Barbara Robinson is vaccinated but her husband, Keith, is not. The Mobile couple is hoping to go cruising again, but confusion about how that may roll out abounds.
Will the Robinsons be required to show a proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status before getting on board? And if Keith remains unvaccinated, will he be told to go home?
“I feel that my health is private, and no company can inquire about my health to determine my ability to work or vacation,” said Keith Robinson, 54. “I feel that the CDC is overstepping in concern to the cruise industry.”
Alabama legislation banning so-called “vaccine passports” likely won’t help Robinson or anyone cruising out of Mobile.
The bill’s sponsor, state Senator Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, told AL.com this week that he was informed that SB267 does not pre-empt the federal regulations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal admiralty law also requires cruise ship owners and operators to exercise reasonable care to its passengers, which remains a focal point on the cruising industry following coronavirus outbreaks aboard ships during the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.
‘Wait and see’
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has yet to sign the legislation that was approved by the Alabama Legislature on Monday.
But in next-door Florida, a similar new law signed by Republican Ron DeSantis is stirring a dispute over federalism’s reach and whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should relent to the wishes of state lawmakers. The Florida dispute has also gone to court, and at least one cruise line is threatening to pull its vessels out of the Sunshine State.
In Mobile, the state’s only cruise industry presence, officials are confident that Carnival Cruise Line will not require proof of vaccinations once cruising resumes. They are referring to an interview from the company’s CEO Christine Duffy, who told NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt on Monday that she has concerns the cruising industry is being singled out by the CDC.
“There’s no mandate for any other business to have that requirement,” Duffy said during the interview. She said the company is encouraging everyone to get a vaccine but added that “we don’t want to be treated differently than any other part of travel tourism, entertainment or society.”
Children under age 12 are also not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, and Duffy said they “are a big part of the cruise experience in a family vacation” during the summer. She said the CDC’s current protocols would prohibit cruise ships from having kids under 12 on board.
David Clark, president & CEO with Visit Mobile, said he believes Mobile has a good chance to have cruising resume “sooner than later,” and that the city and cruisers “have to hang tight” while the issue continues to unfold. He said the CDC’s abrupt ruling last week that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most settings portends changes the agency might consider for cruise ships.
A change came this past week when the CDC ruled that cruise lines are not required to test fully vaccinated passengers before embarking on a trip or upon returning to port. Unvaccinated passengers, like Keith Robinson, would need to be test before boarding a ship and between all other sailings. Also, if an unvaccinated person encounters a confirmed case of COVID-19, they will need to get tested and potentially quarantine for two weeks.
Cruises were largely shut down under the CDC’s “No Sail Order” from March to October 2020. On May 5, the CDC updated their guidelines allowing cruise ships to conduct test voyages with volunteers to make sure that virus prevention protocols are working. But the CDC also allows companies to skip the trial sailings if they can confirm that 95% of passengers and 98% of crew members have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We have to wait and see how this plays out and continue to collaborate with folks with the CDC and health departments,” said Clark. “It’s a moving target every day.”
‘Pre-empt state law’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gestures during a news conference Sunday, April 4, 2021, at the Manatee County Emergency Management office in Palmetto, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)AP
Florida’s vaccine passport ban, however, looms large over the cruising industry.
The CEO with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, the world’s third largest cruise company, threatened earlier this month that cruise ships would be relocated from Florida if the state ban is enforced. DeSantis shot back, calling Norwegian a small player in the cruise industry. He also said that the state law banning vaccine requirements applies to cruise ships.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is the parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. The company sails from four Florida ports, but not from Alabama.
Florida also has a lawsuit pending against the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over its orders affecting the cruise industry. Florida state and federal
Stewart Chiron, a cruise industry analyst otherwise known as “The Cruise Guy,” said that federal law will supersede state law when it comes to cruise ships that voyage into international waters.
“Airlines fly to many international destinations that require proof of vaccines,” said Chiron. “U.S. travelers heading to the European Union, for example, will have to show proof of vaccination to board flights. Same will hold with cruise lines.”
Benjamin McMichael, an assistant professor of law at the University of Alabama School of Law, said the issue will boil down to how the CDC ultimately regulates the industry and the type of wording the agency uses on whether state law will apply to cruise passengers.
