See this video for the latest news on whether cruises from Florida will be able to demand to see passengers’ vaccination status.
The answer appears to be yes. It’s a bit legalistic so here’s my interpretation:
Ron DeSantis can forbid any cruise ship from requiring vaccination status at the time the cruise is booked and inside the terminal before you board the ship. That is Florida territory. However, once you step onto the ship, you are no longer in Florida. That’s when the cruise line can demand to see your shot record.
I can see where this is going to be problematic. There are going to be refuseniks who are going to board the ship and dare the crew to escort them off. And I have zero doubt in my mind that the cruise lines will have several very large intimidating men nicknamed “Shorty” or “Tiny” on the other side of that gangway who will not so gently remove the offending passenger.
But why should a regular vaccinated cruiser GAF about the status of the unvaccinated? Well, if there are unvaccinated passengers then they will have to wear masks. Not just the unvaccinated but everyone. Now why is that? Because technically, only the fully vaccinated are protected enough to take their masks off. But how are you going to tell the vaccinated passengers from the oppositionally defiant unvaccinated maskholes? I’m going to predict that honor system would fail spectacularly in those circumstances so the only way to make sure that the unvaccinated are wearing masks is if everyone wears them. This will inconvenience the vaccinated passengers but when have the MAGA heads and anti vaxxers ever given a hoot about that?
Without fully vaccinated passengers, there will need to be rigorously enforced social distancing rules. Dining will be restricted. Entertainment venues will require mandatory distancing. Hot tubs will be restricted. Forget about the spa if you’re into that. Even the self serve ice-cream machines will be restricted. A crew member will operate them for you and probably serve reasonably sized ice-cream portions in reasonably sized cones. I’ve been on a cruise and know for a fact that some passengers are absolutely going to hate the fact that some crew member will regulate the number of fried chicken pieces from 10 per person to more like 2. Your freedom will be negligible if a dining steward decides without telling you that you need to lose weight. No more self service at the buffet. More fruits and veg on a nutritionally balanced plate. Yummmm.
If the ship pulls into a port in a country that requires everyone to have been fully vaccinated, the unvaccinated will not be allowed to leave the ship. And let’s not forget that the vaccinated can still get infected. The vaccine ensures that they can’t get sick or seriously ill. That’s what vaccines are for. But can they spread a dangerous variant to unprotected people in other countries? Unknown, but if you were the Bahamas, would you want to take that chance? So, everyone has to stay on the ship if there is even a possibility that there are infected unvaccinated passengers.
Then we need to consider what would happen if one of the unvaccinated passengers actually gets sick with Covid. At that point, the party is over. The cruise will have to end and return home and who knows what will happen when they get there. Will DeSantis let the infected disembark? Will everyone need to stay on the ship? And what about the ship itself? It will probably need to be sanitized down to the deck boards every time there’s an outbreak. That’s going to cost them money.
I’d avoid Florida under the present law altogether if I were a cruise line. It’s just too risky.
In the meantime, the unvaccinated will have ruined the whole vacation not just for themselves but everyone all in the name of their freeeedom! and privacy when they have zero understanding of what HIPPA actually guarantees. I’m not going to call the unvaccinated selfish or bullying but some of the very angry vaccinated passengers whose hard earned money has been frittered away might. It’s going to make life very awkward especially for any unvaccinated passengers hanging out by a railing.
If the governor bends on cruise lines demanding your shot record once you step on the ship, a lot of this will be eliminated. The unvaccinated can still cruise. Nothing is preventing that. They just need to get their shots all straightened out before they go. It’s very easy. If they’re still irrationally fearful of the vaccine that’s ok. The cruise lines will patiently wait until they get over it. They’ve got lots of reasonable, vaccinated passengers to attend to.
Freedom.
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The Confluence 