Fifteen months after large cruise ships paused operations in the wake of the Covid pandemic, a U.S. restart is finally imminent.
The CDC gave approval on Wednesday for the Celebrity Edge to become the first cruise ship to conduct revenue service from a U.S. port since March 2020. The Edge is scheduled to sail June 26 from Port Everglades on a seven-day Caribbean cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico, and Nassau.
The news came one day after the CDC approved Royal Caribbean International to operate the industry's first test sailing, aboard the Freedom of the Seas, which will embark on a two-day simulated voyage from Port Miami on June 20.
"Cruising from the U.S. is back!" Royal Caribbean Group CEO Richard Fain said.
Driving the progress, executives say, is a turnaround in dialogue between the CDC and the cruise industry, from almost nonexistent to what Fain called "1000%" better.
With renewed confidence, six lines opened the books on late July and August sailings in Alaska, and they are making tentative plans to launch cruises from other U.S. homeports. Carnival Cruise Line said it plans in July to launch two ships from Galveston, Texas, and one from Miami.
The Celebrity Edge, the first ship to receive CDC approval for operations. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst
For travel advisors, the excitement around the progress has been tempered by continued uncertainty around CDC approval, which should improve as more ships get the OK to operate.
Valerie Dorsey
"My clients are still booking for 2022 because there is still so much uncertainty about the cruise line start date," said Valerie Dorsey of Cruise Planners in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., who added that with some late fall cancellations, clients "don't want to commit their money for ships that may not sail. ... They are hesitant to book this year until we know if the ships can sail from the U.S."
The new Alaska cruises have spurred bookings, advisors say. Gary Smith, a Dream Vacations franchise owner in Oregon, said that with so few ships, a limited season and an "in-demand destination," he expects Alaska will sell well, especially with the Seattle market.
"It's a large, affluent drive market with no year-round options," he said. "It allows for close-in bookings that don't require air, and therefore [clients] can better afford the higher starting point of Alaska cruises. I do believe they will do very well, and we are already getting bookings for them."
Smith said he believes that as soon as cruises are approved from other ports, "there will be a surge in 2021 bookings when first sailings [are announced]. I don't believe it will be a stampede, but bookings will be strong and the limited startup capacity will match the demand."
Remaining hurdles to cruising's U.S. relaunch
The CDC has made changes to the cruise restart guidelines that are more in line with other leisure travel requirements, such as relaxing mask and excursion protocols for vaccinated travelers.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Wharf, Washington, D.C.
Small-ship operator American Cruise Lines was the first to return to ocean cruising in the U.S. earlier this year.
And while hurdles to getting port agreements in place still exist, there are fewer, said Mark Ittel, senior vice president of ports and maritime for the engineering firm Bermello Ajamil & Partners.
"It sounds like a lot of the port agreements have been put in place," he said. "Obviously, their ultimate goal is to get back into that Caribbean market," though he noted that, unlike Alaska, cruises in the Caribbean require working with a variety of different countries.
"What they're all looking at is how do they work with the downstream ports throughout the Caribbean, which are sovereign nations," Ittel said. "That's where the cruise lines and the ports themselves are going to have to make sure that they're all meeting each other's criteria."
An issue unrelated to the CDC is that Florida does not allow businesses to ask for proof of vaccination, a central component of cruise line resumption plans.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) brands, for example, require all passengers to be vaccinated, while others, like Royal Caribbean International, have said that anyone eligible for a vaccine will have to be inoculated, while those who are not, such as children under 12, must have a negative PCR test.
It is not clear how Celebrity will get around the law since, as per CDC requirements, it requires 95% of passengers and crew to be vaccinated, and proof will be required.
When asked about the law, Royal Caribbean Group said, "we continue to work with local and state governments to facilitate a return to service by July with fully vaccinated crew and guests who are eligible for vaccinations."
NCLH chief Frank Del Rio has said that Florida's law "is an issue" and said that if NCLH ships can't operate from the state they'd launch elsewhere.
"We certainly hope it doesn't come to that," he said. "Everyone wants to operate out of Florida. It's a very lucrative market."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis brushed off Del Rio's comments, saying that if NCLH didn't want to sail from Florida, another line would take its spot.
"We have a whole bunch of people who are itching to do business in the state of Florida," he added.
No other cruise line has publicly responded to the issue, but it is expected to come to a head in the coming months.
Lori Pennington-Gray, who recently moved to the University of South Carolina's College of Hospitality after 21 years at the University of Florida, said she hopes DeSantis will "pay attention" to the needs of the cruise industry in its return to service.
"These are legitimate considerations as businesses move forward in their strategic planning," she said. "They can't wait until we reach herd immunity globally. These are the short-term decisions they have to make to get back to doing what they do best."