Celebrity Cruise Lines made the return to cruising in America official on 26JUN, when the Celebrity Edge became the first large ship to sail from a U.S. homeport in over fifteen months.
The symbolic first cruise, from Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades, turned the tide on cruising, and the holiday weekend in the States saw two other major cruise lines restart their operations from other drive-market homeports.
That's as cruise lines continue to restart their operations around the world. Cruise Industry News did the tally, and reports "July will see the quick restart of the cruise industry continue with 141 cruise ships from 50 different operators set to sail with paying passengers aboard."
Here are some major events in what might even be called a tidal wave of a return to service that's going to quickly become hard to keep track of.
Celebrity Cruises: Galapagos Service Has Also Now Resumed
Celebrity Flora
With the Edge’s landmark sailing at the end of JUN, eight of the 14 ships within the Celebrity Cruises’ fleet now have plans to return to sailing in 2021:
- Celebrity Millennium led North America’s return to service as the first ship to sail in the Caribbean on 05JUN from St. Maarten;
- Celebrity Apex, the newest addition to the Celebrity fleet, made her world debut 19JUN, beginning sailings of the Greek Isles;
- Celebrity Silhouette summers in the UK with bubble cruises of the British Isles beginning 03JUL;
- Beginning 04JUL, the mega-yacht, Celebrity Flora, resumed sailing the Galapagos Islands. She’ll be followed by the Celebrity Xpedition and Celebrity Xploration on 24JUL and 18SEP respectively;
- And Celebrity’s return to Alaska begins 23JUL.
Royal Caribbean Restarts Cruising from Port Miami
Celebrity’s sister cruise line, Royal Caribbean, made its return to cruise 02JUL timed to coincide with the holiday weekend.
Freedom of the Seas – which spent her time not cruising since MAR 2020 undergoing a $120-million transformation including new features and activities - became the first Royal Caribbean ship to sail and the first from Miami, the biggest cruise port in the world.
It’s the beginning of a summer-long series of short cruises by Freedom of the Seas to Royal Caribbean’s private island destination Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau in The Bahamas.
“We have a lot to celebrate. Families and loved ones can finally come together after more than a year apart, and we’re now welcoming them back on board to make up for that lost time,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “For a moment as meaningful as Fourth of July weekend, it couldn’t be more appropriate that Freedom of the Seas be the first ship to ring in our return to cruising in the U.S. and delivering the memorable and safe vacations Royal Caribbean is known for.
"Summer family vacations are back, and we are just getting started.”
Freedom of the Seas is the first of ten Royal Caribbean ships to return through AUG, including Anthem of the Seas in the UK, Serenade and Ovation of the Seas in Alaska, and the brand-new Odyssey of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale. The cruise line will soon announce plans to reintroduce the rest of its fleet around the world by year’s end.
Carnival Cruise Lines Resumes U.S. Operations Beginning in Galveston, TX
One other cruise line used the occasion of the long weekend to mark its return to cruising.
Carnival Cruise line made its first sailing 03JUL from Texas, on the Carnival Vista, with ship’s officers, cruise line and local officials leading a “Back to Fun” ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome guests on board.
Carnival President Christine Duffy (centre), Carnival Vista Captain Andrea Catalani and local officials at the 'Back to Fun' Party
The Vista then set sail from her homeport of Galveston on a weeklong cruise with stops at the private beach resort Mahogany Bay on Roatan Island, Honduras, Cozumel and Belize City.
Another Carnival ship also returned to cruising on the long weekend, with Carnival Horizon sailing from Port Miami 04JUL. Carnival Breeze sails from Galveston 15JUL and Carnival Miracle kicks off the line’s Alaska season from Seattle 27JUL. Mardi Gras, Carnival’s newest ship, sails from Port Canaveral 31JUL. Other ships in the Carnival fleet restart service in AUG.
Carnival operates from more U.S. homeports than any other cruise line, and says half of Americans –and many Canadians – are within a day’s drive of one of Carnival’s 14 U.S. homeports.
These ships are just the beginning. Other lines are returning to cruise from U.S. ports and ports around the world this summer, too. All of them have new measures and protocols in place to keep guests, crew, and residents in ports of call safe in the new, post-pandemic travel world.
