Let cruises sail, but what’s the plan in case of a COVID-19 outbreak?

The restrictions that COVID-19 have brought to the cruise industry have been in the headlines for months. This week, the issue took center stage as the DeSantis administration filed a lawsuit against the CDC and the Biden administration to end the “no sail” order for cruises.

The suit states that planes, which provide confined quarters for travelers, can fly freely all over the world. If close quarters are permitted on planes, why are ships sitting idle in port while the cruise industry crumbles?

On the surface, the argument makes sense. It’s a double standard, and it’s hurting the state’s economy. Thousands of people depend on the cruise industry for their livelihood, not only in Florida, but all over the world.

And after a trying year, they deserve to be able to make a living.

But … planes take off and land in a matter of hours. Even the longest flights don’t extend past the incubation period for a deadly virus. A person can be infected on a plane and still present a negative COVID test and no symptoms of the disease. The plane will reach its destination and the person infected (along with others exposed during flight) may become ill later and seek treatment on land. The plane will not be kept in the sky with its passengers and crew trapped onboard indefinitely.

A ship, however, sails for days, providing exposure for periods that may exceed the disease incubation. And unlike a plane, a ship can be denied port entry and kept out at sea for weeks, even months. I should know. I was on the Holland America Zaandam on its fateful voyage from Punta Arenas, Chile, to Fort Lauderdale. Hundreds of people became ill with COVID during our journey. Before we docked, four people were dead.

Our ship left Buenos Aires on March 8, 2020, three days before a pandemic was declared. The day we boarded — March 7 — Gov. DeSantis stood next to then Vice President Mike Pence at Port Everglades, touting the security measures against the virus at the port.

Pence declared at a press conference that it was “safe for healthy Americans to travel,” and urged vacationers not to cancel their plans. The virus was under control, our government assured us.

Three weeks later, the Zaandam, along with its sister ship the Rotterdam, was vying to cross the Panama Canal and dock in Port Everglades, while its passengers and nonessential crew remained confined to their rooms and the virus spread. Holland America had sent the Rotterdam with medical supplies to meet the Zaandam, and some passengers were being transferred to the new ship to ease the burden on the increasingly sick crew. Supplies were low and fear reigned on the ships. Many of us wondered if we would make it home alive. Not all of us did.

As we sailed toward Port Everglades, the Zaandam’s home port and its final destination on this voyage, DeSantis was on the news declaring that our ships were not welcome in Florida. We were a bunch of sick foreigners that DeSantis did not want “dumped” in his state. He stood firm until the Trump administration declared that the ships should be let in.

This was late March and early April of 2020, a time of absolute chaos with regard to COVID, and the fear from Florida officials was understandable. But here we are — one year later. We want the industry to sail, but the question is —

When a sick ship approached Florida last year, officials panicked and stalled for days. If cruise ships sail again, we need rigid, actionable measures to deal with the situation when a ship with a COVID outbreak approaches our shores. We need assurances that there is a plan in place to get healthy people home and treat the sick — both passengers and crew.

The state cannot demand that the industry resume sailing without offering an alternative to keeping people imprisoned at sea. Zaandam and Rotterdam passengers were stuck at sea for 19 days and confined to their rooms for 12 days. The crew remained on board for weeks after, and many did not arrive home until late summer.

This confinement and uncertainty is physically and emotionally destructive to those who experience it, and it cannot be allowed to continue.

Cruising can safely resume when the state and cruise companies have an actionable plan

— a plan that would prevent passengers and crew from being stranded at sea when a COVID outbreak occurs onboard. Because it is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when. And people’s lives depend on it.