Osceola County

Osceola County couple gets taste of sailing in post COVID-19 world

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A Central Florida couple is out at sea on a Royal Caribbean cruise for the first time in 15 months.

They boarded in Nassau for a seven-night cruise through the Bahamas and Mexico.

The couple is sharing their experiences with Channel 9.

READ: Cruise giant Carnival says customers affected by breach

Ships are docked at ports across the U.S., so Osceola County couple Brian Carey and Kerry Moore hopped on a plane in Orlando and flew to the Bahamas to get on their first cruise in 15 months.

“We were so excited when we found out about this cruise out of Nassau,” Moore said. “We kept trying to book and reschedule our cruises after they kept getting cancelled on us.”

He’s been on 10 cruises now, she’s been on six, but this is their first one together. They started dating at the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020.

READ: Potential Tropical Cyclone Three forms in the Gulf

Passengers and crew members had to show proof of vaccination and were required to test negative prior to boarding the Bahamas.

See the couple’s blog here.

But not everyone’s cruise experience will be like this.

Guests departing from Florida will not be required to show proof of vaccination per the governor’s orders banning “vaccine passports.”

“If it didn’t require proof of vaccination I probably wouldn’t feel as safe,” Carey said.

WATCH: SpaceX launches GPS satellite aboard Falcon 9 rocket for Space Force

Here in Florida, Royal Caribbean faced another hit to its return to sailing from our state.

The company announced it will postpone the inaugural sailing of the Odyssey of the Seas Caribbean Voyage from Fort Lauderdale after eight crew members tested positive.

All of the ship’s 1,400 crew members were vaccinated, the staff tested positive before the vaccine was fully effective.

READ: Disney Cruise Line approved to sail test cruise out of Port Canaveral

Adam Poulisse, WFTV.com

Adam Poulisse joined WFTV in November 2019.