Royal Caribbean Blog

The majority of Royal Caribbean fans say they will go on a cruise before there is a vaccine available that would protect from from COVID-19.

In a poll of likely Royal Caribbean cruisers, 75% of those surveyed said they would go on a cruise without a proven vaccine in place.

Only 7% responded they would not, and a further 17% were unsure what they would do.

More than 250 likely cruisers answered this survey. The majority hailed from the United States, but there were respondents from other regions of the world as well, including Australia and Europe.

With many states beginning to lift restrictions aimed at enforcing social distancing, the question of life returning to "normal" in all aspects raises concerns across the board.

Cruisers want to cruise

You may not find it surprising that most cruise fans that visit a Royal Caribbean fan site would be willing to cruise, but this demographic is going to be critical to any cruise line once sailings resume again.

When Royal Caribbean starts sailing again, many analysts and travel experts expect some level of trepidation to return to sailing. As a result, cruise loyalists will be the cruise line's bread and butter for filling rooms and getting revenue flowing again.

Many of the people that responded to the poll felt strongly about the return of cruising and their desire to get back onboard.

Perhaps more surprising in the poll comments was not that many were willing to cruise again without a vaccine, but that these same people were less interested in sailing if going on a cruise meant wearing a mask.

"Frankly I'm not worried about Covid-19, but what does worry me is the onboard experience. I won't go on a cruise if a face mask is required onboard, that doesn't sound like vacation."
 

"Not concerned about a vaccine, my deciding factor will be what the "new" onboard experience is."

Those that responded they would not go on a cruise shared concern not over what they are doing to protect themselves, but what others are not doing.

"I don't get it, who wants to be sick if you don't have to be? Since so many people fail to grasp what they do affects others, I am going to need a vaccine. A vaccine will ease their burden of stupidity, so someone can disregarding my personal space by taking a selfie, but I can have piece of mind."
 

"The odds of a single contact involving the virus are small, assuming independent events and random exposure.  However, the probability of being exposed to the virus after several hundred contacts approaches certainty.  Just do the math, and you will see.  So we will all be exposed at some point.  I won't cruise until my wife and I feel it is safe -- that we can mitigate the risk, or have access to effective treatment, or have access to a vaccine.  This is still a virus the kills healthy people without underlying conditions."

Your thoughts

Will you go on a cruise before there is a COVID-19 vaccine? Would special rules or regulations that require social distancing and/or masks onboard turn you off from cruising again? Share your thoughts and concerns in the comments.

There is a brand new photo of the construction progress being made on Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship, Odyssey of the Seas.

The photo is from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Odyssey is under construction in Hall 6.

Periodically, new photos of the construction progress are released by the shipyard.

In the last couple weeks, Royal Caribbean warned Odyssey's scheduled debut later this year could be delayed due to the health crisis impacting the shipyard operations.

Royal Caribbean International President & CEO Michael Bayley provided an update last week on what to expect.

"We are working on that with the yard. Everything was on schedule. There have been delays because of obviously there has a lot going on around the world, and it impacted the shipyard at the same time. Our newbuild organization is deep in project discussion now with the yard itself. We don't have any definite dates yet. I would hope in the coming weeks we will have something firmed up."

"I think there may be some delays, but we're working through it as a team to try and figure that out."

Odyssey of the Seas will be the cruise line's second Quantum Ultra Class ship, and will sail from Port Everglades, Florida.

Royal Caribbean's next virtual cruise experience begins today with the next "sailing" of Virtual of the Seas.

Kicking off on Facebook, this week's sailing will head to the pink sand beaches of Bermuda, and is hosted by Cruise Director Abe Hughes.

The concept of a virtual cruise is every day, Mr. Hughes posts on Facebook various activities, photos and even a Cruise Compass for helping to pass the time while many of us are stuck at home.

The activity started out as a fun excuse to talk Royal Caribbean, but has taken on a life of its own with so many cruise fans clamoring for some virtual fun wherever they can get it.

You can follow along each day on Abe Hughes' Facebook page.

If you are looking for a good sign of things return back to normal, Italy announced it will start allowing some tourists back on June 3, 2020.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte presented a plan to open both its regional and international borders on June 3, with the government eliminating a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving from abroad.

Italy was especially hard hit with the global health crisis, and represents an epicenter of European cruising. Italy has had the most deaths from the disease after the United States and Great Britain.

Bars and restaurants in Italy will reopen on Monday, and people will no longer have to justify travel within their own region and will be able to meet friends as well as family.

Gyms, swimming pools and sports centres will reopen on May 25, while theatres and cinemas can reopen from June 15.

Cruises in and around Italy

Prior to the outbreak, Royal Caribbean had quite a variety of sailings planned to, from, and around Italy.

Explorer of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas are/were scheduled to sail out of Rome (Civitavecchia).

Explorer of the Seas was to offer cruises to the Greek Isles, Western Mediterranean and even a Holy Land cruise. Jewel of the Seas was to offer a 12-night holy land cruise.

