Thanks to some modern-day cyber pirates, there could potentially be a delay for cruise lines to get the green light from the CDC to start cruising again. Or at least the CEO of Royal Caribbean appears to be concerned there could be.
Thanks to the worldwide pandemic of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, cruise lines that sail out of the United States have, of course, been on pause since March. The CDC, to help in their planning of what cruise lines will need to do in order to ensure safe cruising, has reached out to cruise lines, those in the travel industry, and the American public, to get their input on the topic, via a survey. We reported that the replies they’ve gotten to the survey have run the gamut from genuinely insightful and helpful to, shall we say, “yikes!”
The survey ends on September 21, but a few days before it did, the CEO of Royal Caribbean, Michael Bayley, recently posted on his Facebook regarding his concerns about some saboteurs to the survey and asked Royal Caribbean fans to chime in:
PC: Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean CEO // Facebook
On Monday the 21st, the CDC closes the request for public comment regarding healthy return to cruising. There have been over 3000 comments, many of which have been very constructive and it has been incredible to hear from you all. Recently, a small anti-cruise group has lobbied their supporters to comment on cruise beyond the CDC remit. If you have a passion for cruising and the wonderful memories you have created sailing the oceans of the world, please visit and comment today: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=CDC-2020-0087-0001
According to a Royal Caribbean blog, the negative comments on the survey appear to be stemmed from an organization called Stand. Earth. They’re a pro-environment organization with a mission to, “challenge corporations and governments to treat people and the environment with respect, because our lives depend on it.”
I checked out Stand.Earth’s website and sure enough, on September 3 they gave instructions on how to use the survey to push their own agenda and encourage the CDC to extend the No Sail Order.
In looking at the comments, it appears that there are not even 100 people who wrote in thanks to Stand.Earth – and that’s out of, as this writing, over 3,500 replies. So, roughly 3%? Maybe less?
I think the CDC will be able to cull out Stand.Earth’s “cruising is bad for the environment” posts just as easily as they will the heartfelt but unhelpful, “We love to cruise so let us cruise and get on with our cruising lives” posts.
Between that, plus the fact that Royal Caribbean has been a part of the Healthy Sail Panel, I don’t think Mr. Bayley has anything to worry about.
Feature Photo: Pixabay
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
1 comment
Carnival just sent out about 7,000 termination notices to main line employees. Many of these are captains and bridge level employees. Nearly 20% of it’s workforce. Many cruise lines may be doomed if not allowed to sail soon. My guess is that lines like MSC that have other income streams may survive and thrive eventually but most will not. The CDC needs to figure out a hard date.