US House Joins the Fight To Resume Domestic Cruise Operations

The House of Representatives has joined the battle to allow cruising to resume in U.S. waters this summer.

Florida Reps. María Elvira Salazar, who represents an area that includes PortMiami, and Don Young, of tourism-dependent Alaska, introduced the bill to revoke the no-sail order issued by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and require the agency to provide guidance for the safe domestic cruise operations.

It also would establish an interagency working group to set recommendations to facilitate the resumption of passenger cruising no later than July 1, 2021.

The bill is similar to one introduced last week in the U.S. Senate. It is called the Careful Resumption Under Improved Safety Enhancements (CRUISE) Act.

“I am proud to join my Senate colleagues and lead this fight in the House so that our ships can return to sea, our longshoremen can return to port, and Americans can start cruising again,” Salazar said. “This legislation will fix the CDC’s arbitrary guidelines and give clarity and fairness to the industry that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout Miami’s entire tourism economy.”

Young said Alaska’s tourism economy depends on the summer cruise season, which the CDC has indicated is a possibility.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the tourism sector and caused undue stress on the Alaskan small businesses that rely on being able to welcome visitors from around the world,” Young said. “Even before we had effective vaccines, the CDC continued allowing airlines, trains, and other hospitality providers to operate unencumbered. On the other hand, cruise lines have been unjustly singled out by CDC, shutting down an entire industry with huge economic ripple effects. … Every day that passes without the lifting of CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order is one day closer to the loss of the 2021 Alaska cruise season.”

The CRUISE Act also would establish an interagency “working group” that will develop recommendations to allow passenger cruise operations in the U.S. by July 1, 2021.

The bill also ensures that the CDC and Dept. of Health & Human Services retain authorities to make and enforce regulations necessary to prevent communicable diseases on cruise ships.