The road to
restart

It finally happened after more than 15 months: the first major cruise ship departure from a U.S. port since the global cruise shutdown in March 2020.

The road to the Celebrity Edge’s sailing from Port Everglades, Fla., was long, bumpy, frustrating and full of more fits and starts than anyone could have imagined. 

But as Richard Fain, CEO of Celebrity Cruises parent Royal Caribbean Group, said on that Edge sailing, what had previously felt like an “endless 15 months” now seemed like only “a mere blip.”

Indeed, the Edge’s June 26 sailing opened what appears to be a floodgate. Royal Caribbean International’s Freedom of the Seas departed from Miami on July 2; Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Vista departed from Galveston, Texas, on July 3; one day later, the Carnival Horizon sailed from Miami. 

Princess Cruises and Holland America Line both launched their first cruises this weekend from Seattle, while Norwegian Cruise Line, the last of the major U.S. cruise companies to launch, will sail its first cruise on Aug. 7, also from Seattle.

Those cruises, of course, were preceded by a host of lines and ships that resumed service this summer beyond U.S. borders. And according to Fain, those launches were what ultimately led to the industry’s ability to start again domestically. 

In fact, according to Fain, the catalyst for the U.S. cruise resumption may have begun in a pint-size country more than 6,000 miles across the sea: Israel.

In March, Royal Caribbean became the first cruise line to announce that it would launch fully vaccinated cruises on its newest ship, the Odyssey of the Seas, from Haifa, on Israel’s north coast.

Fain said it was an “aha! moment.”

“Israel was the first place where that was feasible,” he said of fully vaccinated sailings due to the nation’s early vaccine rollout. “And I think people hadn’t really made that connection. Remember, when we announced Israel the vaccine distribution was just starting, and other countries were way behind. So the idea that there were enough people who could take fully vaccinated cruises was an eye-opener.”

Fain said that once Royal saw “overwhelming demand” for the sailings in a country as small as Israel on a ship as big as the Odyssey, the line began to think more widely about the concept. 

“All of a sudden, other countries said they wanted to participate in that kind of an arrangement, and guests said they wanted to participate in that arrangement,” Fain said. “Within a month of announcing Odyssey, all kinds of things were being announced. It became the new path.”

In short order, brands including Crystal Cruises, Celebrity, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean launched more restart plans to sail cruises with vaccinated passengers only, including Americans, from ports in the U.S.’s backyard: the Caribbean.

Many of those itineraries didn’t work out. Norwegian and Royal Caribbean both canceled homeporting plans in destinations including Bermuda and the Dominican Republic. But they served a bigger purpose, Fain said. 

“We believed that starting up these other itineraries would provide so much positive data that it would help in discussions with the CDC,” he said. “But also, it showed their need to talk to us. How could you argue that it’s better to have an American fly into Nassau and take a cruise in the Bahamas than fly to Miami and take a cruise in the Bahamas? That’s just so obviously illogical. So we also saw that as a step in developing a constructive dialogue. 

“And it worked,” he added. “It worked beautifully. We showed that this was viable. And that it wasn’t just the cruise industry that thought it was viable … cautious countries around the world [did as well]. And that very much helped our discussion with the CDC.”

Cruises launching in the Caribbean and Bermuda also became the main talking points for cruise restart advocates, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was the loudest political voice challenging the CDC’s No Sail Order. 

“It also gave ammunition to our supporters in the political realm, in the local realm — whether that was mayors, port directors, workers, unions — all were supporting us, and we gave them the ammunition that helped them in making their arguments,” Fain said.

The road to resumption is ongoing. The CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order is still in effect, and the number of ships operating is a fraction of the global fleet. Every Covid case on a ship brings outsize media attention. And in Florida, the industry has had to retool its restart plans for vaccinated ships to adapt to the state’s law banning vaccine passports.

Still, it can’t be denied: The cruise restart is finally happening.

The cruise experience 

The CDC has enabled cruise lines to launch ships from U.S. ports via one of two paths: committing to a 95% crew and passenger vaccination rate on ships or implementing more restrictive protocols.

The Celebrity Edge took the former route, and as a result of having a 99% vaccination rate can operate its cruises in a way that feels remarkably normal. 

There are small differences — like crew serving guests at the buffet — and on its first cruises, the ship was far below capacity. The Edge’s first cruise operated at only 40% occupancy. 

But almost all passengers were mask-free while onboard, and there was no social distancing in any of the bars, restaurants or venues like the theater. Dance parties felt like the pre-pandemic days.

