Royal Caribbean’s first ship sets sail from Bahamas
US test cruises depart PortMiami in late June
One down, several to go. Royal Caribbean got back to business in North America for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic shut the cruise industry down in March 2020.
While the cruise line has already been at work in both Asia and Europe, the Adventure of the Seas sailed out of Nassau, Bahamas, on Saturday to mark Royal’s first venture back to business in the Western Hemisphere.
The ship sailed with more than 1,000 passengers with a fully vaccinated crew on the first of a summer lineup of seven-night voyages to the Bahamas and Cozumel, Mexico. The line also required passengers 16 and older to be vaccinated, meaning that with children on board younger than 16, 94% of passengers have had the vaccine, the line stated.
“The return of Adventure of the Seas marks a start in the tremendous step forward our guests have been waiting for and we’ve been working toward for more than 15 months,” said Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley in a press release.
It marks what will be a busy three weeks for the cruise line with a test sailing of Freedom of the Seas on tap for June 20-22 from PortMiami in an effort to get a conditional sailing certificate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Any cruise ship that wants to sail from a U.S. port needs to get the CDC approval, which can either be done by proving out each ship’s COVID-19 safety protocols during a simulated sailing or by choosing to sail with 98% crew and 95% passengers vaccinations.
For Florida, Royal Caribbean has decided to go the route of test sailings since it caters to families, and there are no vaccines available for children younger than 12, which would make reaching the CDC’s vaccination threshold difficult. Also, the state of Florida has an executive order and law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that goes into effect July 1 that would fine companies $5,000 per incident if they required so-called vaccine passports.
With that in mind, the company expects to sail Freedom of the Seas on July 2 with paying customers, assuming it gets the OK from the CDC after its test sailing.
Also on tap is the line’s newest ship, Odyssey of the Seas, set to sail July 3 from Port Everglades, Allure of the Seas from Port Canaveral beginning Aug. 8, Symphony of the Seas from PortMiami starting Aug. 14 and Mariner of the Seas from Port Canaveral on Aug. 23.
The five ships sailing from Florida are among 12 of the cruise line’s 26 that will be returning to service before September along with ships from Galveston, Texas, and Seattle to Alaska in the U.S., as well as Southampton, England; Cyprus; Barcelona, Spain; and Rome in Europe.
“We are excited to welcome back our guests and crew, and to help our Caribbean family regain the benefits of tourism their communities depend on,” Bayley said.
The sailing follows the first voyage of Celebrity Millennium, for Royal’s sister cruise line Celebrity Cruises, out of St. Maarten. The June 5 voyage was the first for any major cruise line in the Caribbean in nearly 15 months. That sailing, which had vaccine requirements as well, did result in two passengers who tested positive for COVID-19, but they were asymptomatic and the line enacted its safety protocols including quarantining the couple and contact tracing with no reported spread.
Passengers got off that ship this past Saturday.
Other cruise lines are expected to sail from ports other than the U.S. in the coming months, including from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica while also getting back to business from U.S. ports.