Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean is as competitive in the cruise industry as any line, and part of vying for market share is occasionally "throwing shade" from time to time.

Like all companies that compete for money, customers, and notoriety, cruise lines play a game every day of trying to outdo other lines in nearly all aspects of operations. From new ships, to attractions onboard, to partnerships, there is no shortage of innovative change among the lines.

Sometimes, this game of one upmanship can get a little spicy, with public jabs at other lines, or simple bragging.  For consumers, it is as intriguing as it is fun to watch it all go down.

Over the years, there have been a few memorable times Royal Caribbean has gone off script a little bit and done or said something about other lines that left us with a smirk on our faces.

Here are the top five memorable times Royal Caribbean did or said something about another cruise line that got attention.

America's Cruise Line

The impetus for this post came just a few weeks ago when Royal Caribbean trademarked the phrases, "America's Cruise Line" and "America's Favorite Cruise Line".

These new filings for a trademark may not really mean much on the surface other than a new marketing plan, until you understand the timing of these trademarks.

The week prior, Carnival Cruise Line CEO Christine Duffy said in a video, "I've always said Carnival Cruise Line is America's cruise line."

A few days later, Royal Caribbean trademarked the phrase.  Hard to imagine that is not a coincidence.

Who's #1?

Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings teamed up recently to form an independent panel of health experts that will guide cruise lines in restart plans with a bevy of new protocols.

This is an example of two cruise lines working together towards a common cause, but the CEO's could not help having a little fun at each other's expenses, with Royal Caribbean having the last word.

In a television interview in September 2020 with both Richard Fain and Frank Del Rio, the host attempted to compliment Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line as the industry leaders of cruising, by comparing the two cruise lines to the #1 and #2 soft drink manufacturers, Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

While being complimented as the top two cruise lines is a pleasant honor, it is well known how much more dominant Coke is over Pepsi, and Mr. Del Rio couldn't help but quickly say that NCL was the Coke of the two.

Mr. Fain, equally feeling his cruise line was worthy of the top honor, quickly retorted back "In your dreams, Frank! In your dreams."

Being the fastest

It should be clear that cruise lines love to compete in pretty much everything, including internet speeds.

When Princess Cruises rolled out their MedallionNet internet access, they claimed it was the best wifi at sea.

During a question and answer session, a cruise fan asked Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley if Royal Caribbean would improve their onboard internet speeds to match.

Mr. Bayley dismissed the claim, "It was the fastest internat at sea, it is the fastest internet at sea, and it's going to be the fastest internet at sea."

"People can claim things, but we have got the fastest internet at sea."

Towel animals welcome

Back in April 2019, Norwegian Cruise Line made headlines when they announced they would no longer automatically create towel animals for all of its passengers on some of its ships.

The rationale was to reduce laundry load on its ships, which would help the environment.

The conservation effort was nice, but many cruise fans quickly pushed back on the decision because of the long standing tradition of having a towel animal waiting in their cabin.

A few days later, Royal Caribbean's social media team posted, "All towel animals welcome at Royal."

Boaty McBoatface

A British government agency held a competition in 2016 to name a new polar research ship, and the internet responded with the most ridiculous name it could come up with: R.R.S. Boaty McBoatface.

The man who came up with the name is James Hand, a public relations professional and former BBC employee.

Royal Caribbean saw all of this and decided to jump in and call the internet's bluff, by inviting Mr. Hand to help Royal Caribbean develop the name for a future ship.

"The people of the United Kingdom know the name of a great ship when they see it," said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. "Like the rest of the world, we fell in love with the name Boaty McBoatface when we heard it, and we knew immediately that Royal Caribbean could use James Hand’s talent to name our next ship."

Of course, this was all done on April 1st.

Bonus: trolling back

These are example of Royal Caribbean doing or saying something, but there was a great example of responding to a troll that I just could not leave out.

Celebrity Cruises (sister company to Royal Caribbean International) has a well-known female Captain, Kate McCue, who has no patience for trolls.