Rhapsody of the Seas was scheduled to sail out of Venice, and offer 6-, 7-, and 8-night cruises to Greece, Croatia and the Greek isles.

In addition, a number of other Royal Caribbean ships had stops scheduled in Italy.

Stay up-to-date with all the Royal Caribbean news from this week with our roundup of all this week's news.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley spoke on a variety of topics this week related to the cruise line's return to service.

Among the many questions, Mr. Bayley indicated he believes there may not be a Windjammer buffet in the beginning.

"I think in the beginning, there will not be a buffet in the beginning, that's how I see it. It depends again upon the timing. We will utilize the space, we will utilize the Windjammer, but in all probability it won't be a classical buffet. It will be something more akin to a restaurant."

Royal Caribbean News

• Allure of the Seas will begin her delayed refurbishment this weekend.
• A Wall Street analyst estimated how long Royal Caribbean can last without any revenue.
• Everything you need to know about Lift & Shift.
• How to take advantage of Royal Caribbean's Best Price Guarantee option to reprice cruises.
• A new set of photo packages is available to pre-purchase.
• The port project in Freeport, Bahamas is still a go.
• Royal Caribbean hired new Washington DC lobbyists.
• Did you know Royal Caribbean used to distribute passenger lists?
• Eight lessons I learned by cruising with kids.
• This is now the longest we have gone without Royal Caribbean canceling more cruises.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 354th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, that features Brent's first Royal Caribbean cruise.

Brent had cruised with Celebrity Cruises for a while, but decided to give Royal Caribbean a try in order to take advantage of all the great family activities. He shares what coming to Royal Caribbean was like, and how the sister brands compare.

Please feel free to subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! We’d appreciate it.

Royal Caribbean Cancellations

Do you have questions about if Royal Caribbean will cancel more cruises and what happens if their cruise is included?

There is plenty of concern out there, and I have a breakdown of everything you need to know about what happens (and has happened) when Royal Caribbean cancels more cruises.

There is plenty of doubt about the future of cruising, and what to expect if your Royal Caribbean cruise is cancelled, but this guide will explain everything that happens should it happen to you.

It looks like Royal Caribbean has refreshed its onboard photo packages you can purchase online.

A few RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers noticed a new set of photo packages that include a set amount of prints or digital copies.

Thanks to Thomas Bissland for providing this screenshots

In addition, the unlimited photo package seems to have disappeared from the offerings.

Photo packages allow guests to take home a select amount of photos taken onboard their Royal Caribbean ship. One photo package covers all guests in your stateroom.

With there being no Royal Caribbean cruises sailing, it is no secret there is little to no revenue coming in and the company is losing money every month.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd stated that its average ongoing ship operating expenses and administrative expenses is approximately $250 million to $275 million per month during the suspension of operations.  

This range of monthly expenditures  includes ongoing ship operating expenses, administrative expenses, and debt service expense, hedging costs, expected necessary capital expenditures (net of committed financings in the case of newbuilds) and excludes cash refunds of customer deposits as well as cash inflows from new and existing bookings. 

So the natural question is how long can Royal Caribbean last without any meaningful revenue?

Bank of America analysts Andrew Didora and Geoffrey d’Halluin ran an analysis of the major cruise lines to determine an answer to that question.

Mr. Didora estimated that Royal Caribbean has roughly $3.45 billion in liquidity, but he estimates it is costing the cruise line around $330 million in cash per month to operate without revenue.

Thus, Mr. Didora thinks Royal Caribbean can operate through the first quarter of 2021 with no cruises sailing.

"For RCL to extend its liquidity into late 2021 to further de-risk its liquidity profile, we estimate it would need to raise an incremental $1.5-2.0B in capital"

While I am no Wall Street analyst by any means, it is worth noting Mr. Didora's cash burn per month differs from the value Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd announced last week.

In addition, Royal Caribbean indicated it may seek to further reduce its average monthly requirement, "under a prolonged non-revenue scenario."

In order to cut costs, the cruise giant  identified approximately $3.0 billion and $1.4 billion of capital expenditure reductions or deferrals in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

If it deems it necessary, Royal Caribbean has outlined it could opt for further reductions in capital expenditures, operating expenses and administrative costs and additional financing.

Cruising has changed a lot over the years, and while some traditions remain a part of the experience (formal night), others have gone away.

It is interesting to look back at how cruising used to be, and what norms then seem odd now.  One of those "not a thing anymore" cruise experiences was a passenger list.

Similar to a phone book, Royal Caribbean would compile a list of guests and crew on a given sailing and distribute it across the ship. It would include the name of each guest, and their home town.

Passenger lists were a vestige of the early days of cruising. They were provided in order to make introductions among fellow guests easier, as well as serve as a souvenir from the voyage. They were given to all passengers aboard liners and cruise ships until the 1970s and 1980s.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader Bret Chafe shared a copy of one such passenger list from Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas sailing he sailed on back on September 23, 1989.

