GALVESTON
The air filters are installed. The bathrooms have new fixtures. Germicidal lights were placed on escalator handrails.
The Port of Galveston is so poised to welcome cruise ship passengers back for the first time in 15 months, Port Director Rodger Rees said last week.
However, it is still questionable whether Carnival Vista will actually sail as port manager on July 3rd, the line and legions of cruise fans hope.
Rees Thursday put the probability that Vista will sail at about 75 percent.
“What convinces me more than anything is that we are ready to deal with this,” said Rees. “I think we are ready. We are ready. “
Rees expected Dr. Philip Keizer, Galveston County’s local health department, would sign a cruise ship health plan this week.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is demanding a plan outlining procedures in the event of a COVID outbreak on a cruise ship. For example, the plan describes where COVID victims will be hospitalized and which local hotels will quarantine people exposed to the virus until they are cleared for travel.
The plan also describes the boarding procedures and testing of crew members and passengers. It defines the circumstances under which people might be refused boarding and how cruise ships at sea notify health officials on land of an outbreak.
The plan wasn’t finalized on Monday, but it was tight, Keizer said.
“I think it’s going to happen pretty soon,” he said.
Dockers, lawyers and other local stakeholders had worked for weeks to finalize a plan that could be sent to the CDC for approval.
“It’s pretty intense,” Rees said of the plan. “It really is, I think, beyond that.”
Earlier this month, Carnival announced tentative plans to resume sailing from Galveston through July 3rd.
Rees said he expected Carnival to attempt to meet CDC requirements to operate cruises with mostly vaccinated passengers and crew, and avoid a number of safety-proving simulated cruises.
However, the company has not officially announced a compulsory vaccination requirement for its passengers, and those responsible have indicated a different course.
Last week, Carnival President Christine Duffy told NBC Nightly News that the company hadn’t planned to require vaccinations, partly because a large number of its passengers are children under the age of 12.
Similarly, Carnival has not made any formal announcements about whether it will limit the number of passengers allowed per sail.
Carnival did not respond to a request for comment on Monday on the status of its plans for a Galveston sailing.
Still, port officials are hopeful and excited about the chance that Galveston could be the first port in the nation to resume pleasure cruising.
The port has spent nearly $ 100,000 on technology upgrades to its terminals, including equipment designed to remove pathogens like viruses from the air and kill them on surfaces like handrails.
Officials believe national attention for Galveston’s port will be largely positive, but it could also reveal warts.
A document presented to port trustees on Tuesday warns that resumption of cruises could be hampered by labor shortages on board ships and on the docks, as well as community opposition to cruisers due to health concerns and traffic congestion .
Keizer also warned that local health officials are on the verge of approving the plan, but it remains to be seen how the CDC feels about it.
“It really depends on what the CDC has to say and nobody knows,” Keizer said. “We just don’t know if CDC will like it or if they will throw it all away.”
