Cruise Lines Will Follow CDC Guidance Regardless of Court Ruling

If you’re having trouble keeping up with the latest developments in Florida’s legal battle against the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to overturn its Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) for cruise lines, you’re not alone.

Since Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis filed a lawsuit against the federal agency in April, multiple conflicting rulings have been handed down. First, on June 19, Federal District Judge Steven Merryday sided with DeSantis by issuing a preliminary injunction order against the CDC, preventing the agency from enforcing its CSO regulations in the state of Florida.

One month later, a panel of three judges in Atlanta’s 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, upholding the CDC’s right to impose COVID-19 regulations on the cruise ship industry. Florida’s government promptly appealed this ruling, which would have stayed Merryday’s original injunction. Less than a week later, on July 23, the same three-judge panel said it was withdrawing its earlier decision, stating that the CDC had, “failed to demonstrate an entitlement to a stay pending appeal.”

The ruling was flipped shortly after Florida’s attorney general asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to block the CDC’s COVID-19 cruise protocols the very same day that, arguing that the state was, “all but guaranteed to lose yet another summer cruise season while the CDC pursues its appeal,” Reuters reported.

The CDC explained in a statement issued Tuesday that, as a result of the appeals court’s reversed reversal, the CSO’s detailed safety measures and technical instructions, “have become nonbinding recommendations for cruise ships arriving in, located within, or departing from a port in Florida. CDC will continue to operate the CSO as a voluntary program for these ships.”

It also reported that, despite the latest ruling, “All Florida-porting ships have chosen to voluntarily follow the [CSO].”

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) upheld that claim in a July 26 statement, which said, “CLIA ocean-going cruise line members resuming initial operations from Florida and all other U.S. ports will continue to operate in accordance with public health protocols that prioritize the health and safety of passengers, crew and the communities we visit. This aligns with the cruise industry’s decades-long commitment to following the advice and guidance of scientists and public health experts.”

The CDC also said, “The CSO’s public health measures—informed by the best available public health science and developed with input from cruise industry colleagues—represents the most effective way of continuing to protect the public’s health,” and that the agency, “remains committed to working with the cruise industry and seaport partners to ensure that the resumption of cruise ship passenger operations are conducted in a way that protects crew members, passengers and port personnel, particularly with emerging COVID-19 variants of concern.”

For DeSantis, who has accused the CDC of overreaching its authority in attempting to enforce the terms of its CSO, this fight is about more than restarting the state’s cruise sector—it’s about power. “The importance of this case extends beyond the cruise industry. From here on out, a federal bureau will be on thin legal and constitutional ice if and when it attempts to exercise such sweeping authority that is not explicitly delineated by law,” he said in response to the court’s most recent ruling.