Remember the CDC’s Ban on Cruises? Well, It Expired
It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to get on a cruise ship right now, but that could soon be happening. The White House overrode CDC Director Robert Redfield’s request to extend the “no-sail order” on passenger cruise ships to February 2021, reports Axios, and has opted instead to follow the October 31 self-imposed deadline set by the cruise lines. Industry representatives are slated to meet with the Trump administration tomorrow to discuss their plans for mitigating the risk of spreading Covid-19 at sea.
Despite the recent memory of the Diamond Princess and its notorious outbreak that infected hundreds and killed more than a dozen, investors and customers have been bullish about the future of the cruise industry. “It turns out there are, in fact, cruise-business optimists,” senior writer Rob Walker wrote in Marker this past summer, noting that almost 60% of Carnival’s 2021 bookings made in June were new (not credits from canceled voyages). Still, it’s no surprise that the cruise lines are itching to set sail. By Carnival’s own estimate, while its ships sat idle, it was losing $650 million a month.
