CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Royal Caribbean set for US return this week after getting CDC OK on simulated sailing

Orlando Sentinel - 6/29/2021

The CDC has given Royal Caribbean the OK to go for its plans to sail from the U.S. for the first time with paying customers when Freedom of the Seas departs Miami this Friday.

So far, the ship is the only one to undertake the test sailing required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to receive a conditional sailing certificate that allows the ship to welcome on board normal customers.

It left PortMiami with 650 volunteer passengers, employees of the line, on a two-night voyage to the line’s private Bahamas island Coco Cay on June 20. While two younger passengers tested positive for COVID-19 during the sailing, the CDC was able to give the ship the green light.

Royal Caribbean’s sister cruise line, Celebrity Cruises, was able to already sail this past week, skipping the simulated sailing, because it took advantage of the CDC’s alternative, which is to guarantee it was traveling with at least 98% crew and 95% passengers who have been vaccinated.

Even if a vaccine requirement was in place, a cruise line like Royal Caribbean, expects to sail with at least 10% children under the age of 12, and therefore could not apply for the vaccine alternative from the CDC. Celebrity Cruises, though, caters to more adults in general, so it was able to go that route.

Royal Caribbean is in fact, except in Florida, requiring through July all passengers 16 and up to be vaccinated. That age drops to 12 and up starting Aug. 1. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has an executive order in place and a law that goes into effect July 1 that would fine businesses $5,000 per instance if they require proof of vaccination.

Instead, both Royal and Celebrity have opted to dissuade unvaccinated passengers in Florida by requiring them to pay the cost of required testing, more than $130 per person. It will also entail a certain amount of passenger segregation during the sailing, such as not allowing unvaccinated passengers into vaccine-only events and spaces.

And while Freedom of the Seas is set to sail for the first time on Friday, the line announced several other ships have gotten the OK to perform their simulated sailings in the next five weeks.

First up is Serenade of the Seas on July 7 from Seattle in an effort to begin Alaska sailings by the end of July.

Then is Allure of the Seas from Port Canaveral on July 27. Its first planned sailing with paying customers is set for Aug. 8.

After that is both the Symphony of the Seas from PortMiami and Independence of the Seas from Galveston, Texas on Aug. 1.

Then Port Canaveral will see Mariner of the Seas do a test sailing on Aug. 11.

And finally Oasis of the Seas sailing from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, N.J. on Aug. 22.

©2021 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News