Yesterday, Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio introduced proposed legislation, called the “Set Sail Safely Act” in an attempt to circumvent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from evaluating whether it is safe to resume cruises from ports in Florida, according to the Florida Politics (FLAPOL) website. The text for S.4592 has not yet been received for publication. The Florida Senators are trying to re-start cruising from ports in Florida by stressing the…

Yesterday’s zoom meeting for the tourism and ports committee brought executives for the major cruise lines together with Miami-Dade commissioners. Agenda item number one involved Miami-Dade County Tourism and Ports Committee Chair Rebeca Sosa discussing the “opening plan for the cruise line.” The problem, of course, is that none of the Miami-based cruise lines in attendance have submitted any proposed updated health and safety plans to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for…

Guests and crew members on a CroisiEurope river cruise ship on the Douro River in Portugal tested positive earlier this week for COVID-19, according to a Portugese newspaper TVi24 (with video). Two French passengers and five crew members on the Vasco da Gama river cruise ship tested positive for the virus, after a passenger began exhibiting symptoms on Monday September 7th. (The Vasco da Gama is not be confused with the cruise ship of the…

The first cruise from Saudi Arabia since the pandemic was cut short last week when a person on the Silversea Silver Spirit tested positive for COVID-19, according to several newspapers in the region. The Al Arabiya newspaper reported that the Silver Spirit cruise ship sailed on Thursday, August 27th from King Abdullah Port in King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia.  The ship carried Saudi Arabian passengers on the Kingdom’s first cruise since COVID-19 struck…

The newly formed Global Cruise Activist Network launched its website and convened a virtual press conference today. Representatives of environmental groups, cruise ship crime organizations and port communities worldwide joined forces to demand that the cruise industry not return to “business-as-usual” after COVID-19. Approximately 100 members of the network attended the conference, as well as representatives from news organizations from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Italy, Norway, the U.K., the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas. The…

Italy has given the green light to Costa and AIDA  to resume cruising from Italian ports this month. Meanwhile, the number of positive COVID-19 cases on Costa cruise ships in Italy increased to nine this weekend, according to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. The Costa Deliziosa (below right) has four crew members with positive COVID-19 cases; the Costa Favoalosa (top) has five crew members  who tested positive for the virus. The number of COVID-19…

Last week, I received an email from a resident of Palm Beach County. It said “Port of Palm Beach July 31, appx 10:30 am” with a single attachment. When I opened the attachment (above), I immediately recognized the Grand Celebration’s orange painted funnel, out of which thick black smoke billowed over the port.  The funnel is the iconic design of the Carnival Cruise Line fleet of ships owned by Carnival Corporation, of course.  The ship…