House Panel Opens Carnival Probe Over Cruise Ship Outbreaks

The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure today opened an inquiry into Carnival Corp.’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreaks that have resulted in more than 1,500 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus aboard its cruise ships, as well as dozens of passenger and crew deaths.

In letters sent Friday to Carnival President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who chairs the committee, requested a wide-ranging collection of internal Carnival documents and correspondence related to its outbreak response, as well as specific assurances about Carnival’s plans for improvement. “We would hope that the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic will place a renewed emphasis on public health and passenger safety, but frankly that has not been seen up to this point,” DeFazio wrote in the letter to Carnival also signed by Sean Maloney, the New York Democrat who chairs the maritime transportation subcommittee. “It seems as though Carnival Corporation and its portfolio of nine cruise lines, which represents 109 cruise ships, is still trying to sell this cruise line fantasy and ignoring the public health threat.”