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).

Carnival Cruise Line announced more ships that will restart sailings, including its newest cruise ship.

Following up on Carnival's previously announced restart plans from Seattle and Galveston, the cruise line revealed its next phase of restart, including the first cruise for Mardi Gras and the return of additional ships in August.  

Here is a breakdown of which ships will sail and when:

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.

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.

As the U.S. starts its slow return to normal, keeping track of which U.S. homeports are open and hosting cruise ships is getting increasingly difficult. Some ports are technically open, but have no sailings planned; others are provisioning ships and processing crew members for vaccinations, but are not yet welcoming passengers.

To make sense of it all, we compiled a list of the major U.S. cruise homeports and their current cruise status.

Baltimore

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.

Summer 2021 cruises from Galveston are a go, says Carnival Cruise Line. The line today confirmed that Carnival Vista and Carnival Breeze will set sail from the Texas homeport in July.

Carnival Vista will return to cruise on July 3, offering weeklong Western Caribbean cruises. The ship will call on ports in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras.

Carnival Breeze sets sail on July 15. Its four- and five-night Western Caribbean cruises will visit ports in Mexico.

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.