Norwegian Cruise Lines threatens boycott of Florida ports

The Washington Post wrote:Norwegian threatens to pull cruise ships from Florida over DeSantis vaccine passport ban

By
Hannah Sampson
May 7, 2021 at 11:19 a.m. PDT

One of the world’s largest cruise companies is ready to send its ships out of Florida if the state prohibits it from requiring passengers to be vaccinated.

Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has said it intends to require 100 percent of passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated to sail. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued an executive order in March barring businesses from requiring proof of vaccinations. He signed that order into state law on Monday.

“That’s an issue,” Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio said during an earnings call this week. He said the company has been in talks with the governor’s office, and his legal experts believe the vaccination requirement falls under federal and not state law.

“But at the end of the day, cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and god forbid we can’t operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from,” he said. “And we can operate from the Caribbean for ships that otherwise would’ve gone to Florida.”

‘I’d like to hear an argument why we couldn’t sail’: Norwegian Cruise CEO lays out plan for a U.S. restart

He added: “We certainly hope that it doesn’t come to that. Everyone wants to operate out of Florida; it’s a very lucrative market, it’s a close drive market.”

Florida includes three of the world’s busiest cruise ports and, before the pandemic, was the starting point for the majority of voyages that include the Bahamas and Caribbean. Cruising from U.S. ports has been halted since March 2020, as the coronavirus was spreading rapidly around the world — including on cruise ships.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said cruise lines can resume sailing from the United States more quickly if at least 98 percent of crew members and 95 percent of passengers are fully vaccinated. DeSantis sued the agency last month demanding that cruises be allowed to restart immediately.

But he has sought to undermine one of the key safety measures that many cruise lines have embraced: guarantees that the thousands of fellow passengers will be inoculated. As part of their plans to start cruising again, either from the United States when permitted or from other countries, cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Virgin, Crystal and Norwegian’s brands have said they will require everyone on board or every adult on board to be fully vaccinated.

DeSantis said at a news conference last month that anyone worried about getting sick should get the vaccine. But he said he didn’t want to let companies restrict people based on whether they were vaccinated.

Florida governor sues the CDC to get cruises started immediately

“You can go to a restaurant, you can get on a cruise ship, you can go to a movie theater without the company demanding that you show them your health information,” he said. “It’s just not necessary to do.”

It is still not clear how that rule will apply to cruise lines. The state law says the ban on businesses requiring proof of vaccination “does not otherwise restrict businesses from instituting screening protocols consistent with authoritative or controlling government-issued guidance to protect public health.”

And two attorneys told the South Florida Sun Sentinel last month that the governor probably did not have the authority to prohibit cruise lines from demanding passengers prove they are vaccinated.

No matter what, Del Rio said, he is not budging on the requirement.

“I think everyone should be wanting to start cruising in the safest possible manner,” he said. “And that’s exactly what the Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings plan does, 100 percent vaccination of both crew and passengers.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/05/07/norwegian-cruise-florida-desantis-vaccine/

Maddog wrote:I think cruise lines should determine who they serve, not politicians.

But as they say, "that ship sailed long ago. "

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:I think cruise lines should determine who they serve, not politicians.

But as they say, "that ship sailed long ago. "

  I hear you.  But this is more convoluted than that, simply.  Here is a politician, trying to impose a restriction, upon any private restrictions, based upon scientific premises, against unvaccinated passengers.  It's power, to impose a power, to prevent a power, from asserting scientific reasoning.

When you stray from scientific premises, to metaphysical premises, for the sake of religious or political whimsy, anything goes.  All this because Trump didn't do his homework, and learn the difference between a worldwide pandemic, and the annual flu.  Now the courtiers and sycophants have to go naked in order to save the king-with-no-clothes from public ridicule and humiliation.

Maddog wrote:Politicians have been making laws about who private businesses can serve for decades.

The precedent has been set, whether you agree with those politicians or not.

They have been granted that power.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:Politicians have been making laws about who private businesses can serve for decades.

The precedent has been set, whether you agree with those politicians or not.

They have been granted that power.

That's a little too simplistic.  The Constitution requires that a state have a reason for any express action.  The reason may be by a strict standard, or a relaxed standard, depending on the nature of the question.

But in this case I don't see any reason at all for a state mandating that a company go against medical science.  I think the State of Florida will be hard pressed to come up with one.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

That's a little too simplistic.  The Constitution requires that a state have a reason for any express action.  The reason may be by a strict standard, or a relaxed standard, depending on the nature of the question.

But in this case I don't see any reason at all for a state mandating that a company go against medical science.  I think the State of Florida will be hard pressed to come up with one.

It's simple. The state has been deciding who can be served for 50 years.

And here we are.

Original Quill wrote:But, sizing up the adversaries and strengths, it appears this issue will never see its way to a court of law.  A company is using its economic might to challenge a state's authority.  There are different muscles being flexed.

Miami is the third-largest seaport for cruise ships in the world.  Mind you, there are other Florida ports involved in this question as well, so stakes are even greater.  It appears that the State of Florida stands to lose prime tourist/recreation dollars, to the likes of Nassau or Freeport, a short hop off in the Bahamas.  My guess is that it would not be as great a loss to Norwegian Cruise Lines, as it would be to the State of Florida.

But…such are the risks of following a cult.