Norwegian Cruise CEO Calls Florida Vaccine Mandate Appeal ‘Shameful’

Norwegian Cruise Line is setting sail once again. The cruise line resumed operations with crew and passengers 100 percent vaccinated.

CEO Frank Del Rio said that he hopes other companies will follow in Norwegian’s footsteps in an interview with Yahoo Finance. Del Rio also said that it is a failure of leadership to not have a nationwide vaccine mandate.

“Our leadership has failed us,” Del Rio told Yahoo Finance. “Can you imagine if 700,000 people died of anything other than covid, the outrage that there would be, what government would do to stop that? And this government, whether we’re talking about local, state or federal—and I’m not talking Republicans, I’m not talking Democrats, I’m talking government.”

Norwegian is fighting a battle at the state level in Florida against Governor Ron De Santis who has banned vaccine passports in the state.

“It’s beyond bizarre. It’s shameful,” Del Rio said. “I mean, come on, give it up. This is a pandemic we are talking about, people are dying every day, Florida now is the epicenter of the epicenter. What does it take for common sense to rule?”

Del Rio is hopeful that the surge will subside and noted that Covid-19 has become endemic and is something that people will have to learn to live with.