Miami politicians, cruise execs, longshoremen say to CDC: ‘Let cruises restart’

One day after Gov. Ron DeSantis used PortMiaimi as a backdrop to announce he is suing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to try to invalidate its safety requirements for cruise ships, cruise executives and a long list of Miami politicians gathered at the port for another press conference with a similar message:

Let cruises restart this summer.

Calling the CDC’s requirements for cruise companies too onerous, and faulting the agency for not already setting a restart date, U.S. Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, County Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Commissioner Rebeca Sosa said cruises should be able to welcome passengers by July.

“No other industry is being held back by the federal government like the cruise line industry,” said Salazar. “Cruise lines should be allowed to operate if they have proper safety protocols in place. The CEOs and stakeholders of these cruise line industries have said it and repeated it to the CDC that they are ready to implement any ... safety protocols that they require, but that we need to have these ships back into the sea.”

Friday’s speakers did not address the conflict between some cruise company plans to require vaccinations and a Thursday statement by DeSantis that he will object to such a requirement for sailings from Florida.

The U.S. cruise industry has been paralyzed since mid-March 2020 when it shut down after COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths on multiple ships. Since October, the companies have been testing crew members weekly and reporting data to the CDC to comply with the first phase of the agency’s conditional sail order — a framework to get cruises restarted in the U.S. On Friday, the agency released requirements for the second phase in which companies will have to secure agreements with ports and local health authorities in the cities they plan to visit.

Cruise companies must have the agreements in place before they can move on to test voyages, and then eventually the real thing. CDC spokesperson Caitlin Shockey said instructions for the test voyages are in the works and will be released in the next few weeks.

Echoing comments made by the CDC’s maritime division director, Martin Cetron, earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday he wants to see the cruise industry up and running as soon as possible.

“I certainly care a lot about seeing the cruise sector thrive, and I know that CDC is hopeful that a lot of these operators will be in a position to be sailing by midsummer,” he said. “And laying out these specific kind of gates that they need to get through is an important step toward that.”

Those gates are exactly what Miami politicians criticized Friday. Salazar called on the CDC to remove its conditional sail order entirely, in line with DeSantis’ efforts. Gimenez said the order does not reflect the successful start of vaccine supply and distribution in the U.S. In its guidance last week, the CDC said it will recommend all passengers and crew be vaccinated, but won’t require it.

Cruise executives from Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages joined the press conference. Also there was Torin Ragin, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1416, who represents PortMiami workers who load and unload ships.

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Richard Fain said in an interview that the company hopes for a better dialogue with the CDC.

“We’re trying to work our way through it,” he said of the agency’s conditional sail order. “We’ll work with whatever process they want us to. We would just like to have a dialogue as we’ve had in so many other countries as to what is the best way to protect our citizens.”

In a separate interview, Tom McAlpin, CEO of Virgin Voyages, called the CDC’s requirement that cruise companies conduct PCR tests on all passengers and crew members on embarkation and debarkation day “practically impossible” given still-lengthy test turnaround times.

The company moved its inaugural ship out of U.S. waters last year and is planning to restart cruises in the United Kingdom in August for fully vaccinated passengers. The new ship will then return to begin cruises from PortMiami in September.

Virgin Voyages, Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Windstar and Crystal Cruises have announced they will require some or all passengers and crew members to be vaccinated when cruises restart.

McClatchy White House correspondent Francesca Chambers contributed to this report.