Celebrity Cruises continues to move forward on resuming cruise operations. Today, Celebrity Equinox becomes the third in the fleet to restart from the U.S. and is departing Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Celebrity Equinox Resumes Operations
The Celebrity cruise ship is departing out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to restart cruises after remaining on hold during the suspension of operations around the world. The ship’s first voyage back is a seven-day Western Caribbean itinerary, including calls at St. Maarten and St. Thomas, along with Nassau, Bahamas.
Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said: “With each new ship that goes in the water, I’m overwhelmed by the palpable sense of reconnection on board for both our guests and our crew – with each other, their families, and the world. Being together, again, and absorbing the beauty around us is what we’ve all dreamt about for over a year, and now it’s really wonderful to be a part of our guests’ aspirations to travel again.”
Celebrity Equinox will be rotating between the Eastern and Western Caribbean during its deployment from Fort Lauderdale. The cruise line now has a total of eight ships back in service, including three ships sailings from the U.S., including Celebrity Edge also out of Fort Lauderdale, Celebrity Millennium, which kickstarted cruises to Alaska just yesterday out of Seattle, and today, the Celebrity Equinox.
Brian Abel, Celebrity’s senior vice president of hotel operations, said: “Bringing a large cruise ship back into service isn’t as easy as turning the ignition key. It’s a multi-dimensional process that involves moving and training crew, large-scale procurement, mechanical adjustments, destination outreach, port availability, sales and marketing, and so much more.”
Abel went on to say, “I couldn’t be more proud of the Celebrity team’s accomplishments. We were ready and we successfully executed this herculean effort with finesse to welcome our guests back onboard for the Celebrity experience they know and love.”
The vessel, which last underwent a major upgrade in June 2019, is now sailing with all crew members fully vaccinated. U.S. guests 16 years old and over must be fully vaccinated, and that will change to 12 years old and over from August 1, 2021.
Which Celebrity Cruise Ships Have Resume Operations?
Here are all the Celebrity cruise ships that have already resume operations in addition to Celebrity Equinox resuming today:
- The magnificent Celebrity Millennium, returning to service as the first ship to sail in the Caribbean on June 5 from St. Maarten. In early July, Celebrity Summit took over the service, allowing Celebrity Millennium to reposition for the Alaska season.
- Celebrity Apex, the newest addition to the Celebrity fleet, made her world debut in Athens on June 19, with seven-night sailings to the Greek Isles. The cruise marked a historic return to Greece for the company founded there 33 years ago.
- Apex’s sister ship, Celebrity Edge, made history as the first ship to sail from a U.S. port in over a year, restarting the U.S. cruising industry.
- On July 3, Celebrity Silhouette began taking guests from Southampton, UK around and along the British Isles and coastline.
- Celebrity Flora®, the luxurious, state-of-the-art mega-yacht, fulfilled guests’ bucket lists as it resumed sailing the magical Galapagos Islands on July 4. She was followed into the water by the award-winning Celebrity Xpedition® on July 24.
- And, on July 23, Celebrity’s long-awaited return to the incomparable natural wonders of Alaska began as Celebrity Millennium embarked on a journey to the Last Frontier.
