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Just as Crystal Cruises recently announced cruises sailing directly from The Bahamas, Celebrity Cruises is following suit by figuring out a way to bypass the CDC. Today, Celebrity Cruises announced a new homeport in St. Maarten.
The Details
The Celebrity Millennium ship will begin sailing 7-night Caribbean voyages out of St. Maarten beginning in June. Itineraries go on sale March 25, 2021.
All crew will be vaccinated. Passengers 18 and older are required to be vaccinated. Children 17 and under do not have to be vaccinated but instead must show a negative PCR test prior to sailing. St. Maarten also requires a negative PCR test from all guests prior to arrival.
The 7-night sailings stop at Aruba, Curacao and Barbados or Tortola, St. Lucia and Barbados. Prices start at $1999 per person. See the full press release here.
My Thoughts
I’m not surprised at this news, and I think we may see more of this foreign home-porting from other lines. I am excited to see that Celebrity is allowing unvaccinated children to board, and I hope that Royal and Disney Cruise Line have similar policies when they re-start.
Anyone tempted to book one of these cruises on Celebrity?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
I’m surprised the Bahamas hasn’t jumped on this bandwagon big time. It would be a short flight or ferry over.
@DaninMCI They did, Crystal Cruises is sailing from Bimini and Nassau and just today Royal Caribbean announced they will homeport in Nassau. I’ll write a new post about it.
I would still worry about booking a cruise with 2000+ passengers and crew. The worry is not about contracting the virus (although that’s still possible as new vaccine resistant strains are identified) but more about the possibility of the ship being quarantined if one passenger comes down with covid-like symptoms. The memories of ships stranded at sea for weeks on end is still fresh in my memory.
@Ed You’re right, that’s still a concern for sure. My hope is that the process of quarantining would be easier now with more knowledge of the virus and more access to testing supplies.