The U.S. State Department is making passport renewals more difficult, Norwegian Cruise Line returns to the water, and the Cruise Industry chooses a side in Florida vs CDC for COVID protocols.
Passport
Trying to book an online appointment for your passport? The U.S. State Department temporarily suspended their online booking system used for urgent appointments. According to the posted notice “we temporarily disabled the online booking system for Urgent Travel Service to ensure our very limited appointments go to applicants who need them for urgent travel” The notice went on to say: “We are making this change to address the problem of third parties booking appointments online using automated programs, or bots, and then selling these appointments to customers with urgent travel needs.”
Norwegian Cruise Line
500 days. That’s how long it’s been since Norwegian Cruise Line has sailed. But that’s changed. This week Norwgen Cruise Lines is back sailing with passengers. This is the first of their 17 ship fleet, others ships will resume sailing in the coming weeks.
On August 7, Norwegian Cruise Lines will return to Seattle for the start of Alaskan Cruise season.
Cruise Industry
Continuing with Cruise News, even with the on-going legal battle between the CDC and Florida over rules for cruise ships, the cruise industry has voluntarily decided to follow the more stringent CDC rules. This is good news for those passengers wanting to travel but, even with the vaccine, might be in the higher risk category.