CDC warns against traveling on cruise ships because of COVID-19 spread

TALLAHASSEE — In a potentially ominous message for Florida’s cruiseship industry, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that people should avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status because of the spread of COVID-19.

The health agency said outbreaks have been reported aboard cruise ships as the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus has helped drive up infections.

“Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the agency said on its website. “The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.”

The agency said people who travel on cruise ships should make sure they are fully vaccinated and get tested for COVID-19 before and after their trips.

The CDC notice came after months of efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody to fight federal COVID-19 restrictions on the cruise industry and to prevent requirements that cruise passengers show proof of vaccination.

A Tampa federal judge sided with the state in June and issued a preliminary injunction against CDC restrictions on the industry, while a Miami federal judge in August backed Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in a challenge to Florida’s ban on so-called “vaccine passports.”

The vaccine passport law blocked businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination, though the federal judge’s ruling only applied to Norwegian.

Appeals in both of those cases are pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.