Editorial: To help cruise lines, repeal law banning vaccination passports

The Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis could do much to restart the cruise ship industry. It would just take a little humility and common sense for the good of the state.

Every month that the domestic industry stays idle hurts Florida. PortMiami and Port Everglades are, respectively, the busiest and third-busiest cruise ports in the world. Port Canaveral is the second-busiest.

A spokeswoman told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that revenue at Port Everglades is down roughly half from a year ago. No cruises mean fewer people flying into Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and fewer cruise-related jobs. Magnify that across Florida.

Cruise industry executives have criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for being slow and overly cautious in issuing guidelines for companies to resume. Some of the criticism is justified.

We also believe, however, that the state’s response has been politically driven and counterproductive.

Last month, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit seeking to force the CDC to allow cruising. The Legislature and DeSantis followed up with a law that bans businesses and governments in Florida from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccinations.

A ban on vaccine passports is a misguided attempt to reopen the state as quickly as possible when the law, which carries a $5,000 fine per violation, will perversely force industries such as cruising to wait longer to reopen. A lawsuit over the CDC’s reopening guidelines is equally ill-advised.

If the governor really wants cruise lines to resume operations as soon as possible, a drawn-out lawsuit makes no sense. More likely, the Republican governor and attorney general want to bash the CDC now that a Democrat is president. Texas and Alaska, both Republican-run, piled on to the lawsuit.

Norwegian Cruise Lines CEO Frank Del Rio followed up with a commentary in the Sun Sentinel urging a policy opposed to what Florida approved. “We’re committing,” Del Rio said, “to requiring vaccinations for all guests and crew, and we are working hard with CDC staff to safely reopen the industry.”

Del Rio added, “All we need is for senior leadership at the CDC and the Biden administration to work with us and the rest of the cruise industry to finalize an updated, science-based agreement that allows us to safely reopen.”

In addition, Del Rio said his company could move operations out of the state if the ban on vaccination passports stands. That wouldn’t hurt Port Everglades, where Royal Caribbean and Carnival are the major lines. But it would hurt Florida.

Carnival Cruise Line says it will attempt to gradually restart sailings from the Port of Miami and Galveston, Texas, in early to mid-July, but that’s contingent on the company’s ongoing talks with the CDC.

Last week, the CDC issued phases 2B and 3 of its Conditional Sailing Order. They cover requirements for trial sailings “in preparation for restricted passenger voyages,” guidance for CDC ship inspections before full-capacity voyages and “operational procedures” to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on board and when disembarking.

Fortunately for Port Everglades, this is old stuff. Port officials had to work with local, state and federal agencies and the industry last year on a plan to accommodate the Zaandam, which had been stuck at sea with infected passengers. The port spokeswoman correctly called the plan “well-executed.”

Given the memories of the Diamond Princess — a COVID-19 outbreak in February 2020 turned a 14-day cruise into a 39-day ordeal — the CDC should take every reasonable precaution. But overreach doesn’t help. We also know much more about the virus.

The Port Everglades spokeswoman said the CDC first wanted cruise lines to wait 12 hours before reusing a gangway. Such a rule would be impractical. Wiping down the gangway would be quicker and effective. The agency relented.

Carnival has threatened to move ships offshore if the CDC doesn’t act more quickly. If that happened, Moody’s lawsuit says, the state “may never be the same.”

It’s been a tough 15 months for the industry. Tempers and frustrations are high. But here’s some perspective.

Pulling out of Florida ports would hurt the industry. Doing so would force Americans to take an extra flight and likely would discourage people from booking. It would end productive relationships with local ports and disregard all of Florida’s port infrastructure.

Instead, we ask again for a bipartisan group from the Florida congressional delegation to meet with the CDC in hopes of getting clarity for the industry. We also remind the cruise lines that they haven’t always looked good in the past year, by making it hard for passengers to get refunds and leaving crew members at sea for months.

And, as always, we stress the link between public health and the economy. If people feel safe, they are more likely to book a cruise.

That means vaccinations. Visitors to the Bahamas already must submit a negative COVID-19 test within the previous five days if they are not two weeks out from their second dose of vaccine. That’s close to a vaccination passport.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis — a medical doctor — told the Bahamian Parliament, “Once individuals are fully vaccinated (they) can participate in a closed environment, once all within that closed environment are fully vaccinated.”

Royal Caribbean and Crystal plan to start all-Bahamas itineraries in July. According to news reports, the companies will require all adults to be vaccinated.

Florida should repeal the ban on vaccination passports. The benefit would extend beyond cruise ships. Parents of college students also would like their children to be in the safest environment possible.

Adding repeal to next week’s special session on gambling, or scheduling a separate session, risks legislators adding unrelated bad proposals. But the law represents a bigger problem for cruise lines than the CDC.

DeSantis got the state into this mess by pandering, once again, to anti-vaxxers. Now the governor must find a way out.