Royal Caribbean will be officially restarting its Caribbean cruise operations in July with a special cruise to The Bahamas.
The cruise giant will relaunch July 2 with a sailing of its Freedom of the Seas ship from Miami to the Perfect Day at CocoCay private island in The Bahamas.
By the end of August, Royal Caribbean will be cruising with 12 different ships in The Bahamas, Caribbean and around the world.
On July 3, Royal will set sail with its new Odyssey of the Seas ship, with six and eight-night Caribbean sailings out of Fort Lauderdale.
After that, Royal Caribbean will be launching cruises on its Allure, Symphony, Independence and Mariner of the Seas ships in the coming weeks.
“This is it. Vacationers can finally plan to take their precious time off this summer and truly get away after what has been a challenging time for everyone. I would like to sincerely thank our guests and travel partners for their incredible patience and understanding during this very difficult period. Thanks in large part to the successful rollout of vaccines, the world of adventure is beginning to open up, and we are all excited to start delivering great vacations to our guests, who have increasingly told us they are getting vaccinated,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International.
So far, about 90 percent of all booked Royal Caribbean passengers are either vaccinated or planning to get vaccinated in time for their cruise, according to the company.
Royal said all of its crew members would be vaccinated.
While the company says it is “strongly recommending” all passengers to set sail fully vaccinated if they are eligible, Royal Caribbean said it would require other testing and protocols for unvaccinated travelers, with those protocols set to be announced “at a later date.”