In late 2020, Captain McCue read a sexist comment attack towards her on TikTok, which said, "How can you be a captain? Your [sic] only a woman."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Captain Kate McCue (@captainkatemccue)

Captain McCue responded to the comment with her own snark, "Normally, when I’m scrolling through comments and I see something like this, I totally ignore it and move on with my life."

"But I think it’s about high time that I address this, because it’s 2020, and in this day and age, I’m shocked …that someone still doesn’t know the difference between you’re and your."

"So just a quick reference: You’re — as in ‘you are’ — like, ‘you are sexist.’ Your is something possessive, it belongs to you, like ‘your ignorance'. But don’t worry. I’m here for you. If you need any more clarification, you can find me here, in my captain’s chair."

It looks like there is a chance Royal Caribbean Group and MSC Cruises may come to an agreement on a new cruise terminal in PortMiami.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced a large preferential berthing rights agreement between the two lines.

Essentially, if this deal were to happen, it would provide a new cruise terminal at PortMiami, where Royal Caribbean ships would give  Royal Caribbean Group ships "first dibs" on access to the terminal if a ship would need to dock there, while MSC would also have access to the facility.

The agreement stipulates that Royal Caribbean is the primary third-party cruise line at the shared terminal facility and negotiate terms for minimum revenue guarantees, financing, timing, and construction of Berth 10, a facility which will be operated and maintained by the County and have shore power capability. 

According to Seatrade Cruise News, MSC was originally looking to work with Disney Cruise Line on a joint project that would include Berth 10. 

MSC had plans for a new cruise terminal project for births 8 and 9, with berth 10 available for another cruise line. However, Disney is now looking at a long-term agreement at Port Everglades.

Royal Caribbean also has a new cruise terminal at Terminal A, which opened in November 2018.

Royal Caribbean had been using Terminal G when Terminal A was not available.

Mayor Cava announced the accord, "As we work closely alongside our industry partners to usher in the safe return of cruising, I am pleased to recommend a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) between Miami-Dade County and Royal Caribbean Group to negotiate a preferential berthing rights agreement for the future shared cruise terminal at PortMiami."

"This MOI will be presented to the PortMiami and Environmental Resiliency Committee on June 8 and the Board of County Commissioners on June 15."

The shared cruise terminal will be the first of its kind at the port with the capability of simultaneously berthing three cruise vessels (at Berths 8, 9 and 10) by more than one cruise line. vessels (at Berths 8, 9 and 10) by more than one cruise line.

"This partnership will further solidify the Port’s role as a leader on innovation and sustainability, while generating more good-paying jobs and bringing more passengers as we work to bring back cruising stronger than ever," the Mayor said.

What are berthing rights?

A ship's berth is a designated location in a port used for mooring vessels when they are not at sea.  Essentially, it was what most people commonly refer to as "docking a cruise ship".

Parking a cruise ship is not like finding a parking spot for you car. Berths are limited in any port, and in a port as busy as PortMiami, there is limited availability to get a ship in on specific days.

Cruise lines have to pay to park their ships in a port. Depending on the port, there can be shared terminals or dedicated terminals.

As an example, Royal Caribbean built Terminal A to provide an exclusive spot for its ships to dock when they come to PortMiami.  Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival have similar facilities.

Preferential berthing rights are used when more than one cruise line uses a particular facility, and it basically means if more than one line wants to use the terminal on a given day, the line with preferential berthing rights gets the first opportunity.

Royal Caribbean's first cruise ship to sail from North America is less than a month away from beginning, but the line has not released its travel requirements and health protocols yet.

In an email to those booked on Adventure of the Seas from Nassau, Bahamas, Royal Caribbean said it is holding back the requirements and changes passengers can expect onboard because the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) is going to provide new guidance "later this week."

The email from Royal Caribbean International Assistant Vice President of Guest Experience, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez, says the cruise line is expecting new guidelines, and that is why passengers have not been informed of the new protocols.

"We were almost ready to hit send on our travel requirements and health protocols for your sailing onboard Adventure of the Seas departing from The Bahamas and then we learned that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control plans to share updated guidance with us later this week."

