President Biden signs bill to save 2021 cruise season

Washington, DC: U.S. President Joe Biden Monday signed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act, which temporarily allows foreign-flagged cruise ships to sail into the region without first docking in Canada.According to a White House statement, the law will apply until Canada lifts restrictions on its ban on cruise ships or on March 31, 2022.The USA Senate passed the bill two weeks ago that was the work of Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. The bill then moved to Congress, which was approved it last week, with Biden signing it quickly on Monday night.The law paves the way for the majority of cruise ships to operate in Alaska this summer. Cruise lines including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line have already announced their input.The cruise industry is hit hard by the pandemic and finding it extremely hard to cope up with the COVID-19 restrictions of their destination countries. Earlier, in 2020, some cruises had become an epicentre of the coronavirus, with guests waiting to be rescued by their home countries.Royal Caribbean International cruise has recently announced that they expect their guests to be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19. Most cruise ships have started to inoculate their staff members as well.