New top story from Time: First Cruise Ship to Set Sail From U.S. Port Since Pandemic Began

https://ift.tt/3jgQust

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The first cruise ship to leave a U.S. port since the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to a 15-month standstill is preparing to set sail with nearly all vaccinated passengers on board.

Celebrity Edge will depart Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 6 p.m. Saturday with the number of passengers limited to about 40 percent capacity, and with virtually all passengers vaccinated against COVID-19. Celebrity Cruises, one of Royal Caribbean Cruise’s brands, says 99% of the passengers are vaccinated, well over the 95% requirement imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Words can’t describe how excited we are to be a part of this historic sailing today,” said Elizabeth Rosner, 28, who moved from Michigan to Orlando, Florida, in December 2019 with her fiance just to be close to the cruise industry’s hub.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

To comply with both the CDC’s requirement and a new Florida law banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination, Celebrity Cruises is asking guests if they would like to share their vaccination status. Those who do not show or say they are vaccinated face additional restrictions.

Saturday’s sailing kicks off the cruise lines’ return to business with Carnival vessels already scheduled to depart from other ports next month.

“This is an emotional day for me. When I stepped on board the ship, I was proud. It’s a beautiful ship,” said Royal Caribbean Cruises’ CEO Richard Fain, after expressing condolences to the victims of the Surfside building collapse, less than 15 miles (about 24 kilometers) south of the port.

Celebrity Cruises had unveiled the $1 billion boat in December 2018 — betting on luxury cruising, offering a giant spa and multifloor suites. The ship will be led by Capt. Kate McCue, the first American woman to captain a cruise ship, who has more than 1 million followers on TikTok.

“You can truly feel the palpable sense of excitement and energy amongst the group as we prepare for our welcoming of our first guests,” McCue said. “I’ve never honestly seen a group so excited to get back to work.”

Industry officials are hoping all goes smooth to move past a chapter last year of deadly outbreaks on cruise ships that prompted ships to be rejected at ports and passengers to be forced into quarantine. Some passengers died of COVID-19 at sea while others fell so ill they had to be carried out of the vessels on stretchers.

The CDC extended no-sail orders repeatedly last year as the pandemic raged, and came up with strict requirements for the industry that have already been contested in court by the state of Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the industry generates billions for the state’s economy.

On Saturday, officials at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale said only that port lost more than $30 million in revenue in fiscal year 2020 from the cruise shutdown.

During that hiatus, Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, the three largest cruise companies, have had to raise more than $40 billion in financing just to stay afloat. Collectively they lost $20 billion last year and another $4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The pandemic forced Kurt and Carol Budde to cancel their beach celebration wedding aboard the world’s largest ship, Symphony of the Seas, in March 2020. COVID-19 halted cruising six days before they were scheduled to tie the knot in St. Maarten. Kurt Budde’s part-time gig as a travel agent also dried up.

“It’s a honeymoon make-up cruise,” said Kurt Budde, sporting matching shirts with the phrase “On Cruise Control.”

“We are living our best lives post COVID today,” he said.

Comments

Powered Scooters Charge City’s Transportation Recovery

Powered Scooters Charge City’s Transportation Recovery By Jason Hyde The SFMTA is releasing its next round of Powered Scooter Share permits on July 1. Scooters remain a sustainable mode of travel and a complement to Muni and public transit service as the city recovers from the pandemic and San Franciscans begin to travel more. The SFMTA’s Powered Scooter Share Program is essential in ensuring that shared scooter operations support the city’s economic recovery in a safe, sustainable, and equitable way. The SFMTA received four submittals for the permit program and will issue permits to two operators : Spin and Lime. Permits will be in effect for a one-year term, with the option to extend for another year at the discretion of the SFMTA based on compliance with various program metrics. While the new permit program does not set a limit on the number of scooters each operator may deploy, it does limit the overall citywide fleet size at 10,000. Starting at a base of 2,000 scooters...

What a Year It Has Been! Let the Celebration of Transit Month Continue

What a Year It Has Been! Let the Celebration of Transit Month Continue By Erin McMillan 49 Van Ness/Mission using the brand new bus rapid transit lanes on opening day in April. During Transit Month this September, we’re continuing the celebration by looking back to more of the work we’ve done over the last year— some that has been less obvious to Muni customers, but critical to a well-functioning system and other work that is more front and center. Fix It! Week and Continuing State of good Repair Work Muni is an impressive transit system. Moving thousands of people on rail and buses every day takes a lot of coordination and a lot of work. Dealing with unique challenges like San Francisco’s geography and shifting travel patterns, we also have to deal with issues related to the Muni system’s age. Proper care and maintenance of a transit system many decades old takes strategic planning as regular maintenance needs to happen while continuing to provide service. Typically, regular Mun...

Permanent Relief for Muni Customers in SoMa?

Permanent Relief for Muni Customers in SoMa? By Erin McMillan Shortly after the pandemic’s onset, the SFMTA implemented Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes to make sure essential trips on Muni wouldn’t get caught in traffic. On Mission Street from 11th to 3rd streets in SoMa , the transit lanes have proven effective at protecting Muni travel times while traffic has increased. Now, with the city’s reopening generating even more traffic, keeping these lanes on the road permanently is as important as ever. Paint Shop Crew Removing Old Pavement Markings for Installation of Transit Only Lanes on Mission Street on September 23, 2020 What’s Next? Given that the data shows the lanes are effective, the SFMTA is now pursing making the full-time transit lanes, and their benefits, permanent. Following up on our initial evaluation of the project, we are now inviting the community to learn about next steps for making the lanes permanent. We are hosting a two-week virtual open house where you ca...

