KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The first cruise in North America since COVID-19 is on the seas now, and people from Gaston and Cleveland counties who were on the last deadly cruise more than a year ago are watching it closely.
When they returned to Kings Mountain after more than a month in quarantine, some of them said they wanted to do another cruise. They are still ready, but the cruise in the Caribbean now will decide a lot for them.
That Celebrity cruise set sail Saturday to the delight of Don Yarboro of Kings Mountain.
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“I was sort of excited to see them go back and start cruising again,” he said.
In March 2020, he was part of a group of 17 people that set sail for Hawaii when COVID-19 was a mild concern for most people. By mid-trip, it was an international health crisis.
One person on the ship died, and more than 20 tested positive when a positive test was a frightening thing.
They were forced to dock but stay on board with the Coast Guard running security patrols around the ship.
“Very shocking experience. We have seen a lot of stuff we probably [would have] never seen in our lives,” Yarboro said.
They spent a month and 10 days away, much of that in quarantine. They came home to a changed world, fighting a pandemic.
“You can’t feel how blessed you really was ... being on that boat with it all around you and walk[ing] away from it,” he said.
Over the next few months, Yarboro’s brother and an employee died of COVID-19, but almost everyone from that travel group booked another cruise for September 2022.
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“We can’t walk around being in fear or scared of everything,” Yarboro said.
He said the group loves cruises, but they are concerned.
“I’m real cautious about going. I just want to make sure everything and everybody is going to be vaccinated, and I think it should be mandatory,” he said.
His travel group feels like the cruise line didn’t do enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19 before letting passengers on the Grand Princess. They are watching to see how cruise lines now handle things.
“If they regulate that stuff with shots and stuff, I’ll feel safe to go,” Yarboro said.
The Celebrity cruise happening now requires everyone to show proof of vaccination.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the state where most cruises in the United States start, is fighting that.
Yarboro said his group is flying to Spain for their next cruise and that he won’t board a ship unless everyone on board proves that that have been vaccinated.
(Watch Below: Royal Caribbean gets CDC approval for test cruises from Miami in late June)