I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2554 

To provide COVID–19 mitigation instructions for cruise ships, and other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2021 

Ms. SALAZAR (for herself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Ms. MACE, Mr. 

GIMENEZ, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N, 

Mr. STEUBE, Mr. CARL, Mr. POSEY, Mr. MAST, Ms. MALLIOTAKIS, Mrs. 

LESKO, and Mr. C. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide COVID–19 mitigation instructions for cruise 

ships, and other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Careful Resumption 

5 Under Improved Safety Enhancements Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘CRUISE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2554 IH

1 (1) On March 14, 2020, in response to the 

2 COVID–19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Con3 trol and Prevention (CDC) issued the ‘‘No Sail 

4 Order and Suspension of Further Embarkation’’ 

5 which prohibited all cruise ships with capacity to 

6 carry 250 or more individuals from embarking pas7 sengers in the United States. 

8 (2) Prior to the COVID–19 pandemic, the 

9 cruise industry supported nearly 450,000 American 

10 jobs and contributed over $55,500,000,000 to the 

11 United States economy annually. More than 300,000 

12 jobs have been lost in the United States due to the 

13 suspension of cruises. The majority of the individ14 uals impacted are independent business owners or 

15 individuals employed by small- to medium-sized busi16 nesses, including travel agents, taxi drivers, port em17 ployees, baggage handlers, and longshore workers, as 

18 well as airline, hotel, and restaurant employees. 

19 (3) On October 30, 2020, the CDC issued the 

20 ‘‘Framework for Conditional Sailing Order’’ for 

21 cruise ships that laid out a 4-phase approach for the 

22 resumption of cruise activity. At that time, the CDC 

23 released technical instructions for only the first 

24 phase of this conditional sailing order. On April 2, 

25 2021, more than 5 months later, CDC released the 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2554 IH

1 technical instructions for half of the second phase. 

2 Without the complete technical instructions for all 4 

3 phases of this framework, no large cruise ships are 

4 able to resume operations in the United States 

5 under the CDC’s conditional sailing order. 

6 (4) The cruise industry is the only segment of 

7 the United States economy that is completely pro8 hibited from operations by the CDC due to COVID– 

9 19. For every other sector of the economy, CDC pro10 vides recommendations for how to mitigate the 

11 spread of COVID–19 without issuing orders to pro12 hibit operations. 

13 (5) Since July 2020, cruising has continued in 

14 Asia, Europe, and the South Pacific with nearly 

15 400,000 passengers sailing with health protocols to 

16 mitigate the spread of COVID–19. 

17 (6) The increasing availability of vaccines pro18 vides a path to the resumption of pre-pandemic ac19 tivities. On March 2, 2021, President Biden stated: 

20 ‘‘We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply 

21 for every adult in America by the end of May. . . . 

22 The more people who get vaccinated, the faster we’re 

23 going to overcome this virus and get back to our 

24 loved ones, get our economy back on track, and start 

25 to move back to normal.’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2554 IH

1 (7) As of March 11, 2021, 65 percent of people 

2 over the age of 65 and more than 70 percent of peo3 ple over the age of 75 in the United States were 

4 fully vaccinated against COVID–19, leading Presi5 dent Biden to state: ‘‘All adult Americans will be eli6 gible to get a vaccine no later than May 1. . . . 

7 After this long, hard year, that will make this Inde8 pendence Day something truly special, where we not 

9 only mark our independence as a nation but we 

10 begin to mark our independence from this virus.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. COVID–19 MITIGATION GUIDANCE FOR CRUISE 

12 SHIPS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the earlier of 30 

14 days after the date of enactment of this Act or June 1, 

15 2021, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (re16 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), acting through 

17 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre18 vention (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Director’’) and 

19 in consultation with the interagency working group estab20 lished under subsection (c), shall issue recommendations 

21 for how to mitigate the risks of COVID–19 introduction, 

22 transmission, and spread among passengers and crew on23 board cruise ships and ashore to communities. The Sec24 retary may later update or modify such recommendations 

25 as necessary to mitigate such risks. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2554 IH

1 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The recommendations issued 

2 under subsection (a) shall be applicable to all cruise ships 

3 subject to the order entitled ‘‘No Sail Order and Suspen4 sion of Further Embarkation’’, issued by the Director on 

5 March 24, 2020 (85 Fed. Reg. 16628), or any modifica6 tion to, or extension of, such order. 

7 (c) WORKING GROUP.— 

8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby estab9 lished an interagency working group, for purposes of 

10 developing, not later than 30 days after the date of 

11 enactment of this Act, the recommendations de12 scribed in subsection (a), in order to facilitate the 

13 resumption of passenger cruise ship operations in 

14 the United States not later than July 4, 2021. 

15 (2) MEMBERS.—The interagency working group 

16 shall consist of— 

17 (A) the Secretary (or designee) serving as 

18 Chair; 

19 (B) the Secretaries (or designees) of 

20 Transportation, of Homeland Security, and of 

21 Commerce; and 

22 (C) industry stakeholders appointed by the 

23 Secretary. 

24 (3) SCOPE OF RECOMMENDATIONS.—In devel25 oping the recommendations described in subsection 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2554 IH

1 (a), the interagency working group shall consider 

2 public health safety needs; risk mitigation strategies 

3 and health protocols for passengers and crew that 

4 are consistent with, and not substantially more bur5 densome than, the guidance applied by the Centers 

6 for Disease Control and Prevention to other business 

7 sectors and travel-related industries; and overall eco8 nomic impacts, costs, and benefits of the rec9 ommendations. 

10 SEC. 4. RESUMPTION OF CRUISE SHIP OPERATIONS. 

11 Not later than July 4, 2021, the Secretary shall re12 voke the order entitled ‘‘Framework for Conditional Sail13 ing and Initial Phase COVID–19 Testing Requirements 

14 for Protection of Crew’’, issued by the Director on Novem15 ber 4, 2020 (85 Fed. Reg. 70153), under the authority 

16 of sections 361 and 365 of the Public Health Service Act 

17 (42 U.S.C. 264; 268), and any other order or regulation 

18 that prohibits the operation of all cruise ships in United 

19 States waters, requires such ships to obtain approval from 

20 the Director prior to operating, or otherwise acts as a de 

21 facto prohibition for cruise ship operations in the United 

22 States. 

23 SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

24 Nothing in this Act shall limit the authority of the 

25 Secretary to make and enforce such regulations that, in 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2554 IH

1 the judgment of the Secretary, are necessary to prevent 

2 the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable 

3 diseases on any individual cruise ship presenting a public 

4 health threat by reason of the existence of any commu5 nicable disease. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS