Celebrity Cruises

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.

Cruise ships are headed back to Alaska.

Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises both announced ships that will sail to Alaska in summer 2021.

The news comes right after legislation was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to allow cruise ships to sail to Alaska without having to stop in Canada.

Celebrity Cruises announced what cruise passengers can expect onboard in terms of where they have to wear masks, which tours they can book, and other important concerns.

During a webinar with travel agents, Celebrity Vice President of Sales Dondra Ritzenthaler revealed a number of the new protocols passengers can expect for its summer cruises sailing from St. Maarten and Greece.

Celebrity Cruises will restart operations with one ship sailing from St. Maarten in summer 2021.

Celebrity Millennium will sail from St. Maarten beginning June 5 on weeklong cruises.

Two different itineraries will be offered that vary between Aruba, Curacao and Barbados, or Tortola, St. Lucia and Barbados.

How limited will the capacity of cruise ships when they restart? Celebrity Cruises shared insight into their plan.

During a webinar with travel agents, Celebrity Cruises Senior Vice President of Sales, Trade Support & Service Dondra Ritzenthaler answered a question about the plans for limiting capacity of cruises and gave insight into the cruise line's plans.

Celebrity's plan right now is to start off with ships at 50 or 60 percent capacity, and steadily increase occupancy as time progresses.