Who doesn’t want to escape their home right now and be on the beach? Sailing on the water? Ordering room service? Heck having someone else cook! A year inside has made me ready to go…..once I’m vaccinated and feel comfortable with precautions along the travel ecosystem. But for those ready to pack their passport and sunscreen, two popular cruise lines, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, are dipping their toes back in the vast ocean in an effort to restart their sailings, each with one ship.
Note while this post is for vaccinated Americans, no worries UK readers who are vaccinated there are options for you – Celebrity Southampton cruises and Royal Caribbean Cyprus cruises booking open in early April for July sailings. UK lockdowns are slowly ending but still pretty fluid so make sure you can unwind your air and cruise costs if you need to cancel.
Vaccinated Americans Cruise Options
With the CDC no sail order in place until July 24, 2021 and subject to change, cruise ships can’t sail from U.S. ports. No problem for the cruise lines which are all domiciled outside the U.S. and currently porting in various countries and island around the world. They’ve had to negotiate with the port countries to abide by the immigration/entry requirements as well as tour options in port (regulated and/or free roaming). As with everything travel this past year, plans can change so I’m optimistic this is a good start. The cruise lines are using small ships to start with.
Key to smooth sailing is that ALL adult passengers must be vaccinated (immigration will also require negative PCR test within 5 days (Bahamas) or 72 hours (St. Maarten) prior to arrival so make sure you know what’s what). Crew and staff will be fully vaccinated as well. Children under 18 will need to show negative PCR test results in order to sail.
My two cents – You have a choice to travel, a choice to vaccinate and a choice where to spend your money. No one is taking those choices away from you. It’s not much different from me having to get a yellow fever vaccine in order to travel to Botswana. I had a choice to say yes or no and deal with the consequences of that decision. I hate needles but got that vaccination (along with a bunch more I needed to be current – ouch!) and had an amazing visit to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Ok back to the regular programming.Â
Here are the details so far.
Cruise Line Itineraries – June 2021
Celebrity Cruises will sail from St. Maarten on their newly renovated Millennium ship. There are two itineraries (good for those keen to do a back to back sailing to catch up on lost vacation time). Reservations open on March 25th at 9 a.m. (expect busy signals and website given pent up demand)
St. Maarten – Aruba – Curaco – Barbados
St. Maarten – St. Lucia – Barbados – Tortola, BVI
Video Tour of Celebrity Millennium
Royal Caribbean will sail from Nassau, Bahamas, starting June 12th on the Adventure of the Seas ship. They will require adults to be fully vaccinated and show a negative PCR test within 5 days of arrival in the Bahamas (entry requirement). The ship will island hop and spend two days on Royal’s private island Coco Cay and visit Cozumel, Mexico.   A big selling point is the private island Coco Cay and all the activities available off the ship – have you seen those water slides?!
Coco Cay Video Tour
I’ve sailed with both cruise lines in the past as my friends are fiercely loyal to one or the other while I’m still enjoying sailing different cruise lines and ships. Celebrity to me is more adult focused with elevated food, spa and wine program. Celebrity is great for adults, couples, friend groups. Royal Caribbean is a great line for multi-generational families to sail with the onboard fun and their kids club programming, special areas and a chance to meet other kids their own age. Coco Cay is their private island for guests of their ships.
Ports of Call
Barbados – the first time, I spent my time ziplining on a ship tour and the second visit I wanted to geek out and visit the Concorde Museum but the tour was canceled so I ended up on the Barbados snorkeling tour with El Tigre that we booked in port at the visitor center last minute (I would recommend booking in advance).
St. Lucia – My family loved the St. Lucia Treetop Adventure Park while my friends loved the chill vibe of St. Lucia Beach and Boat Tour.
Cruise Budget
The hardest part is figuring out the cruise budget, especially if your first cruise. Here is my A to Z Cruise Budget guide and Cruise Tips.
It is easy to go over budget on a cruise so if you set limits ahead of time that can help. At the end of the day though don’t deny yourself an experience because of money. You may not get back to the destination again and you don’t want to regret not doing or seeing x. Make sure you research first so you can include all the must do activities. I tend to splurge at the spa and special wines.
Book your Summer Cruise
If you are keen to book one of these highly in demand sailings, make sure to talk to your travel agent today to get all the information sorted so they can book for you when reservations open this week. I expect the website to be flooded with folks trying to book so use a travel agent as they could use the commission after a year of no cruise revenue.
I know that there has been a good deal of work put in by many folks around the world to design a roadmap back to sailing in a safe way. I’m rooting for the success of the sailings so we can restart the cruise industry and bring revenue back to communities devasted by the loss of tourists over the past year.
