Freedom Test Voyage from Florida

 One Step Closer!

Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Test Cruise

Class is in session on the high seas and Royal Caribbean

 is hoping for a passing grade.

After the 15 months pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Royal Caribbean International sailed from Miami this past Sunday with 600 employee volunteers.   They are sailing a "Test Cruise" mandated by the CDC as a requirement to verify new health and safety protocols before revenue sailings could begin. 

Freedom of the Seas departed from Miami, Florida on a two night voyage which will have one port stop at the lines' private island Perfect Day at Coco Cay.  All of the test passengers are fully vaccinated.  A CDC representative is also onboard in addition to the employee volunteers and staff.

Cruise lines had two choices in order to resume sailing from U.S. ports:  have 95% of passengers and 98% of crew vaccinated or successfully complete test voyages as dictated by the CDC.   Royal Caribbean opted for the test cruises while their sister line Celebrity Cruises opted for the fully vaccinated option.  Celebrity Edge is scheduled to sail this coming weekend, June 26th.

Return to Sailing a Bumpy Ride

Things got interesting when Florida brought suit against the CDC for it's halt of the cruise industry. A Federal court in Tampa on Friday granted Florida a preliminary injunction against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) decision to prevent an immediate resumption of cruise operations. The order will prevent the agency from enforcing against a cruise ship arriving in, within, or departing from Florida. 

The suit was brought by Florida's Attorney General Ashley Moody back in April. "The federal government does not, nor should it ever, have the authority to single out and lock down an entire industry indefinitely," Moody said. The injunction is stayed until July 18, after which time the CDC's sailing order will only persist as a non-binding "consideration", the order said.

Also, as discussed in Cruise Restart Saga Continues, Florida passed a law which prevents businesses from requiring vaccinations. Royal Caribbean is not requiring passengers to be vaccinated in Florida, guests sailing on upcoming cruises to Alaska out of Seattle will have a vaccination requirement. 

Vaccines are strongly recommended for Florida sailings and "unvaccinated guests must undergo additional COVID-19 testing at their own expense," according to Royal Caribbean's latest update.

Editor note:  Requirements are continually changing.  We meet weekly with Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines to review their latest requirements and protocols.  This is not the time to book travel on your own - please use a travel professional as they can best guide you through the process for a seamless experience. 

We look forward to feedback from the employee volunteers, the CDC representative, and the cruise line following the trial cruise.   Hopefully this will meet current CDC requirements to allow cruising out of Florida.

Royal Caribbean International has had a huge part in the cruise industry recovery by its participation in the Healthy Sail Panel of experts.  We thank them and other participants for those efforts.

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CDC Lowers Covid Treat Level for Cruising

As we approach the resumption of sailing from U.S. ports of call, the CDC has lowered the threat level for vaccinated guests and provided recommendations for all travelers. 

Key Information for Cruise Ship Travelers Who Are Not Fully Vaccinated 

• CDC recommends that people who are not fully vaccinated avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide. Since the virus spreads more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships, the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high. It is especially important that people who are not fully vaccinated with an increased risk of severe illness avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises. 
• Cruise passengers who are not fully vaccinated are more likely to get COVID-19, which spreads person-to-person, and outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships. 
• People who decide to go on a cruise should get tested 1–3 days before their trip and 3–5 days after their trip. 
• In addition to testing, passengers who are not fully vaccinated should self-quarantine for 7 days after cruise travel, even if they test negative. If they do not get tested, they should self-quarantine for 10 days after cruise travel. 
• See recommendations for cruise ship travelers.

There still is no outcome on the battle between Florida and the CDC regarding requirements for vaccinations.  That suit is still pending.  Also, there is no clear answer on how cruise lines will be able to enforce the current vaccination requirement with the ban in Florida for businesses to require vaccines.  Celebrity Edge sails June 26th, so we should know soon.

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Remembering D-Day 77 Years Later

D-Day Landing Beaches Then & Now

77th Anniversary

D-Day

June 6, 2021

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, my father landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. He never spoke much about that day, other than to say that his tank had sunk, he had been rescued, and was redeployed. He was in his early 20s at the time.

Today marks another anniversary of D-Day, the day that the allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy to begin to take back Europe.   The generation that fought that battle are slowly fading away, leaving only written accounts in their place.

My father is among those who are no longer with us. He and his comrades live on in our hearts as we honor them today during the commemoration of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.  On the occasion of the 75th Anniversary (2019), a few surviving soldiers gathered to participate in various events.  Since then, there have been few able to return there due to the pandemic.

77th Anniversary - New British Monument

For the second year in a row, anniversary commemorations were marked by virus travel restrictions that prevented veterans or families of fallen soldiers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and other Allied countries from making the trip to France. Only a few officials were allowed exceptions.

Socially distanced participants gathered at the site of the newly-built British Normandy Memorial near the village of Ver-sur-Mer. Bagpipes played memorial tunes and warplanes zipped overhead trailing red-white-and-blue smoke. 

The new monument pays tribute to those under British command who died on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy. A text carved on the wall writes: “They died so that Europe might be free.”

