Ron DeSantis pitted against cruise ship industry in battle over COVID restrictions
The return of operations for one of South Florida’s most iconic industries has turned into a battle of the heavyweights.
On the one side is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Emboldened by growing approval ratings, DeSantis refuses to budge from a state law he sought that bars the cruise industry from requiring that passengers be vaccinated.
On the other: The industry, a powerful pillar of Florida tourism, is quietly crafting a work-around for the governor’s mandate as it seeks to restore public confidence and restart cruising after a 15-month shutdown that has put thousands of Florida jobs on hold and cost the industry billions — not including losses to its suppliers.
The vaccine conflict is not an ideal setting for the industry’s restart, said Rockford Weitz, director of the Maritime Studies Program at Tufts University’s Fletcher School.
“This is definitely not how the cruise industry would prefer it to unfold,” he said. “Unfortunately, the politics of vaccines has put the industry between a rock and a hard place — between Florida and the CDC who have totally different views on how they should operate their businesses.”