Florida Cruise Industry Recovery Likely To Be A Long Haul

CBS Miami

February 3, 2021

Significant passenger cruise operations might not return to Florida waters for another year or longer as fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues, according to a port-industry lobbying group.

Michael Rubin, Florida Ports Council vice president of governmental affairs, told members of the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday that cruise lines are working to meet an “onerous” list of requirements from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and simply hope to have some vessels operating at half capacity this summer.

“I’m not sure we’ll have significant cruise operations until perhaps next year and even beyond that,” Rubin said. “Some of the smaller luxury liners may not be operating till further than that until there are actual vaccines available around the world. We are concerned. We’re hopeful that they’ll allow them to operate at least half capacity here maybe in April, maybe in June. Hopefully, before that timeframe, because this is really, really troubling.”

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