 

“These are the men who enabled liberty to regain a foothold on the European continent, and who in the days and weeks that followed lifted the shackles of tyranny, hedgerow by Normandy hedgerow, mile by bloody mile,” Britain’s ambassador to France, Lord Edward Llewellyn, said at the inauguration of a new British monument to D-Day’s heroes.

 
  Retracing History

My parents went back to Normandy many years later for the 40^th anniversary observance.  He visited the grave of his commanding officer in the American Cemetery (shown to the left). Despite all his bravery, that sight moved him to tears.My husband and I returned to Omaha Beach and several historic sites in Normandy, France for the 60^th anniversary.

This was a very moving experience for us as well and it brought to life events which until then was just something we read about in history books.

That trip was in conjunction with a 12 Night British Isles / Norwegian Fjords cruise.   We arranged for a private tour with a local guide during which we walked on the beaches, visited all four of the cemeteries and other memorial sites.

Normandy Then & Now

The benefit of using a local guide was that we not only visited the various sites, but were also provided historical background, through images from 1944 so that we could experience Normandy in a totally different way.

Must See Sites

Our guide picked us from our ship in LeHarve early in the morning and returned us there in early evening.   He could have gone longer, but we were tired and decided to return to the ship instead of having dinner in Honfleur.


77th Anniversary Links:

D-Day 77th anniversary - 2021 - Normandy commemorations

Battle of Carentan (101st Airborne)

National D-Day Memorial

Commemorative Photos

 

More Coverage  on Twitter      @ChrisPappinMCC

D-Day Landing - Arnhem (Groesbeek) - Liberation Museum

 

Powerful interactive exhibit on #DDay and #Normandy Invasion from @USNatArchives & @Google is available here: D-Day and the Normandy Invasion   

 

Explore artifacts, oral histories, and more from The National WWII Museum D-Day

In honor of this Anniversary of D-Day, we have verified links in our previous blog articles.  Visit our Shutterfly Share Page for our Normandy (D-Day) Photo Albums.

Read More on our Blog:

Normandy, France - Retracing History

Our tour started with visits to all three cemeteries:

The British Cemetery (Bayuex War Cemetary)
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
German Cemetery (La Cambe German Cemetery)

Normandy, France - Retracing History (Part 2)

Not far from  Normandy Beaches we stopped at:

Le Grand Bunker Museum 
Pegasus Bridge
 
Normandy, France - Retracing History (Part 3)

We concluded our Normandy visit with three destinations:
St Mere Eglise
Pointe du Hoc
Honfleur, France

D-Day      6 June 1944

The beaches were quiet the day we visited the Normandy Beaches unlike the early morning hours in 1944. I encourage you to include a visit to Normandy should your cruise call in LeHavre, France.  Bring the entire family, especially children, so that they can bring history to life.

 D-Day - A Critical Moment In History



Utah beach    Pointe du Hoc   Omaha beach    Gold beach   Juno beach   Sword beach

Some More D-Day References on the Web

Tuesday June 6, 1944 : minute per minute
Normandie Mémoire
National D-Day Mermorial Foundation

 

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Memorial Day 2021

Recently there has been a movement in our country to erase history by removing statues and censoring what is revealed about the past. Today, however, we look back at history and remember those brave men and women who fought for our freedom, and made our country what it is today. As the famous song by Billy Ray Cyrus says, “All gave some … some gave all”. Let us not forget them or erase their memory.

History of Memorial Day: Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. May 30th was chosen for Decoration Day because it was believed that flowers would be in bloom all across the country.

On Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. In the early days of our country, no regulations existed for flying the flag at half-staff and, as a result, there were many conflicting policies. But on March 1, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower issued a proclamation on the proper times.

You will notice in the collage above, that the flag is flying at half-staff. Those pictures were taken during our visit to the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. It was very moving seeing row after row of graves. For more pictures from our visit to Normandy, see my previous posts on the topic and also our cruise vacations website.

I've mentioned several times in the past about the opportunity to relive history while on a cruise vacation. This is especially true in Europe due to the large battle field from the World Wars. Whether your cruise vacation takes you to Normandy, France or Honolulu, Hawaii, please take some time to visit a historical site and pay your respects to the troops that fought to keep America strong. We have done so on several cruises and of all the trips we've taken, those tend to stand out in my mind. Don't forget to bring you children with you so that they too can learn about war first hand.

As Albert Schweitzer said "... Wargraves are the great communicators of peace ..." Perhaps another more striking quote was by George Santayanan who said "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

And who can forget those immortal words of President John F. Kennedy: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. "

To the brave men and women, living and deceased, who have taken President Kennedy's charge to heart, Thank You for your Service. May we never forget the sacrifices you have made.

To those men and women who didn't pay the ultimate sacrifice, cruise lines would like to thank you on this Memorial Day and throughout the year.   Following are just a couple examples of cruise lines that provide discounts to current military and veterans and their families.   Ask us how you can take advantage of these special rates.

Royal Caribbean Offers

Princess Cruises Offers

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I recently completed extensive training and have become Travel Safety Verified. As your dedicated Travel Advisor, your safety is our priority, and it's our job to ensure you have the necessary information you need to give you confidence and peace of mind when making your future travel plans. Click the link to review our Travel Safety program with valuable resources that will answer many of your questions.

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