Adventure of the Seas will begin cruises on June 12 from outside the United States, which allows the ship to operate without approval by the CDC.

Adventure will become the second Royal Caribbean International cruise ship to restart operations, following Quantum of the Seas from Singapore.

Other ships are also scheduled to sail this summer from outside the U.S., including Vision of the Seas from Bermuda, Jewel of the Seas from Cyprus, and Anthem of the Seas from England.

Read more: Summer 2021 Cruise Planning Guide

Initially, Royal Caribbean had promised to give guests booked on the sailing an update around 30 days before sailing, but that date came and went last week.

"While we know you've been patiently waiting for protocols, our teams have been diligently preparing and working with our medical teams, government health authorities, and testing providers to ensure we provide you with the best experience before, during, and after your cruise, and we are optimistic about this upcoming update. Please bear with us for a little more time - as we want to make sure that when we do update you, it's as close to final as possible."

It seems Royal Caribbean may have been ready to announce those protocols last week, but held back due to new guidance from the CDC.

On a webinar with travel agents, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed, said the line intended to announce them on May 12, but plans changed, "We had truly hoped that we would be able to announce our protocols and our return to service today."

The CDC has been busy with updates for cruise lines lately, issuing a number of revisions to what it requires and suggests for cruise lines in order to restart operations.

Just last week, the CDC issued two different updates to its operations manual for cruise lines, which outline what a cruise ship must do in order to receive permission to sail from the United States.

Sailings that do not visit a U.S. port, such as Adventure of the Seas, are not reliant on CDC guidelines or approval, but it appears Royal Caribbean wants to hear what the CDC has to say before announcing their own protocols.

Carnival Cruise Line confirmed on Monday it is in active discussions to restart cruises from the United States as early as July.

All eyes are on which cruise lines will be able to restart cruises from the United States, which requires permission from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy said in an interview with NBC Nightly News the cruise line is working with the CDC to gain permission to restart sailings in July, which will carry no vaccine mandate for passengers in order to sail.

Ms. Duffy said Carnival and the CDC are "working through the details" of sailing again in July.

Carnival wants to jump on the initiative by President Joe Biden to reopen the country by Independence Day on July 4, "I think the CDC and the interagency groups that are working with us now have that same goal in mind as President Biden said."

"He wants to reopen America by the Fourth of July and we want to make sure that the cruise industry can be part of that reopening of America."

Duffy was asked about getting every passenger and crew members vaccinated, and while she supports getting everyone vaccinated, it is something that no other industry is having to decide to do, "There's no mandate for any other business to have that requirement.

"We certainly are encouraging everyone to get a vaccine. I think, again, we don’t want to be treated differently than any other part of travel tourism, entertainment, or society."

The other issue with requiring the vaccine of all passengers would be children under the age of 12, which Ms. Duffy said is important to the cruise line, "children under 12 are a big part of the cruise experience in a summer, you know a family vacation, and as it stands right now, we wouldn’t be able to have kids under 12 on board."

Ms. Duffy also spoke about the significant economic impact no cruise ships are having on the U.S. economy in jobs and spending, "There’s a huge impact obviously to jobs in the cruise industry but also what people don’t think about is all of the indirect impacts that we have, if you take a place like Alaska, where the bulk of tourism comes from people who sail on cruise ships."

"We employ about 500,000 people in the U.S.and we’ve lost about 300,000 direct jobs at this point."

Carnival's restart plans are more than just talk. The line has a handful of ships held back for a potential restart in July from ports in Florida, Texas, and Washington.

There are three ships that are not cancelled for July, including Carnival Vista and Carnival Breeze from Galveston, and Carnival Horizon from Miami. 

Carnival also said if there is an option to sail to Alaska, then the Carnival Miracle will takeover sailings for Carnival Freedom from Seattle.

Carnival is also the only cruise line among the major lines not to announce restart plans outside the United States.

Norwegian Cruise Line will sail from the Caribbean and Europe this summer, and Royal Caribbean will do the same.

