christine Duffy, stated in a letter to crew members last week “while 
we hope to bring back a small number of ships on August 1, that is still very uncertain.” Ms. Duffy continued by stating “what we do know is that whenever we do resume cruising, it will
Today, crew members aboard the Majesty of the Seas protested Royal Caribbean’s latest failure to follow through with its repatriation of its crew members. Several hundred crew members congregated on the pool deck making signs protesting Royal Caribbean’s refusal to follow through with plans to send the crew members home. The repatriation 
plans have reportedly
