A cruise ship set sail from Port Everglades. It’s the first from the U.S. in 15 months

An ocean cruise ship carrying paying passengers left a U.S. port for the first time in 15 months Saturday.

Celebrity Edge departed from Port Everglades carrying more than 1,100 passengers and more than 800 crew on a seven-night cruise around the Caribbean, stopping in Cozumel, Mexico and The Bahamas.

The launch marks a major milestone for the cruise industry, which has been paralyzed since March 2020, when COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths on several ships forced companies to halt cruises.

“This is an emotional day for me,” said longtime Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain at a press conference at Port Everglades. “Stepping on board for the first time in 15 months, I was proud — getting to see the men and women aboard the ship, as one said to me, ‘It feels like I’m coming home.’”

In a follow up interview with the Miami Herald alongside the ship, Fain said anyone boarding the Edge should immediately feel secure given the precautions it has taken. The Edge will sail at 40% of its nearly 3,000 capacity, with 99% of those boarding the $1 billion ship having been vaccinated

“Our objective is to be safer than your local community,” Fain said. He acknowledged that there would still likely be further positive tests among passengers down the road, but that anyone who tests positive would be able to be isolated without disrupting others’ vacations. Those who are unvaccinated will be subject to additional Covid testing and onboard protocols, including wearing masks at all times and having designated areas in common spaces.

“Essentially, everyone is vaccinated,” Fain said. “Our passengers are saying it’s so freeing.”

He pointed out that even buffets have been reopened, though waiters would serve guests at their tables.

Cruise companies have long sought to resume sailing from the U.S., their most lucrative market, but the path has zagged through rocky seas.

The U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention lifted its “no-sail order” in October and replaced it with a “conditional sail order,” outlining four phases to get cruises up and running again amid the pandemic. Companies were required to expand COVID-19 testing capabilities onboard and report weekly test results for crew members and secure legal agreements with ports and local health authorities in the U.S. cities they planned to visit. Once those prerequisites are met, they must conduct test cruises to ensure COVID-19 protocols are working or prove that at least 95% of crew and passengers are vaccinated.

But a recently-passed Florida law prevents businesses from requiring patrons show proof of vaccination, throwing a confusing curve ball into restart plans.

Celebrity Cruises created a workaround to comply with the law and still achieve the threshold of 95% of passengers vaccinated. The company has called passengers in the weeks leading up to the cruise to confirm their vaccination status and remind them to bring proof of vaccination to the terminal. Those who do not provide proof of vaccination voluntarily will still be allowed to board but have to meet other requirements, including proof of a negative PCR test taken within three days of boarding, pay $178 antigen tests administered during and after the cruise, and eat only in designated areas. They also may be prohibited from getting off the ship.

Already the COVID-19 vaccine has proven essential for preventing cruise ship COVID-19 cases from turning into deadly outbreaks. This week, two unvaccinated children tested positive for COVID-19 on Royal Caribbean International’s Adventure of the Seas ship during a Caribbean cruise from The Bahamas and were flown back to the U.S. Earlier this month, two passengers tested positive on the Celebrity Millennium ship in the Caribbean, even though all adult passengers and crew showed proof of vaccination. Also this month, eight crew members tested positive on Royal Caribbean International’s Odyssey of the Seas ship off Florida’s coast, less than two weeks since crew members on board were vaccinated. In response, the company pushed back the ship’s tentative restart date by nearly a month.

A recent decision by a federal judge in Tampa has further complicated the industry’s restart. In a lawsuit by Gov. Ron DeSantis against the CDC, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday of the Middle District of Florida said the agency’s COVID-19 rules for cruise companies can remain in place for Florida cruises only until July 18, when they will become recommendations.

“We’re starting small and starting slow,” Fain said.

‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’

Those on board Saturday’s sailing were experienced cruise sailors.

Karen Matzel was among the last passengers to vacation aboard the Celebrity Edge in 2020, when the ship returned to Port Everglades on March 15, 2020, after cruise companies shut down operations. Now she is among the first passengers to board an ocean-going cruise ship in a U.S. port since then, traveling from New Jersey with her husband to get on the Celebrity Edge on Saturday.

