The cruise lines are no longer telling DeSantis off quietly... they are standing up and yelling "F@*k You" at him. Just how much taxpayer money will DeSantis waste defending his illegal law over international transport which the state has no legal oversight of? Especially after the other two big cruise lines, Royal Caribbean and Carnival, join this suit. Norwegian Cruise Line sues for right to require COVID-19 vaccines https://www.sun-sentinel.com/busine...0210713-acy5nld3zfdpxfcmzlq7rsdg7e-story.html Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings sued in federal court Tuesday to overturn a Florida law that bars businesses from requiring customers to show they received a COVID-19 vaccine. The Miami-based company, which operates three cruise lines, asserts that it tried and failed to persuade the state to give it leeway from the law so it can ensure that 100% of its passengers are vaccinated. Those assurances, it says, are critical for the company’s lines to fully do business not only in the U.S., but in foreign ports whose countries mandate strict protocols. The company has plans to start sailing again on Aug. 15. Norwegian’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Miami, seeks a preliminary injunction against the state. It names Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees as the sole defendant. The complaint is the latest round of friction between a cruise industry that has been largely idled since COVID-19 forced a halt in operations in March 2020, and federal and state governments seeking to set the terms for resuming business. For months, federal government health authorities have sought to ensure ships can operate without a repeat of outbreaks aboard ships last spring. And the cruise lines themselves collaborated on industry standards to protect passengers. Over time, vaccine requirements were among the conditions imposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under a complex system of protocols called “controlled sail orders.” But a recently passed Florida law bars businesses from requiring proof of vaccines from customers, creating a new obstacle for the lines to resume sailing out of Florida ports. Norwegian’s lawsuit takes direct aim at the law, calling it a “misguided intrusion” into carefully laid plans to resume safe operations under CDC guidelines. Those guidelines came under assault in May when the state sued the CDC in a Tampa federal court to force the agency to drop them because, the state said, they were an overreach of federal power. Last month, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday agreed, granting the state’s request for a preliminary injunction against the CDC. He prevented the CDC from enforcing its protocols past July 18, which is less than a week from now. The ruling is now on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. In a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel late Tuesday, Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis, called Norwegian’s suit meritless, accused the company of discrimination against children and others who have not been vaccinated and vowed to hit the company with heavy fines if it violates the state’s law. “Every other industry in Florida has safely reopened while still respecting the right of every Floridian to make their own medical choice when it comes to vaccinations,” Pushaw said in an email. “At present, approximately 60% of eligible Floridians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, which means Norwegian is purposefully excluding 40% of Florida’s residents from the people it is willing to serve,” she added. “This Administration will not tolerate such widespread discrimination. Therefore, Norwegian faces a $5,000 fine from whom they demand a vaccination status.” But in an affidavit accompanying his company’s suit in Miami, Norwegian CEO and President Frank Del Rio told the court that passengers who sail aboard the company’s cruise lines seek a high level of confidence that they will be safe from COVID-19. “Maintaining our passengers’ trust and rebuilding consumer confidence remains challenging, particularly among NCLH’s older passenger base,” he wrote. “The maintenance of consumer confidence and goodwill is essential for sustainable business success in the cruise industry. “Cultivating passenger confidence and trust in the health and safety of cruise voyages has become more vital than ever in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unless it is able to verify vaccination status, NCLH’s ability to attract and assure its passengers will be severely undercut.” Del Rio added that requiring full vaccination for 100% of passengers and crew is consistent with “vaccine protocols required by many foreign ports where NCLH ships are scheduled to visit.” Many of those ports, Del Rio said, require proofs of vaccination to not only enter them in the first place, but to do so without mandatory quarantines and testing.
