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Frank Del Rio Letter to CDC: Requests US Restart on July 4th


mmcguir
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He is not anticipating a positive response as NCL announced cruises departing from Jamaica and Dominican Republic starting in August.  If he really thought he would get approval for NCL to sail from Florida in July would he really start selling these alternative cruises?

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1 hour ago, mj_holiday said:

The letter from NCLH is characterized as a proposal requesting a response. 

 

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

He is not anticipating a positive response

 

The letter does not read as a proposal requesting CDC approval.

It is written as a statement of intent.

 

 

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

If he really thought he would get approval for NCL to sail from Florida in July would he really start selling these alternative cruises?

There are plenty of other ships in the NCLH fleet.

But I agree that it seems an odd strategy to write to the CDC on April 5 stating the intention to start cruising in the U.S. on July 4 and then,  only one day later, to cancel all July cruises apart from a few NCL "specials" outside U.S. waters. Too subtle for me 🙄

Edited by flossie009
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32 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

 

 

The letter does not read as a proposal requesting CDC approval.

It is written as a statement of intent.

 

 

There are plenty of other ships in the NCLH fleet.

But I agree that it seems an odd strategy to write to the CDC on April 5 stating the intention to start cruising in the U.S. on July 4 and then,  only one day later, to cancel all July cruises apart from a few NCL "specials" outside U.S. waters. Too subtle for me 🙄

I agree.  From the actions of NCL today, the letter of yesterday seems to be an opening salvo in an attempt to get a discussion going with the CDC.  It seem odd that no cruises were announced for Oceania or Regent since those lines have the largest percentage of potential passengers who have already been vaccinated.

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I see the letter to the CDC as a great return serve back to the CDC. “Here’s what we’re going to do—tell us why that won’t work.” And trying to keep some sort of communication flowing.

 

As far as Florida’s executive order on prohibiting businesses from asking about vaccination status, that order is irrelevant if cruises leave from, say, New York. Sailing past the Statue of Liberty and watching the Independence Day fireworks would be a great way to start a cruise!

 

Not sure why July cruises were canceled, but here’s my thought. NCL is now requiring vaccines so they are canceling cruises that people booked before knowing they’d need to be vaccinated and the pax can rebook or get a refund. 

 

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Texas governor Greg Abbott also issued an executive order banning state agencies or businesses in Texas from requiring a vaccine passport. Well, there aren’t any cruises sailing out of Galveston that are attractive to me, so whatever.

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5 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Texas governor Greg Abbott also issued an executive order banning state agencies or businesses in Texas from requiring a vaccine passport. Well, there aren’t any cruises sailing out of Galveston that are attractive to me, so whatever.

To pile it higher and deeper, the Federal government has said that they won't issue nor require a vaccine passport; to quote:

 

"The government is not now, nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential. There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential,"

 

So can we stop beating up on DeSantis and Abbott.  You sound like you live in N84. 😒

Edited by mrlevin
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It’s not just a vaccine passport that’s prohibited by the Florida order, it’s any proof of vaccination.  The order states:

 

Businesses in Florida are prohibited from requiring patrons or customers to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery to gain access to, entry upon, or service from the business.

https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/EO-21-81.pdf

 

Not bashing anyone but that’s the Florida order. Can’t have that and NCLH cruises from Miami at the same time. 

 

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5 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

Not bashing anyone but that’s the Florida order. Can’t have that and NCLH cruises from Miami at the same time. 

 

 

Yes you can; cruises that embark and/or debark in Florida need to satisfy the health requirements of all ports along the way; all this order says is that the Port of Miami is banned from requiring documentation; no issue with the ship requiring documentation in accordance with international requirements.

Edited by mrlevin
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2 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Yes you can; cruises that embark and/or debark in Florida need to satisfy the health requirements of all ports along the way;

OK, fair point.

 

I hope you’re right—we have two cruises out of Florida booked in December-January!

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There’s also this that I just saw. This sounds promising!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-06/carnival-threatens-to-move-ships-abroad-amid-cdc-obstacles

 

“CDC is committed to working with the cruise industry and seaport partners to resume cruising following the phased approach outlined in the conditional sailing order,” CDC spokeswoman Jade Fulce said in a response to questions about Carnival. “This goal aligns with the desire to resume passenger operations in the United States expressed by many major cruise ship operators and travelers; hopefully, by mid-summer with restricted revenue sailings.”

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36 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

 You sound like you live in N84. 

Me? I’m in San Marcos, right by the campus. I used to teach there. We love San Marcos! (But I love travel even more!)

 

CruiserFramMaine, thanks for the link!

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On 4/5/2021 at 2:50 PM, crickette said:

As NCLH is a Florida business, it thus cannot require any such documentation.

Actually not NCLH  or any of the three cruise lines are Florida or even US Businesses.  Believe NCLH/NCL are Bermuda and Oceania/Regent are. both Panamanian Companies

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3 minutes ago, BBWC said:

Pure political theater.  The wacky part about the filing, the motion references the APA yet the plaintiffs failed to seek any relief under the APA. 

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17 minutes ago, howiefrommd said:

Pure political theater.  The wacky part about the filing, the motion references the APA yet the plaintiffs failed to seek any relief under the APA. 

In addition the state of Florida has no standing to sue the federal government or any agencies especially since they are filing to support foreign businesses. 
 

Like Howie stated pure political theater much like fdr asking CDC to approve a completely different restart plan that is missing quite a bit of the CDC requirements. 
 

would be much better if all parties worked together to restart cruising rather than make more work that will further delay cruising restarting. 

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Personally, I am happy with FDR and DeSantis actions. They are lighting fires under the CDC etc. Let’s see how it plays out. 
What do some of you suggest...sitting on your hands and twiddling your thumbs? Just wait and see does diddly....

sheila

Edited by Bellaggio Cruisers
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I agree with Sheila. I was willing to let the CDC do its thing, but now it’s time to acknowledge the progress on vaccines in the US and their effectiveness. There are also tens of thousands of passengers who have cruised without any notable incidents. Theater or no, it’s about putting pressure to get this moving. And that’s what we all want!

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6 hours ago, rallydave said:

In addition the state of Florida has no standing to sue the federal government or any agencies especially since they are filing to support foreign businesses. 

The cruise lines are foreign companies, but the ports and all the businesses impacted by the lack of cruise passengers coming and going are not.  So you can't say all the benefit of restarting cruises from the US would only benefit foreign companies.

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On 4/6/2021 at 6:00 PM, mrlevin said:

To pile it higher and deeper, the Federal government has said that they won't issue nor require a vaccine passport; to quote:

 

"The government is not now, nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential. There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential,"

 

So can we stop beating up on DeSantis and Abbott.  You sound like you live in N84. 😒

Americans traveling between states. This doesn’t mean that foreign countries won’t require vaccine passports. All cruises make at least one port of call out of US

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This NCL video looks as though it might be interesting to watch:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6040/

 

Meanwhile it appears to be one step forward & two back from the CDC:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6037/

 

 

Some may be interested to read the UK Government's approach to resuming international travel, including cruising, which is looking positive for us this Summer  🙂

UK Gov Press Release

Travel Taskforce Report (includes a section on cruising and on vaccination certification)

 

 

 

Also if we wish to take a domestic cruise this Summer, we are now spoilt for choice:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6007/

 

None appeal to us - we are waiting for something further afield, in warmer climes, and preferably on Regent 🤞 😎 🍾

Edited by flossie009
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