This was the same path taken by Carnival Cruise Line, which also requires all adults to be vaccinated and only allows a limited number of children to maintain the 95% threshold. 

Travel advisor Sharon Asmus of Phoenix was on Carnival’s first sailing, on the Vista from Galveston, on which she said “everything really seemed the same.”

The ship not only maintained a high vaccination rate but was 70% full. The main difference, Asmus noted, was how few children were onboard. Like the Edge, there were no mask mandates or social distancing, and the pool was as crowded as ever but packed mostly with adults instead of kids.

“They have the show, the different activities around the ship during the day like trivia, they have the deck parties in the evening with everyone out there doing the line dances and things all together, just as usual,” she said. “The crew were so excited to have people back onboard and were very friendly, as usual. They did the dancing in the main dining room at night at dinner that they do on Carnival. All the normal stuff for the most part.”

Royal Caribbean took the other path, because the brand wanted to enable families with children to sail and to comply with Florida law. The Freedom of the Seas therefore has different protocols even than the Adventure of the Seas, Royal’s Nassau-based ship that allows only fully vaccinated adults onboard.

Most notably, the line made many venues off-limits to the unvaccinated, such as bars and the casino. The fitness center allows the unvaccinated to use the facilities only at designated periods. Masks must be worn in any areas where both vaccinated and unvaccinated guests might mingle, unless guests are eating or drinking.

Jamie Zand, owner of Cruise Planners in Parkland, Fla., was on the Freedom’s first cruise from Miami. She said that aside from the extra cleaning — “they really sanitize everything” — tables being spaced out and having to wear masks at times, such as while getting food at the Windjammer Cafe buffet, the cruise also felt like a pre-pandemic sailing. 

“Those little differences,” like being served at the buffet, she said, “are so minor you don’t notice. You’re still having a great time .... Everything seems pretty normal.”

It helped that by creating a system in which unvaccinated cruisers wouldn’t have the same access to venues as vaccinated ones, few adults without the shots chose to cruise. Even with children onboard, the ship maintained a 93% vaccination rate. 

Zand said that the passengers she spoke with said they “felt joy, excitement, freedom” and “safer than in their own town.”

“You’re talking 14, 15 months [of no cruising] or taking vacations, and everyone just wanted to have a good time,” she said.

For Zand and other travel advisors, these cruises meant more than just getting back on ships: They marked the return of their livelihood after more than a year. 

“My heart was pounding out of excitement and joy,” she said of getting on the Freedom of the Seas. “It was just such a great feeling, because it’s been so long. All of the employees were screaming happily because they are actually seeing people for the first time. It was just major positive energy.”

It was also an opportunity for Zand to reconnect with fellow advisors.

“It was the first time that we could hug each other, because all the travel advisors were vaccinated,” she said. “We were jumping up and down and hugging each other. We miss that personal touch and being with one another.”

The shoreside experience 

Off ship, things are not as they were pre-pandemic, something that may linger for at least the next year as the world contends with the uneven and unpredictable state of the virus and vaccination rates. 

On the Carnival Vista sailing from Galveston, Asmus said that except for passengers with children under 12, anyone could disembark as they always did. 

“In every place, we were able to get off and just do our own thing as long as we had our masks,” she said. 

That was different from the shore policy on the Edge, which was different than the policy on the Adventure of the Seas, despite both being operated by Royal Caribbean Group. In Cozumel, Mexico, for example, Edge guests had to take curated tours to get off the ship, while Adventure passengers could wander freely in port as long as they were vaccinated, as was true for Vista passengers. 

Such inconsistencies are likely to be part of the cruise restart for at least the next year. Chris Gray Faust, managing editor at CruiseCritic.com, was on the Edge and the Adventure and took curated shore tours from both. Passengers, she said, have to remember that the industry is still “very much in a transition time.” 

“It’s going to be a little bit more complicated, but it’s going to get better as the world gets more access to vaccines,” she said. “I think summer 2021 cruisers just need to think how fortunate we are that we are able to be vaccinated and that maybe other countries aren’t there yet. And be patient.”

Gray Faust said that on tours in the Bahamas and Mexico, masks must be worn outdoors in most areas and on transportation. Once passengers arrive at certain excursion destinations — in her case, the Chacchoben ruins near Costa Maya and a beach club in Nassau — masks can come off because the cruise ship groups are isolated from others and in recent cases were the only ones there. 

For Gray Faust, such protocols were more than worth it to be touring again. Even though she’d been to Chacchoben before, this time was more special after “just seeing the backyard of my house in Pennsylvania for so long.”

