Passengers rave about first cruise with paying passengers

A cruise ship is making history by being the first cruise to leave a United State's port with paying passengers.

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - Busy dining halls, packed pools, and entertainment are all display in a video shot by passenger Stewart Chiron, take inside of the Celebrity Edge cruise.

They made history as the first ship to leave a United States port with paying passengers since COVID-19 disrupted the industry.

Over 1,000 passengers set sail from Port Everglades on Saturday.

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"I think a lot of people will be watching these first cruises to see how smoothly they go," Chiron said.

Cruise aficionado Stewart Chiron is on the ship right now. He says boarding was easy.

"All we had to do was complete the onboard check-in online, upload our COVID cards, and when we arrived at the pier, we had to show them our COVID cards along with our passports, boarding pass and we were on. We were not required to have a negative COVID test in order and we were on," Chiron said.

To get approval to set sail, Celebrity needed at least 95% of the people aboard the edge to be vaccinated. They reportedly had 99% of passengers vaccinated.

Passenger Art Sbarsky from Highland Beach says life on board is pretty normal.

"My favorite part was how quickly we sailed away and how normal it felt to be back on the cruise ship … Now, after a day and a half at sea of eating, drinking, socializing, the shops are open, the casinos are open, although I haven’t gambled yet, but it just feels so incredibly normal."