Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings received a federal judge's blessing Sunday to flout the Florida law that bans companies from demanding proof of vaccination against coronavirus.
It will be the first cruise operator to require every person on board in Florida to be fully vaccinated, in defiance of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose office has called the lawsuit "meritless" and the company's vaccine policy discriminatory.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted the cruise company's request for a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing its law against so-called vaccine passports.
She said the company was likely to prevail on the basis of its claims that the law infringes on its rights to free speech and puts a heavy burden on interstate commerce. Williams agreed that Norwegian would "suffer significant financial and reputational harms" if the law were to be enforced in the meantime.
Under the law, first issued as an executive order by DeSantis in April, Norwegian could have faced millions of dollars in fines each time a ship left port.
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The company is scheduled to sail its first ship in nearly a year and a half, Norwegian Gem, from Florida on Sunday. That departure from Miami comes at a time when the state's coronavirus case numbers are exploding amid a new wave sweeping the country.
Williams wrote that the cruise company had "demonstrated that public health will be jeopardized if it is required to suspend its vaccination requirement," but lawyers for the state had shown "no public benefit from the continued enforcement" of the law against Norwegian.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings -- which includes Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises -- has said for months that the safest way to cruise again is if every single person on a ship is vaccinated. CEO Frank Del Rio held fast after Florida passed its vaccine passport ban, threatening to move his ships from the state. Norwegian says it will keep the vaccine mandate in place until at least Oct. 31.
"The company's policy of 100% vaccination of guests and crew was in place without issue in every port it sails from around the world except for Florida," the operator said in a statement Sunday. "Despite the ongoing global pandemic and the accelerating spread of the Delta variant, Florida prohibited the company from requiring vaccine documentation which the company believed would enable it to resume sailing in the safest way possible."
Finally, Norwegian filed suit in federal court against Florida's surgeon general last month.
"While litigation is a strategic tool of last resort, our company has fought to do what we believe is right and in the best interest of the welfare of our guests, crew and communities we visit in an effort to do our part as responsible corporate citizens to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, further spread of covid-19 as we gradually relaunch our vessels," Daniel Farkas, executive vice president and general counsel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said in the company's statement.
DeSantis has yet to comment on the court decision.