Take a look at who the ship's purser was on this sailing. Yes, the man that would eventually become Royal Caribbean International's President & CEO, Michael Bayley!

Not only was the passenger list an accumulation of names, titles and locations, it included some facts about the ship and the sailing.

The bulk of the publication was a listing of guests and their names, which by today's standards sounds a bit odd to share this information among guests.

So what happened to passenger lists? The evolution of cruises, along with an added desire for privacy among guests, saw the passenger list become obsolete. 

When passengers were given the choice of listing their names or not, many opted not to be included, and thus a list of only some passengers was not useful. In other cases, cruise lines removed it as an option in order to save time and money required in the purser’s department that might be better used elsewhere.

Would you want to see passenger lists still available on cruise ships? Or did these go away for a good reason? Did you ever sail on a ship that had one? Share your thoughts on this throwback to cruising's past in our comments!

It appears Royal Caribbean's joint venture for port development is looking to discuss timelines with the Bahamian government on the development of a $300 million project in Freeport, Bahamas.

Holistica Destinations CEO Robert Shamosh told Tribune Business it has “secured the required liquidity” for the project.

There was no timeline for when construction or other milestones will occur, but Hollistica was already in talks with banks and other lenders to secure the necessary project financing, according to Mr. Shamosh.

“Holistica Destinations confirms that we remain committed to, and are moving forward with, the proposed development on Grand Bahama. BPI, Holistica’s subsidiary, recently announced it has secured the required liquidity to develop the Grand Bahama project and is currently working with several financial institutions to secure the financing,” the statement added.

“BPI will be meeting in the next couple of weeks with The Bahamas government to further discuss project details and timelines.” 

In early March 2020, Holistica announced the $300 million investment in Freeport, Grand Bahama that will redevelop the Freeport cruise ship terminal to bring a new world-class destination with a one-of-a-kind hotel, convention center, water adventure park and more.

Bahamian officials, however, seem less optimistic that the project will move forward anytime soon.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, last month told Tribune Business he was “on his knees” hoping both projects pull through. He acknowledged that both Carnival and Royal Caribbean were likely to adopt a “wait and see” approach to those investments once the COVID-19 pandemic eases due to the major financial blow they have suffered.

And, disclosing that the Government “hasn’t heard anything yet” on either development, the minister said his “whole arms are crossed” in the hope both cruise lines will eventually proceed - albeit with some delay to construction and opening schedules - once the global health crisis has abated.

Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister K. Peter Turnquest expressed similar sentiments in a Zoom conference with Old Fort Bay Rotary members. “As we understand it, today those projects are still on although admittedly delayed, and we just hope they come through and we come to the bottom of this economic challenge relatively quickly,” he said.

Royal Caribbean launched its Save on Adventure sale today, which adds up to $200 bonus instant savings.

Save on Adventure Sale applies to new bookings made between May 14 – May 18, 2020.

Here are the promo details:

•  Instant savings of up to $200 USD per stateroom on select sailings departing on or after June 14, 2020
  • Sailings 5 nights or less, $25 savings for Interior and Ocean View, $75 for Balconies and $75 for Suites
  • Sailings 6 nights or longer, $50 savings for Interior and Ocean View, $100 for Balconies and $200 for Suites
• 30% off cruise fare for all guests in the stateroom
• Kids Sail Free applies to new bookings made between May 6 – 31, 2020.
  • Kids Sail Free provides free cruise fare for 3rd guests and higher who are 12 years old or younger as of cruise departure date, booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad-occupancy stateroom.
  • Kids Sail Free applies to select 4-night or longer Alaska, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, CaribNE, Coastal, Europe, Hawaii, Repositioning and all 2020 Serenade of the Seas sailings departing between September 1, 2020 – December 17, 2020 and January 8, 2021 – May 17, 2021.
  • Offer excludes 2020 Thanksgiving sailings (Sailings between November 21 - 28, 2020), 2021 President’s Day Sailings (Sailings between February 12 – 15, 2021), and 2021 Spring Break and Easter sailings (Sailings between March 13 – April 4, 2021).
  • Taxes, fees, and port expenses are additional and apply to all guests.

30% Off Every Guest and Kids Sail Free are combinable with each other as well as promotional OBCs, NextCruise offers, instant savings, restricted discounts (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military), Promo Code driven offers, Free Upgrades, Crown and Anchor discounts and Shareholder Benefits.  Save on Adventure Sale is combinable with 30% Off Every Guest and Kids Sail Free as well as with promotional OBCs, NextCruise offers, Instant Savings, restricted discounts (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military), Promo Code driven offers, Free Upgrades, and Shareholder Benefits, but not combinable with other Crown and Anchor discounts.  Offers are not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to, Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, and Net Rates.  Promo Code driven offers are based on select ships and sail dates and must be applied at time of booking; limit one promo code per booking.

Offer available to residents of United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and select countries in the Caribbean.