As the calendar moves from spring to summer, millions of Americans are gaining confidence that they can safely book vacations without the omnipresent fear of COVID-19 that kept them locked indoors last year. But one popular option, taking cruises, remains on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) still-banned-without-permission-list, and the governors of three states with popular ports are taking the federal government to court.

The CDC issued new guidelines on May 5 that gave the cruise industry “technical instructions for simulated voyages,” the third step in its four-phase Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) program. This phased-in process is designed to safely replace the total ban the agency established in March 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The cruise industry was one of the first hotbeds of the novel coronavirus, and the industry suffered huge financial and public relations problems in the early days of the pandemic. Few potential cruisers will be able to forget that more than 700 people got the coronavirus on the Diamond Princess, and 14 people died.

While receiving a CSO is a step toward getting back on the high seas, the cruise industry’s trade group thinks the guidelines are “so burdensome and ambiguous that no clear path forward or timetable can be discerned.” The governor of Florida sued the CDC on April 8, the state of Alaska joined the lawsuit on April 21, and Texas came on board on May 5. Without meeting the terms of the CDC’s four phases, cruise companies say they will not be able to resume operations from U.S. ports until November 2021. The CDC expects the timetable for sailing approval to be mid-July.

The CDC’s controversial phase-in plan requires a cruise operator to (1) test and screen all crew members on board and at embarkation and to develop labs for regular testing of crew and passengers, (2A) prepare for voyages by routinely testing crew members; develop port, medical and housing agreements with local authorities, then embark nonessential crew with testing and 14-day quarantines, (2B) conduct “simulated voyages” after receiving CDC approval, then file after-action reports, (3) meet CDC’s guidelines and apply for a COVID-19 CSO and (4) obtain and retain a “Conditional Sailing Certificate” that permits the passenger operations to resume with “restrictions such as voyage length and testing requirements.”

It was the release of Phase 4’s 13-page instructions that prompted the initial Florida lawsuit. The CDC’s new “technical instructions for simulated voyages provide “eligibility requirements of conducting the required simulated voyages in preparation for restricted passenger voyages, along with guidance for passing CDC inspections.”

In its request for injunctive relief from what they see as the CDC’s cumbersome path to normalcy, the State of Florida sued the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC in the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida’s Tampa Division. The request recognized the tremendous toll that the pandemic has had on America and its people, but quickly points out that things have changed: vaccines are working, they are “game changers;” sanitation and social distancing are effective; industries are adapting; and “Florida is leading the way.” The suit demands that the cruise industry be allowed to resume operations immediately.

At a briefing in PortMiami, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, "Florida is fighting back…This is not reasonable. This is not rational." His state’s lawsuit argues that the cruise industry has been singled out and prevented from reopening and is “now on the brink of financial ruin.” In addition, the court filing denies CDC’s authority to “issue year and a half long nationwide lock-downs of entire industries.” It says that the federal government’s actions are “arbitrary and capricious” and will possibly result in the loss of billions of dollars along with job losses for nearly 160,000 Floridians in PortMiami, Port Canaveral and other embarkation cities.

Unlike its co-plaintiffs, Texas is home to only one Port, Galveston, but its closure, they claim, affects businesses throughout the state and has caused the loss of $1.8 billion and 29,600 jobs. In addition, Alaska’s Governor Mike Dunleavy estimated that his state has lost $3 billion due to the 2020 cruise ban. He says the CDC’s CSO does not recognize the cruise industry’s new safety measures that have led over “400,000 passengers to return to cruising in nearly a dozen other countries.”

Florida’s DeSantis also argues that the CDC’s order is unwise because it will not stop Americans from cruising. Instead, it will just make them fly to a nearby Caribbean port and spend their money there. Norwegian Cruise Line announced it will resume cursing in July but will leave from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. DeSantis’ prohibition of vaccine passports will presumably inhibit cruise lines from easily assuring that all passengers have received the shots that will help them travel safely, a common safety precaution that could be implemented in other states.

In addition, many other cruise lines, such as MSC Cruises, are canceling all U.S. cruises through June 30, and at least ten of their ships will now begin their voyages in Europe. Royal Caribbean will sail out of the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Requests for restraining orders are not the only proposed actions to benefit the cruise industry. Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced the “Cruise Act” bill that would revoke the CDC’s CSOs and require new expedited guidelines for allowing U.S. sailings.

Whether it’s the courts, the Congress or new CDC guidelines, Americans want to resume cruising. But no legal result or new bill will bring this travel option to normalcy if public safety is seen to take a back seat to considerations about jobs and the economy.