Today, day seven, is our last day onboard. It's a sea day, and that presents an opportunity to share a bit about the people with whom I'm sailing. How seasoned are the crew? What was the service like? Are the passengers avid cruisers, and why did they choose this sailing?
Day six has been eventful. We spent it in Curacao, and because it's one of the ports that's allowing passengers to wander around on their own, I booked an independent, third-party shore excursion.
Now, back on the ship, I'm in quarantine (but more about that in a minute).
I've just finished my fifth day, and I'm happily exhausted. I know vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but I've been busy trying to take in everything I've missed about cruising.
Day four was another sea day, with activities like educational talks, gameshows, dance classes and rooftop movies. Although the scheduled diversions are fun, you already know what those are like, so I figured that, today, I'd cover something that's on most cruisers' minds these days: cleaning procedures and social distancing.
Day three has come and gone with the excitement holding steady. It was our first port day, and we called on Barbados, which is the strictest of the three stops we'll be making on this itinerary.
While the other two -- Aruba and Curacao -- are allowing passengers to make their own plans in port, Barbados required all cruisers who wished to go ashore to do so via a tour purchased through the cruise ship.
It's day two onboard Celebrity Millennium, and the good mood continues. As I mentioned yesterday, today was a sea day, and the schedule was packed with live music, health and port seminars, an art auction and tons of trivia.
It's almost 7 p.m. in St. Maarten, and during my first three hours onboard Celebrity Millennium, the atmosphere has been one of sheer jubilation. Crew have enthusiastically welcomed back passengers, and every cruiser seems to be in genuine awe of the fact that they're onboard again for the first time in more than a year.
On Saturday, June 5, Celebrity Millennium -- the first mainstream cruise ship to allow American passengers in more than a year -- will depart from St. Maarten for a seven-night voyage. If all goes well (more on that shortly), I'll be bringing you firsthand updates on everything from pre-cruise requirements and health checks at the terminal to what it's really like onboard.
The first cruise ship to sail from the United States with paying passengers will be from Celebrity Cruises.
Celebrity announced it has received approval from the Centers for Disease Control to sail again in June.
The Celebrity Edge will begin cruises from Fort Lauderdale on June 26, and is able to skip test cruises because at least 95% of its passengers and 98% of its crew are fully vaccinated.
