Royal Caribbean CEO: Anti-Cruisers Sabotaging CDC Public Comments

Royal Caribbean International President & CEO Michael Bayley is outraged, saying an unnamed group is sabotaging the request for public comments by the Centers For Disease Control on how to restart cruising.

Writing on social media, Bayley said a small anti-cruise group is, in effect, skewing the results by overloading the CDC website with negative comments.

“On Monday the 21st (of September), the CDC closes the request for public comment regarding healthy return to cruising. There have been over 3,000 comments, many of which have been very constructive and it has been incredible to hear from you all,” he wrote. “Recently, a small anti-cruise group has lobbied their supporters to comment on cruise beyond the CDC remit. If you have a passion for cruising and the wonderful memories you have created sailing the oceans of the world, please visit and comment today.”

He did not mention the group by name, but Royal Caribbean’s blog found one such post by a member of the group ‘Stand.Earth.’ The post urged readers to lobby the CDC to extend the no-sail order beyond October, although a pair of senators recently introduced a bill to try to safely bring cruising back to the U.S.

According to the group’s website, there are detailed instructions for members to submit anti-cruise messages to the CDC before the comment period expires. The group asks its members to point out air pollution, the type of fuel cruise ships use, and “multiple reports” of health issues on ships that have resumed cruises.

At the time of this post, a search of the CDC’s website returned at least 63 submissions that included the Stand.Earth URL referenced in the submission.