More positive news is coming from Celebrity Cruises as the company announced today the restart of a second cruise ship from U.S. ports. After receiving approval by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Celebrity Equinox will sail from Fort Lauderdale beginning July 25, 2021. The news comes just days after Celebrity Millennium made history as the first major cruise ship in North America and the first of Celebrity's fleet to return to sailing from Philipsburg, St. Maarten.
Celebrity Equinox will set sail on a 7-night voyage from Fort Lauderdale visiting Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico, along with Nassau, Bahamas.
“It is so exciting to announce yet another ship on the heels of Celebrity Millennium leading the industry’s Caribbean comeback to rave reviews just this past Saturday. From the outpouring of comments and emotion from our guests and crew on that sailing, it’s clear that people are ready to cruise back to normal,” said Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. “We’ve all been waiting for the day we could get away, again, to the places we’ve been dreaming of and that ‘someday’ is here.”
Starting June 26, Celebrity Edge will also sail from Fort Lauderdale on a 7-night itinerary alternating between Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings. Celebrity Edge is the first cruise ship to receive approval from the CDC to restart cruises with passengers.
Celebrity Cruises announced restart of 9 cruise ships as part of its gradual opening this year, including:
•Celebrity Millennium, which began sailing seven-night Caribbean itineraries from St. Maarten on June 5; and will reposition to Seattle to sail seven-night Alaska Dawes Glacier cruises beginning July 23. Celebrity Summit will then sail the remaining St. Maarten season through August, followed by plans to sail a new series of four- and five-night sailings from Fort Lauderdale to the Western Caribbean through late October.
•Celebrity Apex – sailing seven-night Greek Isles itineraries from June 19;
•Celebrity Edge – sailing a rotating schedule of Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries from Fort Lauderdale, beginning June 26;
•Celebrity Silhouette – sailing the UK coastline as of July 3;
•Celebrity Flora – returning to the extraordinary Galapagos islands as of July 3, followed by the award-winning Celebrity Xpedition and intimate 16-passenger Celebrity Xplorationon July 24, and September 18, respectively.
