28 days – sailing to Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Pago Pago!

“How many movies have you watched over time where they have scenes from those places?!” Joan Chace asked.

It was her dream vacation, but it was canceled— along with seven others she had booked — since the pandemic started.

“I really felt by the time we got to the end of last year that there would be preparations being made already for cruising to start soon into this year,” Chance recalled.

On Thursday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a lawsuit against the federal government to overturn the conditional sailing order, which continues to limit cruise lines’ ability to operate.

”The federal government and the CDC has locked down this industry for more than a year. This is not reasonable. This is not rational,” DeSantis said during a news conference at Port Miami.

According to the Federal Maritime Commission, Florida lost $3.2 billion in economic activity, including nearly 50,000 jobs and $2.3 billion in wages, in just the first six months of the pandemic.

And with vaccines now widely available, Gov. DeSantis says it’s time to immediately lift the ban.

“Guess what? If they say that cruising is not safe without widespread vaccinations, all the testing you want, they have antibody treatment that has been very effective. This is a much different situation than a year ago,” DeSantis said.

Chace is hopeful things will open back up soon, especially because she has another eight cruises on the horizon.

“To be honest with you, I feel like the cruise industry is more prepared as to how to, and how not to, handle pandemic-related stuff than almost any other industry,” Chace said.

Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Disney cruise lines have already suspended activity through June.

Norwegian Cruise Line tells Bay News 9 it has a detailed plan that will require vaccines before they resume operations.