Over eight months of no cruises in North America means the U.S. economy was denied billions of dollars.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) announced that the cruise industry pumped over $55.5 billion in economic activity in the United States in 2019, a 5.3% increase from 2018. 

The data is part of a newly released 2019 U.S. Economic Impact Analysis, which serves to quantify the important role cruise lines play in contributing to the U.S. economy.

A United States Senator and Representative want the cruise ship ban to return because of a small cruise ship experiencing a few cases right now.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Congresswoman Doris Matsui signed a letter to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ask them to bring back to the No Sail Order.

The CDC lifted the No Sail Order at the end of October, but the politicians think cruises should not be able restart yet.

If you own cruise line stock, you are waking up to some fabulous news this morning.

Cruise line stocks are up as much as 20% in pre-market trading on Monday thanks to positive data from Coronavirus vaccine trials.

Both Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine trials showed to be more than 90% effective seven days after the second dose in preventing infection in participants with no evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

After seven and a half months at a complete standstill, United States-based cruises were given the tentative go-ahead to restart when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed its no-sail order to expire on October 31.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he is talking to the White House about what he can do to help get cruise ships sailing again.

With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) deciding on what it will do with the No Sail order, DeSantis is lobbying how cruises could start up.

The chair of the U.S. House of Representatives' Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee has requested information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid allegations that the White House interfered with the extension of the CDC's no-sail order.

We all know the story: global pandemic causes cruise lines to stop sailing, sell ships, lay off employees, borrow billions of dollars and cancel thousands of voyages. The avalanche of depressing coverage about the cruise industry in 2020 has nearly made us numb, but there's good news.

Although we might feel farther away from the ocean than ever, there are shoots of hope springing up everywhere, from a marked increase in bookings and successful sailings in Europe to the impressive list of new-build milestones that have been reached in the last two months alone.

Since March, cruise lines have voluntarily taken their ships out of service, canceling thousands of voyages, repatriating crew members and planning for future operations -- or lack thereof.

In most cases, affected passengers have been given a choice between full refunds and future cruise credits, to be used for rebooking when sailings return.

Update, 11/13/2020: Since the publication of this article, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed its no-sail order to expire on October 31, 2020. In order to resume sailing, cruise ships will be required to comply with protocols set forth in the CDC's conditional sailing framework.