CEO of Carnival Arnold Donald questioned the treatment received by the cruise industry from the CDC. Arnold Donald calls out the less stringent approach to other travel-related industries.
He said that there is a “level of risk management and mitigation” when it comes to operating the hotels, resorts, sporting events, and air travel. Donald said that he just wants the cruise industry to be treated the same as the rest of the industries in the travel and tourism sector. So far, only domestic cruising has resumed in the US.
Cruise Industry Leaving US Homeports?
Carnival is one of the largest cruise companies in the world. Recently, Carnival announced that they are looking to move away from their US homeports to be able to operate again.
In his interview, he said that Carnival wasn’t threatening to leave the US. Instead, he said that “it’s just a practical reality that if we’re not able to sail from the US in some months soon, we would have to sail from elsewhere”.
In March 2020, CDC announced its no-sail order and updated it with its conditional sailing order in October 2020. Though ships are allowed to operate with less than 250 people including guests and staff, this isn’t feasible for most cruise ships.
Arnold said that they are hoping that they can meet with the administration and the CDC. The Carnival CEO hopes to find a practical solution to get people to return to cruising safely.
Florida’s Lawsuit Against
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis filed a lawsuit against the CDC for not allowing the cruise industry to operate again. He calls it “arbitrary and capricious”.
The lawsuit is a result of mounting tension between the cruise industry and the CDC. The cruise industry even rolled out additional safety instructions to its passengers that they should be vaccinated if they are looking to travel soon. However, there is still no specific date when the industry can operate again.
