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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.

The heads of most of the world's major cruise lines said they're both highly and cautiously optimistic that sailings to and from U.S. can still resume before the end of the year, despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's further extension of the no-sail order through October 31.

It's been at least half a year since most of us have seen the inside of a cruise ship, and many of us are itching to be back onboard. With the CDC's closure of public comment on the resumption of sailings and the Healthy Sail Panel's recommendations submitted, it's looking like that could happen before the end of 2020.

As an avid cruiser, you might be wondering whether the reward is worth the potential risk. Could there be a second wave of illness in the U.S., and could cruise ship travel contribute to it? None of us has a crystal ball, but here, we examine what we know so far.

At a meeting of the Miami-Dade County Commissioners' Tourism and the Ports Committee Thursday, the CEOs of four major cruise companies stressed that the cruise industry is eager to resume sailings when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's no-sail order, which has been in place since March, expires on September 30.