Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL Cruises) announce its resuming cruises from Florida from the Port of Miami and Port Canaveral later this summer. They will stick to their original plan of requiring that all passengers be vaccinated in order to cruise. “All initial voyages will operate with fully vaccinated guests and crew,” according to a company press release, although how that will work with the Florida ban on vaccine passports is still being worked out.
The Norwegian Gem cruise ship will begin 7-night cruises out of Miami starting August 15th and the Norwegian Escape cruise ship will sail from Port Canaveral beginning on November 13th, 2021. The Norwegian Breakaway will sail from New York to Bermuda starting September 26th. The Norwegian Bliss will sail from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera starting on October 24, 2021, and the NCL Encore will move to Seattle for a shortened Alaska season starting on August 7, 2021. The NCL Sky will sail out of Miami starting in September and the NCL Joy in October also from Miami. The NCL Dawn will sail out of the port of Tampa beginning in December.
The Norwegian Jade is set to cruise out of Greece. The NCL Getaway cruise ship and the NCL Epic will be cruising out of Europe as well.
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Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. have already announced plans to resume out of Florida in November.
The news comes just days after Royal Caribbean Cruises also announced additional restarts from U.S. homeports, with 12 ships fully operational by the end of August, with the remainder of the fleet to re-enter service by the end of the year. Unlike NCL however, Royal Caribbean reversed its position on vaccines. “Guests are strongly recommended to set sail fully vaccinated if they are eligible,” the cruise line said in a press release. “Those who are unvaccinated or unable to verify vaccination will be required to undergo testing and follow other protocols, which will be announced at a later date.” Crew members will be fully vaccinated.
Also read: Alaska Cruises 2021 Are Back
Carnival Vista will be the first Carnival ship to set sail on July 3rd out of Galveston, followed by the Carnival Breeze on July 15th. The cruises are only open to fully vaccinated passengers. Carnival had initially mentioned they did not want to require vaccines. In a statement, Carnival Cruise Line president, Christine Duffy stated “We appreciate the progress and support for our U.S. restart from the CDC and other key federal agencies; however, the current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect, especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us. As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests.” The Carnival Horizon cruise ship is set to resume out of Miami in July or August, but that would depend on the situation with vaccines. Carnival advised they would be reaching out to guests on July and August sailing within the next few days.
The Mardi Gras cruise ship made her U.S. debut, arrived at Port Canaveral’s Cruise Terminal 3, which was built specifically for this vessel. She is the first ship in the Americas powered by eco-friendly Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and features the first roller coaster at sea.
