CDC director overruled on cruise ship ban

[spanone]

TRUMP FINDING WAYS TO KILL MORE AMERICANS.....

Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was overruled when he pushed to extend a "no-sail order" on passenger cruises into next year, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the conversation today in the White House Situation Room.

Why it matters: Cruise ships were the sites of some of the most severe early coronavirus outbreaks, before the industry shut down in March. And their future is just the latest disagreement between Redfield and members of President Trump's team.

The undermining of Redfield has been the source of much consternation among public health officials inside the administration, who argue that a politically motivated White House is ignoring the science and pushing too aggressively to reopen the economy and encourage large gatherings.

https://www.axios.com/scoop-white-house-overruled-cdc-cruise-ships-florida-91442136-1b8e-442e-a2a1-0b24e9a39fb6.html?stream=politics&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts_politics

[iemitsu]

1. Who would sign up for one of these cruises?

Not me.

[underpants]

2. No kidding

I’ve never been on one and there’s no way I would even consider it now.

[spanone]

6. never, ever had the desire

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

8. took a cruise to alaska. it was great.

if i ever do it again tho, imma bring a bottle of hot sauce and my own booze.
the shore trips were cool. took a helicopter to a glacier and stood on it. and took the yukon train that the 49'ers took. it snowed. big ole flakes.

not a big bling person but sorta regret not buying some stones in juneau. cheap af.

[malaise]

14. You could not pay me to go on a cruise in normal times

let alone now

[cwydro]

3. I can think of at least a couple of DUers, who have said they're ready to go.

No offense to them, but really I think it a bad idea.

[demtenjeep]

9. ours is rebooked for June 2021

unfortunately my sister won't be on it as was planned.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Trump themed cruises, Baby!

[BannonsLiver]

12. People have already been doing it

There’s been cruises in Europe for a couple months. Also some in Asia. I’m not disagreeing it’s a bad idea, just pointing that out.

[Vinca]

5. The things are floating petri dishes. At least Redfield tried.

The King will have more blood on his hands and I'm sure he doesn't care.

[Timewas]

7. IF

If anyone is stupid enough to go on one of those they deserve whatever happens to them, no sympathy, no emergency evacuations, nothing.

[Timewas]

13. Now now

You may live for them but I sure as hell don't live my life for stupid people..

[BannonsLiver]

11. If I'm running one of these companies I'm not making any moves before the election

This would likely be reversed in a Biden admin. Staffing up these ships from zero and getting them ready to sail is an expensive endeavor. Lot of that could end up being for not.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. I was on a cruise to Hawaii in March.

San Diego to Hawaii and back, with six days at sea in each direction, then five days around the Islands. It was great. We felt like the safest people on the planet. Our last port, the day before getting back to San Diego, was Ensenada, Mexico. We were not allowed to disembark. I'm not sure if it was the Mexican government that didn't want us off, or the cruise line, Holland America, that made that decision. No one seemed particularly disappointed by that.

The ship I was on, The Rotterdam, would at most hold 1400 or so passengers, and I think there were about 1200 on that cruise. What was interesting and noticeable was that the level of cleaning, already excellent, was boosted during the cruise. The ship had been cruising the Caribbean, then got to San Diego via the Panama Canal. No new crew members got on in San Diego, so it was a nicely closed environment.

I know people here routinely and almost uniformly trash cruising, but there are cruises and there are cruises. The cruise line matters. Holland America does not have 5 and 8,000 passengers. They top out (if at full capacity) at 2650, and just are not crowded, in my experience. There are even smaller ships out there, which mainly cruise rivers. I'd like to do one of them someday.

As much as I'd love to take another cruise, it will be some time before I do so. It will likewise be some time before I get on an airplane again or take a trip that requires staying in a hotel. At that I'm probably being entirely too cautious, but for now I am happy to stay home.

One of the reasons some cruise ships had relatively bad outbreaks was that passengers were not allowed to leave, which would have been vastly safer than keeping them cooped up and coming in contact every day with people who had been in contact with those who had the virus. Plus, the mega-ships are simply a whole lot more crowded, which is a factor. When that was going on, I kept on saying this is like a poorly designed junior high school science project to see just how many people can get the virus in a short period of time.

I'd venture to say that cruising could start back up again, but with the ships operating at about half capacity, which might be financially impossible, although I don't know much about the economics of cruise ships.

Oh, I should add that obviously things like the CDC should be the final word about things opening, or cruise ships sailing. Not just a bullshit desire for things to be "normal".

[dumbcat]

17. We sailed on the Rotterdam

on a 12 day Mediterranean cruise back in 2008. We loved it. We really liked HAL. Like you said, the ships are much smaller than the mega cruise ships of some of the other lines. The passengers are more laid back and the atmosphere was very European. The average age of the passengers on our cruise was 67.

I liked Holland American Line so much I just bought 1000 shares of it's parent corp., CCL. It's pretty cheap now, and I hope the industry returns briskly once this crazy virus is contained.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. Good for you for buying the stock.

People who are saying cruising will go away forever and never come back are wrong, in my opinion. Cruising, like everything else, is going to change. But it will be back.

The Rotterdam is one of four ships HAL has sold this year. That was the ship I would have been taking next year on another cruise, which is cancelled.

I was actually on the Eurodam, which holds about 2100 when fully booked, but I believe they may have only had about 1400 on it on that cruise. Apparently there had been a number of cancellations because of the growing pandemic.

[spinbaby]

16. I can't see cruising now

When it’s safe, I do plan to again, but I don’t have a death wish.