New Customer Information System Signs Coming to a Transit Shelter Near You!

New Customer Information System Signs Coming to a Transit Shelter Near You! By Kharima Mohamed As part of the Next Generation Customer Information System project, over 700 new Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) signs will display real-time information at Muni transit shelters. Approximately one-third of these signs will be double-sided to provide additional visibility at the highest-ridership stops and major transfer points. This week we installed a single-sided prototype at Eddy and Larkin streets. Serving the Tenderloin, an Equity Neighborhood , this sign will feature real-time predictions for the 19 Polk and 31 Balboa routes. The primary purpose for installing this prototype is to conduct in-field hardware testing, especially with rain, wind and colder temperatures. We know there is an urgent need for more effective signage and are excited to roll out the new customer information system later this year. The new LCD signs will eventually replace all existing Next...

Agra: All historical monuments except Taj Mahal to reopen from September 1 https://ift.tt/2YnrJQd

The Agra district administration on Thursday announced that all historical monuments here, other than the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, will reopen from September 1. District Magistrate P.N. Singh said that the monuments -- Fatehpur Sikri, Sikandara, Etmauddaulabs tom, Ram Bagh, Mehtab Bagh and a few other smaller ones would be thrown open to public, but with a set of conditions.

Jason Roy chooses one between Rohit Sharma, David Warner as his opening partner https://ift.tt/3fkBiWu

Rohit Sharma and David Warner are two of the most destructive openers in the limited-overs format. The duo had been reigning the opening spot for their respective sides for years. Both the players continue to be the mainstays for their countries in all the three formats of the game. from IndiaTV: Google News Feed https://ift.tt/2ZjgDNe

The Future of Slow Streets

The Future of Slow Streets By Eillie Anzilotti Over the past two years, Slow Streets have shown how simple designs that prioritize people can transform streets. Suddenly, streets across San Francisco filled with the sounds of kids playing and neighbors chatting. They filled with people on bicycles and people rolling in wheelchairs; with joggers and dog-walkers. The streets came to life. Initially, the SFMTA introduced Slow Streets as an emergency response to COVID-19. People needed space for recreating at a safe distance outdoors. And with Muni service reduced or suspended at the time, people needed ways to travel to essential destinations on foot or bike. To quickly meet these early pandemic needs, we implemented Slow Streets with simple signs and barricades. Over time, it became clear that Slow Streets served an even larger purpose. They became places for communities to come together. Neighbors organized events like scavenger hunts and Trick or Treat parties around their local Sl...

New top story from Time: How the GameStop Trading Surge Will Transform Wall Street

https://ift.tt/3a6hpB2 For years, professional money managers and hedge funds have tsk-tsked about individual investors. They have dismissed them as “dumb money” and cautioned that so-called “retail” investors lack the acumen and experience to make the right calls and weather the inevitable storms. That has often been the case, but then came the GameStop phenomenon , when a tsunami of that so-called dumb money flooded parts of the stock market, leaving Wall Street professionals not just scratching their heads but a few of them badly wounded . And while this might be an anomaly, it more likely is the first rumbling of what will prove to be radical transformation of money and markets. In less than a week, shares of the company GameStop rose more than seventeen-fold by the end of trading on January 27 after its prospects were touted two weeks ago on a Reddit sub-group called r /wallstreetbets that has several million subscribers. GameStop, a retail chain that started as a hu...

Geary Boulevard Improvement Project Update

Geary Boulevard Improvement Project Update By Amy Fowler Geary Boulevard is a critical east-west arterial and one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, connecting downtown San Francisco to the Richmond District. The SFMTA has been busy working on the second phase of planned improvements on Geary, called the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project , to improve Muni’s 38 Geary bus service and address traffic safety between 34th Avenue and Stanyan Street. The project is building on the success of the Geary Rapid Project , which was recently completed on time and on budget and has already shown promising travel time savings on the eastern half of the Geary corridor. Last fall, we asked neighbors in the Richmond about their priorities for transit, safety and driving issues on Geary via pop-up events on the corridor and a Virtual Open House. Thanks to input from over 600 community members , the SFMTA has used this feedback to draft the detailed, block-by-bloc...

SFMTA to Replace All Parking Meters in the City

SFMTA to Replace All Parking Meters in the City By Jessie Liang San Franciscans will see new parking meters on city streets beginning in early March 2022. Staff from the SFMTA’s Parking Meter Shop will replace the meters at all the nearly 27,000 paid parking spaces in the city because those meters have reached the end of their useful lives, and because many of the meters rely on 3G communications technology that soon will be phased out by the wireless companies. The first new meters will be installed in the South of Market and Mission Bay neighborhoods. SFMTA staff will provide notices on vehicle windshields when the new meters are activated. The new meters will provide several benefits, including larger and more legible screens, more intuitive user interface, more powerful batteries, and more resistance to vandalism. The following neighborhoods will move to a pay-by-license-plate system with new paystations. South Beach SoMa Mission Bay Civic Center H...

My precise view

Search This Blog