Report: Cruise Lines Bringing Back Crew Members

Add one more hopeful sign that the cruise industry is ready to set sail again.

According to a CNBC broadcast report, cruise lines are starting to bring crew members back to the U.S. in anticipation of the current no-sail order expiring on Oct. 31.

The revelation apparently came during a meeting earlier this week between cruise company executives and Vice President Mike Pence, who was said to be instrumental in overruling the Centers for Disease Control’s wishes to extend the no-sail order through the end of the year.

The CDC could extend the order at the Oct. 31 deadline, but unless there is a significant spike in coronavirus cases in the U.S. over the next three weeks it’s highly doubtful the agency would try to push through another extension after having been denied by the Trump administration.

The CDC was also under scrutiny by the travel industry, specifically from the American Society of Travel Agents, which threatened a lawsuit over the no-sail order.

So, for now, take it as another positive sign that the cruise line industry is ready, willing and apparently able to field a crew. Whether ships will actually sail immediately after the order is lifted remains to be seen but MSC Cruises North America chairman Rick Sasso said his company will ramp up and be back on its feet in a year.

“Our ambition is to be fully operational by October (of 2021), even as soon as next summer,” Sasso said during a panel discussion at Seatrade Cruise Virtual, an online version of the cruise industry’s annual meetup, according to the travel blog The Points Guy. “This will evolve, and it will evolve quicker than we would have assumed even a month ago,” he said. “It certainly will be a gradual, staggered, evolving deployment schedule.”

The industry, under fire back in the spring for adding to the woes of the virus, has actually led all travel sectors in implementing health and safety protocols across the board.