Royal Caribbean recently announced new tighter restrictions for cruises from Singapore due to a heightened alert in the country due to Covid-19.

The changes made to the onboard experience aboard Quantum of the Seas include less passengers onboard, as well as expanded social distancing and even changes to dining.

Many are curious what the experience is like, and if it still feels like a cruise vacation.

Our friends at the Singapore Cruise Society boarded Quantum of the Seas on Monday to share a sense of what things are like.

What changes have been made?

In a nutshell, Singapore has added stricter measures due to an increase in the spread of COVID-19.

The measures are in place between May 16 - June 13, and are meant to limit the spread of the virus.

On Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean made changes to meet new government requirements:

• Quantum of the Seas is set to sail at 25% occupancy capacity
• Group sizes will be limited to two guests per cabin
• Guest occupancy in public venues will be reduced accordingly, allowing for at least 16 square meters per guest, while theaters will be limited to 50 attendees for each show
• Heightened limits will apply to all pools and hot tubs and also at SeaPlex
• New takeaway options at dining establishments, and guests will also enjoy a wide range of choices for room service

These restrictions are temporary and all will return to normal once the government lifts the heightened alert status.

A look at the changes

There are about 500 passengers on this sailing to reflect the lower capacity.

Your menu you can use to order dinner.

Grab and go menu items at Cafe@Two70.

Tables are not available to eat at while in Cafe@Two70. Instead, guests take the food elsewhere to eat.

No self service beverages.

Social distancing at Cafe Promenade and Sorrentos.

Tables are available to sit at with up to 2 people per table, but guests cannot eat food or drink at the table.

Harp and Horn remains open for take outs. All Beverage Package and Dining Package were cancelled and refunded to guests.

Guests can sit and wait for their drinks to be prepared, but cannot drink in the bar.

Other bars have been re-purposed since they cannot be used as a sit down bar at this time.

Tables have been set up outside of staterooms for guests to leave plates and food they are done with, as well as pick up room service delivery.

Dinner is served via room service, including beverages.

Guests must preorder their meals for the next day by 8pm.

Beverage ordering list.

In-room movies are available to watch for free.

Cruise Compass and entertainment for the first day onboard.

Singapore Cruise Society is the leading cruising blog and community in Southeast Asia.

First started in 2014, Singapore Cruise Society has documented significant cruise happenings in Singapore. Since then, we have grown to be one of Asia's largest cruise-
centric blog and community, providing everything from cruise vacation experiences to the latest development in the cruise travel industry. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

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

Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean had to cancel its entire cruise season from Israel on the brand new Odyssey of the Seas.

Late on Saturday night, Royal Caribbean confirmed all sailings from Haifa, Israel were cancelled "due to the unrest in Israel and the region, Odyssey has not been able to complete the preparations required".

Instead, Odyssey will now head to Florida and await a new deployment.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean says passengers will not have to wear face masks on Perfect Day at CocoCay
• CDC updated some of its rules for cruise ships
• CDC added new rules for screening cruise ship passengers
• Bill passes U.S. Senate to allow cruise ships to sail to Alaska without stopping in Canada
• Cruise industry wants you to tell President Biden to let cruise ships sail again
• A look at the CDC's "preposterous" requirements for cruise ships test sailings
• Royal Caribbean adjusts cruise ship health protocols on Singapore cruises due to Covid-19 alert
• Carnival cancels some July 2021 cruises, but hopes to restart some ships from U.S. in July
• Florida Governor dismisses Norwegian Cruise Line threat to pull cruise ships from Florida
• My 2021 Royal Caribbean bucket list

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 406th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, which is all about what happens to a cruise ship during a dry dock.

Every so often we hear about a ship going in for a dry dock, but what happens and why are they so important? A retired Coast Guard Commander shares with us what happens during these scheduled breaks for cruise ships.

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.

5 cruise trends Royal Caribbean doesn't do (and 1 it jumped on)

Royal Caribbean is an industry leader, but they don't do everything their competitors offer.

