Although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conditional sailing order (CSO) remains in effect, thereby grounding cruise shipping from American ports, major cruise lines are offering bookings for trips leaving Florida in the month of June.

Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises are among the major cruise operators accepting bookings outside of American cruise shipping ports in spite of the CDC order, which has halted cruise shipping operations out of the United States for almost an entire year.

The fact that these cruise lines are accepting bookings outside of US ports is evidence of their optimism that cruise shipping in America will resume by summer.

These trips are currently scheduled despite the CSO, which requires cruise operators to complete a “framework of actionable items” before getting the green-light to resume. The CSO is not scheduled to expire until November 1, 2021.

The CDC’s shut down cruising in US waters in mid-March of 2020 following outbreaks on large passenger ships, including Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess. The industry has remained idle for over a year since while other segments of the travel industry, such as airlines and theme parks have been allowed to continue or resume operating amid the pandemic, albeit with added safety precautions.

Cruise lines explain about bookings taking place

Spokespersons for at least two of the cruise lines accepting bookings out of Florida say the June voyages are themselves conditional upon the CDC’s regulations.

A spokesperson for MSC Cruises says, “MSC Cruises is actively engaged and working to comply with the CDC and other the relevant health authorities’ requirements and guidelines in order to resume cruise operations out of US ports in a safe and responsible way — similar to how MSC Cruises has restarted in other regions around the world7 and will only do so when the time is right and following the appropriate approvals.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Lines told Fox News, “we’re still in a pause in our guest operations through May 31. The timing for re-start in the US continues to be uncertain. The industry through our trade association CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) has asked the CDC to amend the conditional sail order and allow cruising to begin this summer. But in spite of some recent headlines, there is no change in status of our guest operations, and the CDC has not taken any action to cancel further cruises.”

While Carnival Cruise Lines has not yet made a decision to cancel its June itineraries from Florida, the cruise line reports that it remains optimistic that travel may resume by summer if Americans have widespread access to vaccines per President Biden’s timeline.

In a statement, Carnival Cruise Lines says, “we know guests are eager to confirm their vacation plans and we are committed to providing them options. Guests booked for June may cancel without penalty. Final payment deadlines for June cruises have also been moved until April 30.”

The statement concludes, “We currently do not have plans to move Carnival Cruise Line ships away from their US homeports. We will continue to focus on returning to operations with our current homeport deployment.”

Fox News reached out to Royal Caribbean for comment, but representatives for the company did not immediately respond.

Ongoing lobby for CDC to lift its CSO

In the meantime, there is still ongoing lobby for the resumption of cruise shipping across the globe, in particular throughout the Americas.

Our Today reported last week that US Travel Association, the national trade group that represents all facets of American travel has joined the call for the CDC to lift its conditional sailing order, thus paving the way for the resumption of cruise sailing from local home ports.

In addition to lifting its conditional sailing order, the US Travel Association is calling on the CDC to provide a path forward that allows cruise lines to resume sailing. The U.S. Travel Association’s call last week came less than a week after a similar call by the cruise industry, which declared its readiness to sail.

The CLIA, the industry’s leading trade organization is urging the CDC to lift its “framework for conditional sailing order” to allow cruising to resume in phases by the start of July.

The CLIA, which represents 95 per cent of ocean-going cruise capacity, has called out the CDC for what it views as unfair treatment.