Cruise News The Cruise Industry Has Officially Announced Their Return

Written by Steven Christian

Belden Communications News

With everything beginning to reopen after shutting down for over a year, the biggest news focuses on the relaunch of the Cruise Industry. Cruising has been at a standstill since March of 2020 and is now ready for its grand reopening. After a year of hiatus, Norwegian, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean are preparing their ships for a relaunch.

The CDC put out guidelines to bring cruises back to U.S. ports, requiring cruise lines to submit their relaunch plans. Royal Caribbean has been the first to submit documents to the CDC in preparation for restarting.

President Biden signed a temporary lift on the US Maritime Law requiring foreign ships to stop in a foreign port on their way back into a U.S. port allowing cruises to resume in Alaska.

Alaska cruises are now back up, resuming in late July, allowing all three major cruise lines to have ships embarking from Seattle. Cruising in the Caribbean will continue, with vessels leaving out of Nassau for the first time, unless the CDC approves one or all major cruise lines for a July restart.

A hot topic on returning to cruising is, unlike Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean will require all passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated. With Alaska being a go for July, Royal is getting ready for the CDCs test and simulated cruises. The cruise line has been bringing their ships back from around the Bahamas to Port Canaveral and other South Florida Ports, vaccinating crew members prepping for the biggest relaunch since shutting down.

“I can now say that ships from Royal Caribbean group will be cruising from US Ports as early as next month,” said Richard Fain, President of Royal Caribbean Group which houses Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Silverseas cruises.