Some new cruisers, as well as people new to Royal Caribbean, may be surprised by some of the things Royal Caribbean does not do, which are found on other cruise lines. 

Here are the top five cruise industry trends I have noticed Royal Caribbean does not do, as well as one that they recently changed their minds about.

Unfortunately, the first major cruise ship to be based out of Israel will not happen.

Royal Caribbean announced it has cancelled its scheduled cruise season from Haifa, Israel.

On Royal Caribbean's website, an update was added that said their plans to sail from Haifa cannot happen due to "unrest in Israel and the region".

Odyssey of the Seas was to resume operations beginning June 2nd, 2021 out of Haifa, Israel. However, due to the unrest in Israel and the region, we have not been able to complete the preparation required to operate and as a result, sailings out of Haifa will be cancelled.

In the last week, Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel have garnered a lot of concern.

Besides the unrest, it has been reported the cruise line has been unable to secure vaccinations for all of its crew members.

According to reports Royal Caribbean asked Israel's Ministry of Health to buy vaccines and replace them later when the line had other orders come in, but that was denied.  

Reports began to circulate that Royal Caribbean was going to pull the plug on its scheduled sailings since Friday, and the cruise line has since made it official on Saturday night.

An email has been sent to guests booked on Odyssey of the Seas confirming the change.

"Due to the unrest in Israel and the region, we have not been able to complete the preparation required to operate and as a result, your sailing will unfortunately be cancelled."

"We’re sorry for the impact to your holiday. We know this news is disappointing."

Guests booked on Odyssey of the Seas from Israel have the choice of a 125% future cruise credit to be used by April 30, 2022; or a 100% Refund.

Royal Caribbean will also give anyone who has a cancelled cruise on Odyssey a $400 onboard credit if they rebook for a Jewel of the Seas summer 2021 cruise from Limassol, Cyprus.

"If you re-book by June 13th, 2021 on a sailing departing from Limassol, Cyprus onboard Jewel of the Seas, we’ll give you an additional $400 OBC. You must rebook at prevailing rate to qualify for the $400 OBC"

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley posted on Facebook his dismay the sailings had to be cancelled, as well as what's next for the ship.

"Today we announce the re deployment of Odyssey of the Seas from Israel to Florida.  The conflict makes it unsafe for our crew and guests and there is too much uncertainty.  In the next day or so Odyssey will begin its voyage to Florida.   More announcements to follow."

There are reports from crew members on the ship that Odyssey of the Seas will now head to Port Canaveral, Florida to offload crew members to another ship while the ship waits for cruises to resume from the United States.

Both Odyssey and Anthem of the Seas are docked at Limassol, Cyprus right now.

Cruises from Israel were to begin in June, and offer 3 to 7-night round trip sailings from Haifa to Cyprus and Greece.

Snorama, the exclusive sales representative of Royal Caribbean in Israel, estimated that 50,000 Israelis were going to go on the 25-30 cruises. That would have amounted to about $50 million in sales.

This is the second time Odyssey's inaugural sailings have been cancelled.

Odyssey of the Seas originally was scheduled to sail out out of Civitavecchia, Italy in May 2021, but was redeployed to Israel due to the global health crisis.

With Odyssey of the Seas no longer sailing in June, that will make Adventure of the Seas the second Royal Caribbean International ship to restart sailings, following Quantum of the Seas in Singapore.

The cruise industry is asking cruise fans once again to voice their support for the industry.

The pace of progress by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is stifling a rapid return to service, and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is now asking cruise fans and industry insiders to tell the White House how they feel.

In March 2021, CLIA implored cruise fans to contact their elected officials in the House and Senate and tell them to urge the Biden Administration to lift the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order (CSO). 

Now, CLIA wants everyone to contact President Joe Biden and tell him the same thing.

A new call to action has been sent out to those that used CLIA's Action Center previously to do it again, but this time send messages to the Biden Administration.

"Please take a moment to Email the White House and let the Biden Administration know that there is no reason cruising should not be able to resume in the United States in July!", the email says.

