All Aboard!Cruise ships may be docked until 2022 in Alaska, but in warmer waters, it's full steam ahead—and more than 250,000 people have signed up to help. Melody Wiggins, 58, a life coach from Southern California, was one of the first to heed Royal Caribbean International's call for volunteers to help test its post-pandemic health and safety protocols.  The Anthem of the Seas Source: Royal Caribbean She calls the 4,180-passenger Anthem of the Seas her "home away from home," a straightforward romance with ocean views, sunrises at sea, and the smell of salt breezes. "I miss all of that," she says. "No matter where [they] want me to be, I'm there." Since February 2020, when an outbreak on the Diamond Princess led to at least 700 positive Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths among passengers and crew, the cruise industry has been unable to prove that it can keep its customers safe. An August cruise in Norway ended in an outbreak. Caribbean cruises in November had to turn back.  Guinea pigs on the high seas. Photo Illustration: 731; Photos: Getty Images But that's not stopping cruise fanatics from staring down the coronavirus for the chance to get back out on the water. For Nancy Price Towner, a retiree from Galveston, Texas, who has 16 sailings booked for this year beginning in May, it's an act of civic duty: "This is not a vacation. I see this as a job. We must do all we can to help cruise lines get back to what they do best, providing a respite from the everyday world." These so-called test cruises are one in a series of requirements from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before lines can resume commercial operations.They'll encompass a handful of "simulated voyages" inspecting best practices for social distancing as well as quarantine and evacuation procedures.  The Carnival Paradise in Havana, Cuba. Photographer: Alexander Creutzmann/Mambo Photo/Mambo Photo/Getty Images David Chipping, 64, a business executive with residences in Miami and London who's been on more than 150 Royal cruises, says he'd even play-act in a simulation. "If I am asked to drink at a bar and be that difficult cruiser, then I will. They need to test procedures under both controlled and 'normal' circumstances. I am very versatile." | 
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