Once again DeSantis gets his a$$ handed to him in a court ruling. To be fair, it was pretty clear to every reasonable person that the appeals court was going to quickly overrule the earlier CDC decision of DeSantis' handpicked judge & venue. US Court of Appeals votes to stay judge's decision ruling that CDC cannot enforce COVID cruise ship rules after July 18 The CDC win came after the state of Florida had sued the agency Florida claimed CDC restrictions on the cruise industry during the pandemic effectively blocked most cruises - harming the state's livelihood Earlier this month, the CDC asked a federal appeals court to U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday's June 18 ruling on hold The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has not yet issued its opinions, but noted that one judge dissented in granting the stay https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-enforce-COVID-cruise-ship-rules-July-18.html A federal court voted to stay a judge's decision ruling that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cannot enforce COVID-19 cruise ship rules after July 18. The CDC win came after the state of Florida had sued the agency claiming that its restrictions on the cruise industry during the pandemic effectively blocked most cruises - harming the state's livelihood. Earlier this month, the CDC asked a federal appeals court to U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday's June 18 ruling on hold after he ruled in favor of Florida. The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has not yet issued its opinions, but noted that one judge dissented in granting the stay. The CDC first flatly halted cruise ships from sailing in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which had affected passengers and crew on numerous ships. Then the CDC imposed a four-phase conditional framework on October 30 that it said would allow the industry to gradually resume operations if certain thresholds were met. Judge Merryday wrote in a 124-page decision last month that Florida would be harmed if the CDC order, which the state said effectively blocked most cruises, were to continue. The Tampa-based judge granted a preliminary injunction that prevented the CDC from enforcing the order pending further legal action on a broader Florida lawsuit. 'This order finds that Florida is highly likely to prevail on the merits of the claim that CDC's conditional sailing order and the implementing orders exceed the authority delegated to the CDC,' Merryday wrote. Merryday's decision had meant the CDC could not enforce those rules for Florida-based ships and that they would merely be considered nonbinding recommendations or guidelines. However, Merryday had delayed the effect of his order until July 18. Merryday also ordered both sides to return to mediation to attempt to work out a full solution - a previous attempt failed - and said the CDC could fashion a modification in which it would retain some public health authority. This would be similar to CDC guidelines for the reopening of other industries such as airlines, casinos, hotels, sports venues and subways, Merryday wrote. Otherwise, the cruise industry would face a daunting task to restart operations. 'Florida persuasively claims that the conditional sailing order will shut down most cruises through the summer and perhaps much longer,' the judge wrote. He added that Florida 'faces an increasingly threatening and imminent prospect that the cruise industry will depart the state.' Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement after the ruling that framework imposed onerous bureaucratic requirements on the industry. He condemned such requirements including a 'vaccine passport' for passengers and that cruise ships conduct a simulated voyage before embarking passengers. 'The CDC has been wrong all along, and they knew it,' DeSantis said. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody praised the decision in a statement at the time of Merryday's ruling. 'Today's ruling is a victory for the hardworking Floridians whose livelihoods depend on the cruise industry,' said Moody, a Republican. 'The federal government does not, nor should it ever, have the authority to single out and lock down an entire industry indefinitely.' Cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean have been gearing up to return to sailing under the CDC's four-part framework. Meanwhile, however, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings - one of the world's largest cruise operators - is suing the state of Florida in a bed to end its ban on vaccine passports - claiming that they help the company sail 'safely and soundly.' The company claims the ban violates federal law and contradicts rules set out by the CDC, USA Today reported. 'The health and safety of cruise passengers, crew and the communities we visit remains the top priority for CLIA cruise line members,' said Laziza Lambert, spokeswoman for the trade group Cruise Lines International Association. 'Cruise ships are well on their way to offering the traveling public a high level of COVID-19 mitigation.'
DeSantis gets a temporary victory as the appeals courts reverses itself. But only because DeSantis is appealing to the Supreme Court and the cruise lines want to join the pending legal action on the side of the CDC. Of course, DeSantis is crowing about this like it is some major victory -- but the practical reality is that every cruise sailing out of Florida is still demanding the vaccination status of every passenger -- and treating the unvaccinated adult passengers like plague carrying rats with nearly no access to anything on board. DeSantis handed victory as US appeals court rules against CDC cruise ship restrictions Court reverses its own earlier ruling that would have permitted CDC to enforce restrictions https://www.foxbusiness.com/politic...ourt-to-lift-cdc-restrictions-on-cruise-ships
Well spill the secrets... because all the major cruise lines have already stated that the recent ruling changes nothing in regards to their operations out of Florida.
News stories and statements are just that. Reality is a much different thing. I'll be on a cruise in October and enjoying the entire experience.