A Royal Caribbean International cruise ship left from PortMiami with 600 passengers on board Sunday evening -- part of a test sail trip as the cruise industry gears up for a grand restart later this summer.
The two-day trip on the Freedom of the Seas is a simulation with volunteer passengers, many of whom are Royal Caribbean employees, set to test whether cruise ships are safe. It's a major milestone for the cruising industry after it came to a sudden halt last year during the pandemic and has not sailed with passengers for 15 months.
The ship, which left the South Florida port at 7 p.m. Sunday, will stop in CocoCay, the Bahamian island owned by the major cruise line.
"It's been a long 15 months, and we're really excited to get back to cruising again and get started. This is a great way for us to do that with a simulated sailing, to work with our employees and volunteers and guests to really try out all of our protocols to make sure that they're working and ensure kind of a seamless transition to revenue voyages," said Laura Hodges Bethge, senior vice president of Shared Services Operation at Royal Caribbean Group.
The test ship is departing just two days after a federal judge in Tampa rejected regulations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that dictated what safety rules cruise lines must comply with to set sail.