Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has filed a lawsuit against the Florida surgeon general, Dr Scott Rivkees calling for an end to the new law and asking for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the state from enforcing it until the suit is settled. 

NCLH complaint filed in the southern district of Florida, states that the suit is a last resort preventing the cruise line from safely resuming passenger cruise operations and asks the court to grant a preliminary injunction to allow it to resume voyages with safety protocols in place. If successful, this injunction would allow Norwegian ships to sail in accordance with the company’s own health and safety regulations that requires all passengers to be fully vaccinated before sailing.

In the complaint, NCLH says the state law places it “in an impossible dilemma as it prepares to set sail from Florida. The cruise line will find itself either “on the wrong side of health and safety and the operative federal legal framework, or else on the wrong side of Florida law”.

In its lawsuit, Norwegian called Florida’s legislature “an anomalous, misguided intrusion” that could cause “irreparable harm of vast dimensions.” The company’s first post-Covid cruise from US port is set to sail out of Miami on 15th of August.

NCLH states that guests who had booked cruises "overwhelmingly support vaccination and documentation of same." The cruise company also states that requiring vaccination for passengers and crew is consistent with the safety protocols required by many of the Caribbean ports that NCLH is scheduled to visit.