Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has been making waves in the news with its legal fight against the state of Florida over requiring proof of vaccinations from passengers as the company's cruise lines, beginning with Norwegian Cruise Line, return to service in the U.S. Sunday.
The company won a preliminary injunction against the state, when a court ruled the cruise company did have the right and necessity to sail fully vaccinated and require proof of those boarding.
Before that decisive court victory, and just before NCL's flagship, the Norwegian Encore, embarked on its first post-pandemic cruise in the U.S. when it sailed Saturday from Seattle to Alaska, Derek Lloyd, the Vice President, Agency Sales - North America at NCL, spoke to Open Jaw's president, Nina Slawek.
Against the backdrop of these two pivotal events for Norwegian, in this one-on-one video interview, they discuss returning to cruising after more than 500 days away, the issue of vaccinations, the regulatory requirements of the CDC and more.
Lloyd reveals that NCL has differentiated between cruises that touch a U.S. port versus everywhere else, since the CDC does not recognize AstraZeneca or mixed vaccinations, which are permitted in other regions where Norwegian has already begun operating.
Overall, Lloyd is excited about the cruise line's return to the seas after so long away.
"What's interesting is that people are booking the longer, more exotic stuff pretty fast," said Lloyd. "People have not travelled, have saved money because they haven't travelled and now they're thinking, the next trip is going to be a big one."
