Carnival Cruise Line Threatens to Pull Ships From U.S. Ports
Planes are flying, amusement parks are filling reservations, and movie theaters are finally able to start streaming their major premieres. It seems like a lot of what we love to do is slowly inching back to a more normal way of life. That is unless you love cruising. Those companies seem to have had enough.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has placed (and refused to lift) a Conditional Sail Order on cruise ships effective through November 2021 saying that there must be anti-virus protocols put in place, along with a color code that all ships must adhere to.
Carnival Cruise Line has recently canceled all of its sailings through June 2021. The remaining cruises between July and November are subject to cancellation as well, depending on if the CDC lifts the no-sail order. Although it wants to resume sailings here at home, Carnival says it may have to pull its ships from U.S. ports to save the company.
“While we have not made plans to move Carnival Cruise Line ships outside of our U.S. homeports, we may have no choice but to do so in order to resume our operations which have been on ‘pause’ for over a year,” company president Christine Duffy said in a statement.
The cruising industry is one of the biggest drivers of income to the City of Galveston.
Other cruise line companies have made the move to avoid U.S. waters in order to get back to sailing. Royal Caribbean has announced that it will be sailing out of the Bahamas, and will be requiring guests 18 years and older to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, along with all crew members onboard.
Norwegian Cruise Line has made its pitch to the CDC asking to sail by July 4. The company will also be requiring passengers and crew members to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at least two weeks before the trip.
LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions
While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.