21/05/2021
Congress Passes ATRA
The US House of Representatives passed the Alaska Tourism
Restoration Act today and sent it to the president's desk
for his signature (which is expected). The bill simply
removes the restriction that a foreign call is required by
non-US-flagged cruise ships sailing on round trip cruises
between the state of Washington and Alaska through next
February (the length of time Canada has banned cruise
ships). The action opens the way for cruises to Alaska
this summer.
It doesn't remove any of the other issues that have
been blocking the US cruise industry from operating from
US ports.
Already this afternoon, three Carnival brands announced
their plans to restart cruises to Alaska this summer in
late July, just more than the 60-day time frame cruise
lines have said they need to ready ships for service. They
have scheduled one weekly round trip cruise each from
Seattle.
Holland America would be the first to sail on July 24
with Nieuw Amsterdam. The calls will be in Juneau, Icy
Strait Point, Sitka and Ketchikan, with scenic cruising in
areas such as Glacier Bay and Stephens Passage. The 11
Saturday sailings will run through October 2.
Majestic Princess will be the next to sail from Seattle
the next day on July 25. Its calls will be at Glacier Bay
National Park, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. The seven-
night cruises will operate through September 26.
Last to reenter service will be Carnival Miracle on
July 27. Calls will be at Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan,
with scenic cruising in Tracy Arm Fjord. The program will
operate through September 14 with that last sailing being
extended by a day with a call at Icy Strait Point.
Carnival Corp said all three of the brands will require
all passengers be fully vaccinated at least 14 days prior
to sailing. This is apparently a reversal for the Carnival
Cruise Line brand which had been indicating that they were
not planning to require their passengers to be vaccinated.
All crew members of the three brands will be vaccinated in
accordance with CDC guidelines.
The puzzling thing with the immediate scheduling of the
Alaskan cruises is that the issues with the CDC's CSO
still exist. Recently, the lines have been saying they are
"hopeful" the issues can be resolved in time to start
"late summer" cruises, seeming to indicate they were not
at all confident things can be resolved.
Even in today's press release, Carnival said they were
still working to finalize plans to operate three ships
from Galveston and Miami in July. It seems rather
inconsistent that the cruises to Alaska can be scheduled
but not at least the ones from Texas. (The issue of
Florida law about requiring vaccinations also still
exists.)
Some of the issues the cruise lines were working to
resolve with the CDC were the restrictions placed on
passengers who are fully vaccinated, such as wearing face
masks at all times except in staterooms and in outdoor
spaces, although rather strict social distancing was still
required there. These types of restrictions, if the cruise
lines attempt to operate with them in place, seem like
they will seriously damage the "cruising" brand in the
eyes of consumers.
Although the cruise lines have not mentioned it, I
believe another serious issue for them will have to be the
inequity between what the CDC says is safe for fully-
vaccinated people in the general population and the extra
restrictions they are placing on them aboard cruise ships.
Fully-vaccinated vacationers can go to a resort in
Florida (or a hotel in Alaska) and have a relatively
normal (pre-COVID) stay without any restrictions about
masks or social distancing or going sightseeing or
shopping or to a nearby attraction. They won't even have
to be tested for COVID-19 at the beginning or end of their
stay. How can a cruise line justify to a potential
customer all the restrictions the CDC will have on him
aboard their ships? Would customers choose to step into
these circumstances? These inequities need to be resolved
with the CDC before the cruise lines begin sailing from US
ports.
Other than the Carnival brands scheduling the Alaskan
cruises, other cruise lines haven't commented on the
passage of the ATRA.
