Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Apex was ready to make its big splash in spring 2020. The global pandemic put those plans in drydock for a while. 

Celebrity Cruises’ newest ship made its inaugural voyage in the Greek islands with a June 19 to 26 roundtrip sailing from Athens, and the newest cruise ship in the world proved to be well worth the delay – more than 15 months -- for the first batch of enthusiastic cruisers. 

Cruise ships are officially sailing again from the United States.

After 15 months, Celebrity Edge departed Port Everglades on Saturday, after receiving approval by the CDC to be the first ship back in the water, having met all new standards for providing a healthy and safe cruise experience for its guests and crew.

Edge’s seven night cruise will sail for three days in the Western Caribbean waters before making stops in Costa Maya, Cozumel and Nassau. 

Not vaccinated? Not a problem if you want to sail on Celebrity Edge and Equinox out of Florida in 2021. Thanks to the State of Florida winning a court case against the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order, the agency can no longer require cruise ships departing from Florida to mandate vaccinations for guests, and Celebrity has changed its protocols accordingly. 

At long last, Celebrity Apex has had her maiden voyage.

The newest cruise ship in Celebrity Cruises' fleet pulled out of the Port of Athens today, to begin her maiden voyage and first summer season in the Aegean.

Apex was originally scheduled to sail in March 2020, but delays from the global health crisis required delays until now.

Celebrity Cruises announced it has hired a new Chief Marketing Officer, who's background comes from Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch and more.

Michael Scheiner will step in as the new Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Celebrity.

Reporting to President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Scheiner will join Celebrity on July 12, and will oversee all aspects of driving new customer acquisition, brand loyalty and e-commerce globally.

I'm sad to report that it's now the eighth day, disembarkation day, which means I'm no longer onboard Celebrity Millennium.

Disembarkation

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).

If you are looking for the live blog for the positive Covid tests, read about my experience here.

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.