A Saturday night ruling from a Federal Court of Appeals panel overturned a finding by a District Court judge that would have set aside cruise rules issued by the Centers for Disease Control. The ruling came only minutes before the previous order would have turned CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order from rules to suggestions.
Florida passed a law earlier this year making it illegal, with $5000 per passenger penalties, for cruise companies to ask or check passengers’ vaccination status, in effect barring companies from complying with CDC’s conditions for fast-track resumption of sailing with vaccinated passengers and crew.
Florida Gov. Ron de Santis has not yet commented on the new ruling, which can still be appealed to the entire Eleventh Circuit or eventually to the Supreme Court.
UPDATE: CDC, Florida and cruises
The Florida vs CDC vs cruise lines has been tossed back into new turmoil, with the same panel of federal Appellate Court judges who gave CDC a stay to continue its regulations last Saturday night reversed itself on Friday afternoon, vacating the stay and turning the regulations into recommendations.
The Appeals judges said that CDC had failed to prove it was entitled to a stay pending appeal. The net effect of the latest ruling is to leave the situation clearly unclear, with cruise majors Carnival and Royal Caribbean saying they will sail, but treat passengers who do not show proof of immunization as unvaccinated, with limited activities and extra costs, while Norwegian Cruise Line is suing to overturn the Florida ‘don’t ask’ law on Constitutional grounds.