Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to launch a lawsuit against the federal government unless the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) lifts the no-sail order by this summer.
March 14 marked 1 year since all cruise companies were forced to dock following the COVID outbreak, a move that has reportedly cost Florida USD 3,2 billion in the first 6 months of the crisis, along with 49500 jobs and USD 2,3 billion in wages.
The CDC has ordered cruise lines to remain docked through November this year, but De Santis has pushed back on this mandate, calling it “baseless.”
During a Friday roundtable, the governor said:
“The cruise industry is essential to our state’s economy and keeping it shut down until November would be devastating to the men and women who rely on the cruise lines to provide for themselves and their families. I urge the CDC to immediately rescind this baseless no-sail order to allow Floridians in this industry to get back to work.”
Other Florida officials took issue with the fact that not tourism industries had been curtailed by a federal directive in the same way. Ashley Moody, the state’s Attorney General condemned the CDC order that heavily affected the Sunshine State, calling it “federal overreach.”
The Florida roundtable came days after the CDC announced they would not lift the no-sail order, in spite of a request from CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association).
CLIA has since taken to Twitter to urge Americans to appeal to their congressmen to help lift the order, given the increasing number of vaccines administered nationwide.
Florida's largest cruise ports (homeports) are Miami, Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale), Tampa, Port Canaveral (Orlando).