First US cruise leaves Florida coast after a 15-month hiatus induced by coronavirus

The Celebrity Edge set sail at about 40 per cent of its normal capacity from Fort Lauderdale on June 26. PHOTO: CELEBRITY EDGE/INSTAGRAM

MIAMI (BLOOMBERG) - A Celebrity Cruises ship left the coast of Florida on Saturday (June 26), becoming the first revenue-earning cruise to depart from the United States after a Covid-19 pandemic-induced hiatus.

Guests on Celebrity Edge, operated under the broader Royal Caribbean Group umbrella, flashed their vaccinations cards as they filed through lines.

The company says 99 per cent of guests are vaccinated, and the ship set sail at about 40 per cent of its normal capacity of about 2,900.

Health surveys were filled out digitally before boarding.

After a pause of more than 15 months, the departure marks the industry's biggest step yet in returning to a business hit hard since the start of the outbreak.

As guests checked in at designated times at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale to limit crowds, there is a sense of optimism on what this journey brings to the future of cruises.

"I feel like it's a step toward some normality, but it's a just a test so we'll see how it goes," said Mr Brandon Prunty, a 26-year-old who was waiting to board with his girlfriend amid scattered showers.

"I'm trying to keep a positive outlook. If they have certain restrictions, that's the way it goes. I'm just looking for a good vacation."

The cruise industry has come a long way since March last year, when a series of Covid-19 outbreaks on ships led to deaths at sea and sent governments into panic about whether the vessels could even let passengers disembark.

In the ensuing period, the main three companies - owners of vast and capital-intensive fleets - have raised more than US$40 billion (S$53.7 billion) in new financing to muddle through without customers.

The shutdown reverberated across a series of other professions that feed off the floating resorts, which all told account for around 750,000 American jobs, according to Royal Caribbean.

"Zero revenue"

The company pulled out all the stops for the first trip. The ship's captain was the first American woman cruise captain Kate McCue and one of the industry's biggest social media stars.

The event was filled with celebratory music and speeches from local politicians, and Royal Caribbean Group chief executive Richard Fain - who is also on board - even sang a slightly off-key chorus of Jimmy Cliff's I Can See Clearly Now.

"I expected to be in this position long before 15 months," Mr Fain said in an interview on the ship.

"The virus has proven to be different than many of us expected in the beginning. And I think that we had hoped that more normal epidemiological methods would help contain it. But in the end, it turned out that the important and really groundbreaking change was the development of the vaccines."

Even as more people get inoculated, some uncertainty still hangs over the industry as new waves of Covid-19 outbreaks prompt lockdowns and new restrictions in other parts of the world. Cruise companies expect Saturday's voyage will be the start of a gradual resumption to normal operations that could take until well into next year.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has outlined a path back to the ocean that it considers safe, in which companies can either conduct "simulated" voyages to prove their virus safety or ensure 95 per cent of passengers and crew are vaccinated. Celebrity Edge was approved under the latter.

The industry was somewhat entangled in Florida's politics too. Under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, the state sued the CDC this year to prevent it from enforcing the restrictions on the industry, a massive source of jobs in the Sunshine State.

Mr DeSantis also pushed to approve legislation that banned so-called vaccine passports in which vaccination proof is required as a condition of service - that initially seemed to clash with the CDC path to resumption that called for a 95 per cent vaccination rate on board. But the cruise companies appear to have found a way around that, as shown by the check-in process on Celebrity Edge.

"There is nothing in the vaccine passport ban that prevents a company from asking about vaccination status," said DeSantis spokesman Christina Pushaw. "The law would only be violated in the event that a company denied service or entry to an individual who could not or would not show proof of immunisation."

"No apprehensions"

Retirees James and Cynthia Mitchell of Hope, Kansas, were just glad to be returning to the sea. The couple in their mid 50s wore matching black T-shirts that read "Straight Outta Vaccination". They consider themselves avid cruisers and had nine trips cancelled during the pandemic. They planned to be on a cruise again next week, as soon as they return on Celebrity Edge.

"We have no apprehensions at all," Mr Mitchell said. "There's a lot of smart people that will make sure that everything works great. We just have to listen and do as they say, but I don't think it's going to take away from any of the fun and good times."

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