Royal Caribbean

The change aligns Celebrity with Florida law, which bans businesses from asking customers for proof of vaccination.

CEO Michael Bayley wrote on social media that the ship returned Tuesday morning to PortMiami after three days and two nights at sea testing CDC safety and health protocols put in place due to the COVID pandemic.

The Freedom of the Seas pulled away from PortMiami about 7 p.m. Sunday with a fully vaccinated crew and about 600 volunteer passengers.

Royal Caribbean is postponing for nearly a month one of the highly anticipated first sailings from the U.S. since the pandemic began because eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. says that while vaccines do not eliminate risks, not having them could be catastrophic, including to the people in the Caribbean that cruises visit.

Royal Caribbean says its Celebrity Millennium, sailing out of St. Marteen, had two passengers come up positive for COVID while undergoing the required end-of-cruise testing.

In a reversal, the cruise giant now says passengers are “strongly recommended” to receive the coronavirus vaccine on trips out of Florida ports.

Celebrity Cruises would be subject to a fine of $5,000 for each customer asked to show vaccination status under the state's "vaccine passport" ban. “We are going to enforce Florida law,” the governor says.

The approval is a welcome milestone for the cruise industry, which has been paralyzed in the U.S. since March 2020 after COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths on several ships.

The test cruises are a requirement before revenue cruises can begin for ships that are not guaranteeing most passengers and crew on board are vaccinated against COVID-19.