Two Royal Caribbean cruises will resume in June after a year-long absence, but passengers aged 18 and up must screen negative for COVID-19 before boarding.
The Celebrity Millennium ship will relaunch on June 5 from St. Maarten, according to the company's Celebrity Cruises subsidiary. Aruba, Curacao, and Barbados will be visited on one itinerary, while Tortola, St. Lucia, and Barbados will be visited on another.
Celebrity Cruises CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said returning to the Caribbean "marks the measured beginning of the end of what has been a uniquely challenging time for everyone."
The Royal Caribbean Group's namesake line will begin a week later, with a trip on the Adventure of the Seas departing from Nassau, Bahamas.
While the revival of cruises is definitely welcome news, the keen-eyed tourist would notice that these cruises will relaunch somewhere else, not on American soil.
The decision to announce homeports outside of the United States could mean bad news, as the cruise industry has long been a major contributor to the economy, especially in Florida.
And, as Cruise Hive has pointed out, the mayor of Miami-Dade has been pushing tirelessly to reopen the industry, and for good reason.
Despite the huge contributions the cruise industry has always made to the U.S. economy, it seems that the CDC has no desire for a strong start in cruising, even though the severity of the pandemic seems to be decreasing.
This stands in sharp contrast to many other countries, which have been aggressively seeking a resumption of cruising within their territories, realizing the financial repercussions of not doing so.
The Bahamas and St. Maarten, for example, have all eagerly welcomed cruise ships within their borders, although with stringent health regulations to protect crew members, tourists, and each nation's population. Ships are expected to perform at least PCR checking, and in certain cases, visitors must be fully vaccinated.
But will the U.S. forever lose its home ports?
The exit from U.S. homeports is unlikely to be permanent. We can expect the ships to return to the States as soon as the opportunities come. The infrastructure after all in the United States cannot be replicated elsewhere, at least not in a matter of months.
On the whole, it is not surprising that both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have found a way to return to the region. Regardless of where they launch, the fact that they are reopening is big news for the cruise industry and the Caribbean.