CLIA calls the current CDC requirements for vaccinated cruisers, "inconsistent" with rules the agency provides for the general public.

"By July, current trends indicate that at least 70% of the adult population will have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and many sectors will be operating at significantly increased, if not full, capacity. And yet, cruise ships are still subject to outdated guidance and restrictions."

In order to make it simple to contact President Biden (and your elected officials too), CLIA has updated their Action Center website with a new option that includes the President.

The hope is with enough pressure, the government will act to get cruise ships sailing this summer and salvage the season, including Alaska cruises.

Why should cruise ships be able to sail?

Cruise ships have been shutdown in the United States since March 2020, when the cruise industry volunteered to stop cruising in the early days of the global health crisis.  Since then, the CDC instituted a ban on cruise ships.

While restaurants, ballparks, music venues, convention centers, casinos, and countless other venues reopen or begin easing restrictions with little or no vaccine requirements, the cruise industry is still shut down despite enhanced public health measures, and even proposing to operate some voyages exclusively with vaccinated passengers and crew. 

The cruise industry has adopted sweeping new health protocols that are unparalleled in the travel industry. Lead by an independent group of scientists and public health experts, the Healthy Sail Panel has provided the industry with clear ways to offer cruises in a responsible and low risk manner during the current health crisis.

Cruise ships will employ testing for every passenger and crew member, new ways of circulating air and filtration, enhanced cleanliness onboard, and contact tracing.

No other form of leisure travel employs as sophisticated or extensive protocols, nor do any have to answer to the CDC for permission to operate.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made another update to its rules for cruise ships wishing to restart cruises from the United States.

On Friday, the federal agency added new guidelines to its Operations Manual, which provide the cruise industry with requirements and recommendations for cruises to begin.

These directions apply to both test cruises, as well as revenue cruises while the Conditional Sail Order (CSO) is in effect.

Screening new cruise ship passengers

The CDC now requires cruise lines to look for symptoms or signs of COVID-19 and screen for a known close contact exposure to a person with COVID-19 within the past 14 days.

Passengers with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 could still go on the cruise if they are fully vaccinated, but denied boarding if not fully vaccinated and without documentation of recovery.

Passengers who have a known close contact exposure in the past 14 days will also be denied boarding if not fully vaccinated and without documentation of recovery. Fully vaccinated may board at the cruise line's discretion.

The CDC defines documentation of recovery from COVID-19 as:

• Paper or electronic copies of their previous positive viral test result (dated no more than 90 days ago), and
• A signed letter, on official letterhead that contains the name, address, and phone number of a licensed healthcare provider or public health official, stating that the traveler has been cleared to end isolation and therefore can travel. A letter that states that they have been cleared to end isolation to return to work or school is also acceptable. The letter does not have to specifically mention travel.

Passenger testing on test cruises and revenue cruises

The CDC outlined what type of tests are required for fully and unvaccinated passengers.

Fully vaccinated passengers do not need to be tested on embarkation day, disembarkation day, or even going on a back to back sailing. While embarkation testing is not required, international travelers arriving in the U.S. are recommended to be tested 3-5 days after arrival, including those who are fully vaccinated. Cruise operators may follow this recommendation at their discretion.

Those that are not vaccinated, will need to take a Viral (NAAT or antigen) test for embarkation day, disembarkation day, and if doing a back to back.

The CDC gives cruise lines choices in which tests cruise lines can administer, but the agency recommends Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) for use on cruise ships because it is less likely to miss cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection (i.e., higher sensitivity) when compared to antigen testing.

What is a NAAT test? There are a few of them, but the most well-known is the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.

The CDC also says self-tests are not accepted at this time.

Another round of changes by the CDC

The updates are the latest revision by the CDC, following months of inaction.

On Wednesday, the CDC issued new updates as well and relaxed a few rules related to mask wearing on a cruise ship.

Much of the cruise industry has called on the CDC to provide updated guidance that matches the science of today, as well as the realities of what is happening in society.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley welcomed the updates as a "step" towards cruises returning, "Late last night we received multiple updates to the CSO from the CDC. All reflect the significant progress made with the vaccines."

