Topic Summary: The state of Florida sues the CDC over the regulations the federal agency imposed upon cruise ships. The state of Florida argues that the agency is overstepping its power and does not have the ability to regulate cruise companies. They go on to claim that by doing so it would be causing undue economic harm. Brian and Tad read out the article and discuss the basics of the case. The state won in a federal court. This limits the Center for Disease Control’s ability to regulate cruise companies only when they are sailing out of Florida. This ultimately causes a lot of confusion and a lot of headaches for the cruise company. Many of the companies are torn on this ruling. As of now the CDC can appeal the ruling or adjust the regulations to adhere to the state law. This is a heavily partisan issue that ultimately will cause more confusion than anything else.

13:10 Tad Gives his opinion on the ruling.

34:30 Brian throws a curveball at Tad Big cruise ships return to Venice against the wishes of the city.

Topic Summary: Many cruses have used Venice as picturesque stop and docking location. This has upset many of the residents of Venice and has caused a great deal of long-term damage to the sinking city. The new boats showed up due to the new cruise port outside of the city not being ready for boats yet.

40:00 Lighter news, Yay! Tad brings up the EU’s major push to reopen travel.

Topic Summary: This is naturally deceptive because the EU is only making recommendations to the member states. However, it is a great step in the right direction. (Note: this is before the delta variant began to surge)

43:00 Brian Talks about how some travel restrictions can lead to people getting stranded.

Topic Summary: On a trip to New York, we found out that many hotels will not risk state sanctions and will turn out of state travelers away. It is not common, but it has happened.

50:20 River Cruises are coming back to Europe.

Topic Summary: River cruising is much different than what many people think about with cruising. The boats are often flat bottom barges and are much smaller than other “big boat” cruises. These are very similar to group tours in how they are structured. They are designed around the idea that the journey is as important as the destination. It is a very charming and quaint way to see Europe and is very fun. Brian in particular is a big river cruise fan. He spends the next several minutes geeking out and talking about all sorts of river cruise highlights.

56:02 Tad wants to go to Ireland and beyond. And Brian is shopping for him.

Topic Summary: Eventually this topic devolves into a breakdown of the difference approaches that some tour companies choose to take. Tad and Brian get into a big ol’ rant about the pros and cons of different tour company’s mentality. Quantity vs Quality and how deep different companies do and do not go. Ultimately you get what you pay for....

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