CDC Extends No Sail Order Again

On July 16, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) again extended the No Sail Order for cruise ships. The order “suspends passenger operations on cruise ships that carry at least 250 passengers in waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction.”

When the CDC extended the order in April, they did not set an end date for the extension and instead said the order would end when one of three situations they outlined occurred. Those situations have been updated to:

1. The expiration of the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ declaration that COVID-19 constitutes a public health emergency,
2. The CDC Director rescinds or modifies the order based on specific public health or other considerations, or
3. September 30, 2020.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) voluntarily extended their suspension in operations until September, a decision they made before CDC’s additional extension. CLIA’s decision affected all of the cruise lines that belong to the organization, which includes Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises and other big names in cruise.

CDC’s explains their reasoning for the No Sail Order by saying “passengers and crew share spaces that are more crowded than most urban settings. Even when only essential crew are on board, ongoing spread of COVID-19 still occurs. If unrestricted cruise ship passenger operations were permitted to resume, passengers and crew on board would be at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and those that work or travel on cruise ships would place substantial unnecessary risk on healthcare workers, port personnel and federal partners (i.e., Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard), and the communities they return to.”