MIAMI —

The cruise industry is one step closer to offering voyages out of U.S. ports as Royal Caribbean has launched a trial cruise out of PortMiami.

This marks the first time a cruise ship set sail out of a U.S. port in 15 months, when the pandemic shut down the entire industry.

Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas left the port around 7 p.m. Friday for a two-day simulated voyage to the Bahamas.

Company representatives say this trip, made up of all volunteer employee passengers, is a way to test out all of the company's new health and safety measures created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

All of those volunteers are vaccinated and a CDC representative is on board.

On Sunday, Royal Caribbean employees shared what was going through their minds before setting sail.

“I needed to get out. I’m vaccinated. I’ve been very healthy, thank God," said Delilah Herrera. "I just need to get out and see my friends and see my work family."

The cruise line says they encourage passengers to get vaccinated, but it’s not mandatory. However, company representatives say they believe they have enough protocols in place to keep everyone safe.

"We do strongly recommend all the guests to be vaccinated, as for sure for those who are eligible, but we have measures in place to keep the crews safe," said Captain Patrick Dahlgren, senior VP of global marine operations for Royal Caribbean.

Unvaccinated passengers will be required to pay for COVID-19 testing if they set sail with Royal Caribbean.

While a federal judge sided with the state of Florida late last week, declaring the CDC can’t enforce COVID-19 restrictions of any kind on cruises and granting a temporary injunction, Royal Caribbean still appears to be following the CDC's COVID-19 guidelines.

Per the CDC's guidelines, the cruise line would not have been required to conduct a trial cruise if they had a vaccine mandate for passengers.

The federal judge has ordered both the state and the CDC to return to mediation to try to work out a solution.

Meanwhile, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line's Grand Classica is expected to have its own two-day simulated voyage out of the Port of Palm Beach starting this Friday.

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line expects to resume its passenger cruises starting July 2.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Steve Negaard knows one thing better than most. It’s in his blood.

“You know, my grandfather came over from Sweden and he didn’t really know much except shoe repair. I’m the owner of a family business here in Minneapolis. We’ve been in business since 1929. It’s called Nokomis Shoe."

Nokomis Shoe is an unassuming but quaint store in south Minneapolis. And while Negaard knows shoes, lately he hasn’t known when his next order will be filled.

“I’ve never had it where it’s so slow to get the product that I’ve ordered. It’s a day-to-day battle to get product,” said Negaard.

This isn’t just a problem for Negaard, and not just a problem for businesses selling shoes.

“The last few weeks, feels like the last few months, we’ve had a lot of a lot supply chain challenges, the result of COVID-19. And obviously a couple weeks ago we had the incident with the Evergiven in the Suez Canal, which is further stressing the supply chain,” said Jonathan Gold, the VP of Supply Chain and Customs Policy for the National Retail Federation.

He says the late March obstruction of the Suez Canal in Egypt only made global trade issues even worse.

“You’ve seen the congestion on the West Coast for a couple of months now,” said Gold.

Or maybe you haven’t seen it. Ports on the West Coast have been clogged since before Christmas. Now, the same thing is likely to happen on the East Coast, even though ships are flowing through the now unblocked canal.

“Your vessels are now heading to the East Coast and it’s going to cause some port congestion as a result. Instead of the vessels being staggered as they normally are, they’re all going to come at once,” said Gold.

And that is going to affect you when you go shopping on items you might not ever think about.

“Even soaps out of Seattle, it’s everything. I don’t see the situation improving for at least 120 days,” said Negaard.

Negaard has made a ton of adjustments and Nokomis is doing OK. But he’s worried about other small businesses around the country.

“I just, I hope the consumer shops local and thinks about these people that are supporting their neighborhoods and communities, because we won’t be around if they don’t.”