Royal Caribbean's first trial cruise sails from Miami

The Royal Caribbean International's first trial cruise sailed from Miami on Sunday with 100% fully vaccinated staff members on board. The Freedom of the Seas trial cruise was declared in May 2021. The Freedom of the Seas sailed from Port Miami at 7 p.m. with about 600 employee volunteers on the vessel to test Covid-19 health and safety standards before the ship begins welcoming paying guests.

Royal Caribbean asserted that all of the volunteers on board are vaccinated, and there is also a delegate from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the trial cruise to test the health guidelines on board.

According to specifications described by the CDC, a test cruise is one of two ways for a cruise ship to restart sailing.

A ship may either opt to complete a trial cruise or agree to set sail with nearly all fully immunised travellers and crew -- 95% for both groups.

Senior Vice President of Global Marine Operations for Royal Caribbean Group- Patrik Dahlgren, told media that it had been a long and evolving course for the group to grow to the point where it is able to securely cruise again.

"We joined the greatest specialists in this country and in the world in terms of valuing out what measures should we have in position," he stated.

"How do we bypass and counter cases from growing on board to the max amount, and how do we alleviate them onboard the ship, leveraging technology, using testing? And of course, the big game-changer is especially the vaccines, and that has really turned everything for us," he declared.

However, Royal Caribbean has resisted the trend of asking the majority of its guests on upcoming voyages from Florida to be immunised.

Vaccines are strongly suggested for Florida sailings, and "non-vaccinated" passengers must pass additional COVID-19 testing at their own money," as per the guidelines information on the cruise line's website on June 20.

"We do strongly advise all the passengers to be injected for sure for those who are qualified, but we have standards in position to have the cruises safe," Dahlgren stated. The measures cover some areas with social distancing and more medical departments on the cruise ships.