While it’s wishful thinking that this could go ahead safely, it’s also wishful thinking that it will become a parable that shows Turmp supporters the error of their ways.
The thing is, it’s likely that many – if not most – of these cruises will be covid-free, because of how numbers work. And obviously, they’ll be populated with covid denialists (+ some voiceless wage slaves). So what’s going to happen is that thousands of Facebook’s most insufferable citizens will be spamming everyone they know with (truthful) posts about how they’re having a great time on a crowded boat with no rona. And the more anyone’s said to them “you will surely die”, the more they’re going to crow about it.
Yes, if Rona is on the boat, it could well become a floating death camp unable to dock anywhere. But then it’ll just be “how could Carnival let this happen when all those other cruises were fine”.
Anyway, it’s a great illustration (for future historians, if no one else) of how shitty businesses are at functioning in a state-like capacity outside of the control of any government. I imagine the invisible-hand argument here is “Carnival wouldn’t do this if the risk of liability was too great, so it all works out”. Except, yes, they would: they might have calculated a 97% chance of being sued into bankruptcy, but they’ll take that if the alternative is a 100% chance of bankruptcy.