"Reading the updates last night and this morning give me increased optimism. Today the light at the end of this long dark tunnel is bright. One step at a time !"

And the Operations Manual for cruise lines still retains a great deal of requirements that are either outdated, or things no other industry is compelled to do, such as designating certain stairwells as "up" and "down",or suggesting guests wear a proximity band to alert them if they are too close to someone else.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) CEO Frank Del Rio has been the most outspoken critic of the CDC, and told Fox News recently the CDC was "unfair" in its treatment of the cruise industry.

"Every other transportation venue, entertainment venue, hospitality venue is open around the country, and we're still shut down after 15 months," he told Cavuto. "It's unfair. It's un-American."

"If there was science-fact information, we would accept it," Del Rio said. "They never shared any data with us, any scientific data or any data, period, and so, look, it seems to me they make this stuff up as they go along."

Royal Caribbean is advising guests sailing on Quantum of the Seas from Singapore of new protocols following an increase in Covid-19 cases in Singapore.

Singapore raised its alert status to "Phase 2 - Heighten Alert", following "several clusters of infections" over the past two weeks.  A total of 46 total cases have been reported, primarily in health care areas and an airport terminal.

Our friends at Singapore Cruise Society shared an email Royal Caribbean sent to guests booked on Quantum of the Seas advising them of onboard changes as a result of the increased cases.

To be clear, these changes are not a result of any cases on the ship.

Royal Caribbean have made changes during the health situation.  

UPDATE: Royal Caribbean has revised the wording of the changes

• Quantum of the Seas is set to sail at 25% occupancy capacity
• Group sizes will be limited to two guests per cabin booking.
• Guest occupancy in public venues will be reduced accordingly, allowing for at least 16 sqm per guest, while theatres will be limited to 50 attendees for each show.
• Heightened limits will apply to all pools and hot tubs and also at SeaPlex.
• For dining, we have made adjustments to offer takeaway options, and guests will also enjoy a wide range of choices for room service. 

Refunds are being made available to any guest that wishes to not sail due to these the changes.

"The health and safety of our guests and crew are of utmost importance to us, and while we continue to monitor the situation closely, Quantum of the Seas continues sailing with a comprehensive, layered set of measures developed to protect and keep everyone onboard healthy. Our robust programme includes pre-departure screenings using the gold standard measure of PCR tests, contactless embarkation and debarkation processes, and enhanced ventilation and sanitation on the ship."

The changes are being made as a result of working with the Singaporean government.

Singapore has taken an aggressive stance at trying to detect and isolate new cases. Singapore's Ministry of Healthy outlined some of the things it is doing to curb the spread of these new cases, "To reduce the risk of any spread from undetected cases in the community, we have cast a wide net and taken swift action to detect, isolate, and ringfence any possible emerging transmissions to the community. "

"We need to act decisively to contain these risks as any one leak could result in an uncontrolled resurgence of cases. Hence we will move to impose targeted restrictions on higher risk settings such as those where there is a high density of people who are unmasked for prolonged periods."

Quantum of the Seas has been sailing from Singapore since December 2020 under special permission from the government.

The sailings have been so successful and popular that Royal Caribbean has extended her time there through October 2021, marking 11 months sailing from her homeport.

Quantum has had over 60,000 guests sail onboard with zero positive Covid-19 cases to date.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley is extremely proud of how safe and successful these sailings have been, "Royal Caribbean’s 30-plus sailings in Singapore offer a real-life, validated model of how cruising can be a unique, safe vacation beyond what many other travel options can offer."

"I'm confident we'll continue to see how successful cruising can be through a combination of our proven, healthy and safe practices, which are informed by the Healthy Sail Panel’s 74 recommendations, and the rollout of vaccines around the world."

The layered approach to health of crew members and guests will continue, such as COVID-19 testing, reduced sailing capacity, physical distancing measures, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing processes, and industry-leading contact tracing.