“Suddenly, you’re able to look at ancient Mayan ruins. And for my friend who had not left the country in 15 months and had never been to that ruin site, it was amazing,” she said. “We probably took a lot more pictures and selfies than we normally would. There was this feeling of excitement that you’re seeing something exotic and different, even if you’ve seen it before. I had a newfound appreciation.”

Cruisers will also have to expect some limitations since these destinations have gone so long without cruise ships, and in some cases, any tourists at all. 

Asmus said that on the three stops the Vista made, offerings varied. On Roatan, Honduras, she said, she toured the island with the owner of an excursion company to see what they were offering. 

“They’re glad to have us back, they really need us to be back,” she said, adding that because there are resorts on the islands many things are open but that without the cruises, several tour companies went out of business. 

A port in Belize had less to offer. Restaurant menus were limited, and few tours were available. 

“They weren’t fully prepared, but I think that’s something that will change now that cruise ships will start coming there regularly,” she said. 

Cozumel had more to offer, she said, because, like Roatan, it’s been open to land tourism. 

In Costa Maya, the port employees were thrilled to see the first guests disembark from the Edge, the first ship it had hosted since the shutdown. But the port was understandably not quite ready for prime time. Some of the restaurants were closed, and those that were open had drinks but no food. 

In Nassau, most restaurants near the port were still closed in early July, but the presence of construction and paint crews around the port indicated preparations were being made for more ships and visitors. One restaurant that was open and busy wouldn’t let people in unless they had their vaccination card or a photo of it, something Edge guests didn’t know before arriving. 

For this cruiser, who preferred sitting outside anyway, none of that mattered. The conch fritters were fresh, and the Kalik was cold. 

Cruising is back. 

Windstar’s cruise to nowhere on Star Breeze hits the spot

By Tom Stieghorst

There has been much fanfare and media attention around the first cruises to depart from U.S. ports in more than 15 months. But prior to those sailings, several cruise lines launched cruises in the Caribbean. 

Travel Weekly contributing editor Tom Stieghorst was on Windstar Cruises’ first sailing out of St. Maarten. A snapshot of his experience follows:

While passengers from the U.S. have had relatively easy access to vaccines for several months, it can be a different story with crew members, who are famously drawn from all over the globe, including many developing countries. 

There, access to vaccines has been a struggle. It showed on the initial Caribbean cruise of the Windstar Cruises ship Star Breeze, which was scheduled to visit a half-dozen islands from June 19 to 26 but instead took passengers on a leisurely cruise to nowhere. 

The hitch was that Windstar was only able to vaccinate about 20% of the 177 crew, many of them from Indonesia or the Philippines, before the start of the cruise. As a result, ports of call in the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and St. Barts had to be dropped because the ship didn’t meet protocols for Covid in those destinations. 

Informed of the situation a few days before departure and offered a refund or a free cruise, passengers made the best of it. 

“We had been planning on doing this,” said Brent Russ, an IT worker from Raleigh, N.C., who was traveling with his wife, Kerry. The two were arriving early for a pre-cruise stay at a resort in the departure port of St. Maarten. “So we didn’t want to change the plans. We were going to come regardless,” he said. 

About 55 passengers made the weeklong cruises on the Star Breeze, which had been newly stretched to accommodate 312. About a dozen canceled, Windstar officials said. 

The cruise had a languid pace that reminded some onboard of a transatlantic crossing. The ship puttered around St. Maarten, anchoring in various bays and deploying its watersports platform. We took a jaunt down to Montserrat for a cruise-by. Toward the end, we docked overnight back in Philipsburg for the only excursions of the voyage. Passengers debarked in bubble groups, but no one could be off on their own. 

“We didn’t really care about the ports of call,” said veteran cruiser David Hakimian, a Chicago-area oncologist who was traveling with his wife, Suzy, and said the cruise dates coincided with a scheduled week off. “We just wanted to be on a ship.” 

The crew acted like thoroughbreds that hadn’t raced in a long time. They were extremely solicitous, especially the hotel staff. If they were worried about contracting Covid, it wasn’t evident. Windstar canceled the June 26 and July 3 cruises to take the crew to San Juan for full vaccinations. 

During the cruise, the staff was masked, and passengers were expected to mask up in public areas. Seat signs in restaurants and public spaces promoted social distancing. If it wasn’t exactly care-free, neither was it very burdensome. 

Windstar decided to operate the cruise in part to show off the Star Breeze’s $80 million of improvements, which included two new restaurants, Windstar president Chris Prelog said. 

“I’m really jazzed up to be able to travel again and to launch this ship to service,” he said.