February 02, 2021
Updated on the 02th of Febraury, 2021
ferry schedule & prices >>Balearia Caribbean will relaunch its ferry service from Florida to the Bahamas on Febraury 2021, departing from Fort Lauderdale port. The South Florida-based company runs ferry services from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini first and from Port Everglades to Freeport (Grand Bahama island).
The company announced last week that the Government of the Bahamas has approved the launch of the fast ferry service between Miami (Fort Lauderdale) and Grand Bahama (Freeport) in the Bahamas. His first departure to Freeport is scheduled for February 11, 2021.
Balearia will be offering initially one sailing service a week, with ferry on Thurdays. At the end of Febraury, another ferry service will be implemented on Sundays. If there is an increase in demand for passenger transport, the shipping company is prepared to increase the number of weekly departures in March and April.
At the same time, Balearia will reopen the ferry route between Florida to Bimini island starting on February 10th, 2021. This route will have, at the moment, a frequency of 3 departures a week, in both directions. The Jaume II ferry will be the ship that does both routes.
Balearia will retake its operations with a host of new health and safety protocols, including mandatory face masks, electronic boarding passes, enforced social distancing and temperature checks prior to boarding, and only 40% occupancy of the total capacity of its ferry.
Other sanitary measures imposed by Balearia are: plexiglass dividers have been placed in the common areas and between all the seats, the ship and the ferry terminals are subjected to a deep and extensive cleaning process before, during and after each crossing.
The company’s ships also undergo “deep and extensive sanitation” before, during and after each sailing, the company said. Balearia says it has been certified by Bureau Veritas with the Global Safe Site Covid-19 certificate, one of the first shipping companies to receive the designation. It should be noted that all travelers to The Bahamas must fill out an electronic travel form and have proof of a negative COVID-19 test that is no more than seven days old, among other requirements.
All passengers boarding from Fort Lauderdale (Florida) to Grand Bahama or Bimini (Bahamas) will have to show a negative PCR test for COVID-19 performed at least 5 days before the trip. Each passenger must also apply for a travel health visa.
NOTE: We recommend that all passengers verify all the necessary travel requirements at the time of their trip, both in and out of the countries they are going to visit, always before starting with the preparations and purchases of their ferry tickets.
To keep up to date and have all the information, safety and travel protocols in the Bahamas, you can visit the websites http://travel.gov.bs (Bahamas) and https://travel.state.gov (United States). The reopening of the shipping routes between Grand Bahama and the United States is expected to increase the number of visitors to Grand Bahama island and help recover the jobs lost due to Covid-19 and mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic.
