Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Celebrity Edge became the first cruise ship in sailing with passengers from a United States port after 15 months of prohibition due to the pandemic and thus marked the beginning of “a new dawn” for the sector, according to the owner company.
The Port Everglades, located in the vicinity of Fort Lauderdale (Florida), said goodbye this Saturday to the cruise company Celebrity Cruises, part of the Riyal Caribbean Group.
“# Hope floats. Today marks the rebirth of our company and our industry as our beautiful Celebrity Edge sets sail for a new luxury experience that will once again fuel people’s love of travel, ”Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President, wrote on Twitter. and executive director of the company.
In command of the cruiser, which has almost 1, 100 passengers , the 36% of its capacity, of which the vast majority vaccinated as it is at 100 per hundred of the crew, there is Kate McCue, the first and still only American woman to captain a major cruise ship.
The ship set sail for Mexico and the Bahamas for a seven-night voyage , according to reported by the company, that exactly one month ago it received a green light from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for departure.
According to the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cruises can avoid trial trips if the 98% of the crew and the 95% of travelers are vaccinated against COVID – 19 .
“This is a transcendental navigation that we have been preparing for a long time,” said Richard Fain, president of Royal Caribbean Group, who stressed that “traveling is a powerful catalyst for a positive change in our world. ”
“ There is nothing more enriching in life than being exposed to new cultures, places of interest and experiences, and nothing more luxurious than doing it aboard a Celebrity cruise. ”
Brian Abel, Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations for Celebrity Cruises, stressed: “We have longed for this day, not only because it represents to a return to service and doing what we like to do the most, but because we know that for many the return of cruise ships is a symbol of the world’s return to normality. ”
Named “one of the best places in the world” by Time magazine, Celebrity Edge made its maiden voyage in 2018 and is considered one of the most innovative cruise ships in the world.
The design is designed so that passengers feel more connected to the sea and the ports they visit. It has, among other things, luxurious two-story villas with private pools.
“The week after our entire industry was on land, This past March, I started a #HopeFloats tradition of honking the ship’s horn every night so the world would know that not only were we safe, but we were thinking about those at home and hoping for the same. for them, ”Captain McCue said.
With the Celebrity Edge already set to sea, eight of the 14 ships in the Celebrity Cruises fleet have plans to return to sail on 2021 and are ready to take their passengers to destinations in the Caribbean, Europe , Alaska and the Galapagos.
Celebrity Cruises has established new health and safety measures in accordance with guidance from public health authorities, agencies governments and its own health and safety team and experts to give passengers the peace of mind they need to fully enjoy their trip.
Early in June Judge Stephen Merryday of the United States Court for the Middle District of Florida, based in Tampa (on the west coast of Florida), approved a petition raised by state authorities in a lawsuit against l CDC government agencies that is still open.
DeSantis asked the courts to act against the “conditional navigation order ”issued by the CDC in October, which contains a series of measures so that shipping companies can resume their operations with cruise ships from US ports.
The judge decided that as of 18 July CDC guidelines for cruises departing from Florida will not be a standard but a recommendation.
The Merryday’s decision marks a victory for Florida Governor Ron Desantis, who said that “the CDC has been wrong all along and they knew it.”
According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents the 95% of companies days with ocean cruises , between March and September 2020 those companies presented global losses of 77, 000 millions of dollars, 23, 000 million in wages and 518, 000 Job positions.
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