How many passengers are on the start up cruises from U.S. homeports?

So far, data collected from Cruise Industry News suggests widely varying return to service load factors with Carnival Cruise Line leading the way.

With the Vista sailing on Saturday from Galveston, the ship was said to have 2,940 guests aboard, and operating at about 70 percent occupancy.

Similar numbers were said to be the case for the Sunday sailing of the Carnival Horizon from PortMiami.

Royal Caribbean International’s Freedom of the Seas sailed on Friday, July 2, from Miami, with just over 1,000 guests aboard, for an estimated 30 percent occupancy rate. 

The Celebrity Edge’s first cruise, and the first U.S. sailing for a large modern cruise ship, operated at just over 40 percent occupancy from Port Everglades, sailing on June 26.

Load factors are expected to increase quickly, as ships get back into a regular rhythm of sailings with new policies and procedures.