“I feel so lucky,” she said.

Matzel, 60, said she was uncertain about getting vaccinated but ultimately decided to get the COVID-19 shot after a bout with the disease landed her in the hospital for six days. She feels reassured by Celebrity’s requirement that 95% of cruise passengers be vaccinated, but said she would be going on the cruise even without the rule.

“What’s the worst thing that can happen? I have to quarantine on a cruise ship?” she said. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

Passenger Gary Miller, 78, was a bit more cautious. He and his wife Mary, 74, said they aren’t sure if they will get off when the ship stops in The Bahamas and Mexico, which are suffering much lower vaccination rates than the U.S. After sailing aboard more than 140 cruises — many with stops at the same Caribbean destinations — Miller said the couple often enjoys their time on the ship more than on land. After embarking on Saturday, they plan to staying on board for three consecutive cruises, disembarking on July 10.

“That will be our fix until August,” Miller said. He has booked 40 more cruises through April 2023. “There’s just something about it...going back and meeting people, talking to people who enjoy the same love of cruising. It’s a community.”

Miller said he would prefer the ship be 100% vaccinated but is satisfied with the 95% threshold. Both he and his wife got their doses in February. Miller said he will make a “last minute decision” about getting off in the ports-of-call based on advice from the cruise line.

“There’s still some apprehension of what the total experience will be,” he said. “We’re thinking it’s going to be wonderful, but there’s still that thing in the back of your mind of ‘what could go wrong.’ ”

The couple went on their first cruise in 1996 and has been able to spend much more time at sea since retiring to Jensen Beach from Atlanta about 15 years ago. They try to time their cruises with birthdays, holidays and anniversaries; they will be celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary on board on June 30.

They won’t be the only ones celebrating. Newlyweds Katherine Quirk-Schwartz and Russ Schwartz will be spending their “familymoon” onboard with their three kids.

The avid cruisers were married earlier this month at Walt Disney World in Orlando after postponing their wedding four times because of the pandemic. Now, they’ll be celebrating their union with the seven-night cruise in the Caribbean.

One of the reasons the Parkland family decided on the Celebrity Edge cruise, they said, was because of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement for people 16 and older. People as young as 12 are eligible to get a Pfizer vaccine in the United States.

“We felt that would probably be the safest vacation,” Schwartz said. “We know what to expect, we know what we’re walking into and what we’re going to walk out of as well.”

Quirk-Schwartz, 44, is a Broward Health nurse and Schwartz, 43, is the principal of Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School in Davie.

Both of them trust the COVID-19 vaccine and have helped thousands of people get shots through a Facebook Group they created on New Year’s Day to share vaccine availability information and help people book appointments.

The group, South Florida COVID-19 Vaccination Info, is still active and now has more than 40,000 members.

Knowing nearly all people on the ship are fully vaccinated, Quirk-Schwartz said, gives them and their kids, two 14-year-olds and one 17-year-old, some “freedom” to enjoy life and cruising again.

“It doesn’t mean that there’s absolutely no risk of COVID. But what it does mean is that the symptoms [if you get ill] are going to be less. It does mean that the [risk of] hospitalizations are less. And ultimately, [the risk of] death is less,” said Quirk-Schwartz.

Risk for crew, too

Vaccines are giving crew members hope that the industry can stay afloat during the pandemic this time, and that they can stay employed. When outbreaks caused the industry to shut down last year, cruise companies canceled workers’ contracts and stopped paying them even as they spent months on board waiting to be repatriated.

Four crew members currently working on cruise ships interviewed for this story who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation said their biggest concerns are companies honoring the length of their contracts and being able to get off the ship when it stops in port.

“It is a risk i decided to take,” said a Carnival Cruise Line crew member. “I think nobody is sure what is going to happen, also because every day is different on the ship, the rules changes every moment.”

For Torin Ragin, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1416, who represents PortMiami workers who load and unload ships, the restart couldn’t come soon enough. Many of the longshoremen have been out of work for most of the year.

“It’s exciting when you drive across to Miami Beach and see those cruises lined on the docks again. It’s an encouraging sign,” he said.