“If the CDC says, ‘it’s a good idea to require vaccine passports,” and a state says it’s illegal to do that, then the state wins,” said McMichael. “Bu if the CDC says something stronger than that, then they can pre-empt state law. Congress can also get involved to require vaccine passports, and then you have clear pre-exemptions.”
The Biden Administration, however, has signaled it does to plan to implement a federal vaccine passport program.
McMichael added, “The feds have more authority over maritime law than other areas and obviously this falls under maritime law.”
The first “Conditional Sail Order,” issued by the CDC on October 30, spells out the authority the CDC has under federal law. Within the order, the CDC says its director determined that measures taken by state and local health authorities regarding COVID-19 aboard cruise ships were “inadequate to prevent further interstate spread of the disease.”
The order continued, “Cruise ships by their very nature travel interstate and internationally and can move beyond jurisdictional boundaries of any single state or local health authority. Federal intervention is needed to require public health measures to prevent further introduction, transmission or spread of COVID-19 via cruise ships globally and into U.S. communities.”
‘CDC roadblock’
Surrounded by Azalea Trail Maids, Mobile Better times: Mayor Sandy Stimpson announces on Monday, July 31, 2017, that Carnival Cruise Line has agreed to a one-year contract extension with the city. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com)
The pressure for the CDC to loosen its restriction on the cruise industry comes at a time when vaccination rates are climbing in the U.S., and coronavirus-related outbreaks have plummeted. But Alabama’s 28% vaccination rate is among the lowest in the country and is lower than any other state in the U.S. with a cruise industry presence. Mobile County’s vaccination rate is even lower at 26%. Comparably, cities with cruise ships in Florida have much higher vaccination rates among all its residents. The same applies in counties that host cruise ships Louisiana and Texas. In Charleston County in South Carolina, 41% of all residents are vaccinated.
South Carolina and Texas are among the states with a vaccine passport ban. Alabama, with the legislative approval of SB267, could be next if Ivey signs SB267 into law.
Clark said for Mobile, the objective is to get the cruise ship back to the Alabama Cruise Terminal to resume sailings. The city is set to welcome the Carnival Sensation, an upgraded Fantasy-class ship originally launched in 1993. The vessel can hold over 2,000 passengers per sailing, and the return of cruising would provide a boost to Mobile’s economy where the industry employs hundreds of people in direct and indirect jobs.
A cruise ship’s presence in Mobile is also an economic windfall for the city. The Carnival Fantasy, which sailed out of Mobile from 2016 until the pandemic began, generated approximately 25,000 hotel room nights a year. At an average hotel per room rate of $110 a night, the revenue generated from hotel stays was around $2.5 million annually.
The industry also helps pay Mobile’s bills. According to the mayor’s office, in fiscal year 2020, the cruise terminal brought in $3.1 million in gross revenues to the city, down from $5.9 million during fiscal year 2019. The city’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. The operating expenses last fiscal year were around $2.1 million, which left the city with $1.07 million in net revenue. Those revenues, however, were not enough to cover the city’s typical debt service payments on the cruise terminal, which is $1.8 million annually. The bond on the cruise terminal, which opened in 2004, is not set to expire until 2030.
The powerful economic punch the industry brings is one of the reasons why Mobile city officials, last Friday, gathered outside GulfQuest Maritime Museum and cheerfully greeted the Carnival Sensation’s arrival to Mobile so that approximately 110 crew members aboard could receive a COVID-19 vaccine from USA Health medics.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson called the CDC’s restrictions on the industry as “onerous,” and Chiron – “The Cruise Guy” – said the cruise industry wants to get back to sailing and are “working to get past the CDC roadblock.”
Robinson said he just wants to be able to make sense of what will happen next regarding oversight of the cruise industry.
“They relax mask wearing in restaurants, grocery stores, etc., yet tell cruise companies that they must have 95% vaccinated,” he said. “If I want to cruise, I know what the risks are before I get onboard and I have accepted those risks.”
He added, “My wife and I have been cruising regularly since 2004 and never once got ill onboard.”
Related content:
No sail, big worries: CDC halt to cruises creates unease in Alabama
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State lawmakers want to change the way Alabama handles future lockdowns
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