Royal Caribbean Blog

Welcome to this week's edition of the Royal Caribbean post round-up, where we summarize all of the Royal Caribbean news and information from this week into one handy-dandy post! There is plenty of great content to enjoy, so sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's round-up!

Royal Caribbean announced this week that it canceled all of its Australia and New Zealand cruises through December 31, 2020.

The cruise line said the decision was made due to a recent extension of a ban on cruise ships in Australian waters until mid-December. Royal Caribbean opted to extend its ban through the end of the year so that guests could make alternate holiday arrangements.

Guests who were booked on affected sailings will receive emails with compensation offers and choices of what to do.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean CEO warns anti-cruise group is flooding CDC to extend no-sail order.
• Two U.S. Senators have introduced a new bill to get cruise ships sailing again.
• Royal Caribbean gives brief update on Icon Class cruise ships.
• Time running out to send your comments to the CDC on cruises restarting.
• 10 things you can be doing right now to be ready when cruises restart.
• Where are Royal Caribbean's ships right now?
• 6 things that happen on a cruise that nobody talks about.
• The story of how Royal Caribbean engineered Central Park neighborhood for Oasis of the Seas.
• Why you can't trust online reviews of cruise ships.
• Odyssey of the Seas construction photo update.
• How to tell if your Royal Caribbean ship is almost full.
• 5 things to look for before you book a cruise.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 372nd episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where Joy recalls a memorable sailing on Freedom of the Seas to celebrate her anniversary.

A wedding anniversary is always a special occasion, especially a 25th wedding anniversary. This week, Joy tells Matt all about a great cruise to mark a major milestone.

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.

New RCB Video: Why you shouldn't cancel your Royal Caribbean cruise

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — Why you shouldn't cancel your Royal Caribbean cruise — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

5 hints Royal Caribbean Group Chairman has shared about cruises resuming

Richard Fain has provided periodic updates throughout Royal Caribbean's shutdown, and there have been a few hints at what changes we might to expect sprinkled in all of them.

Mr. Fain has spoken on television, in webinars, and on conference calls many times during the voluntary cruise suspension, and offered hints at what cruises starting up again will involve.

For anyone trying to piece together Royal Caribbean's game plan, here are a few policies we can expect that Richard Fain hinted or alluded to over the last few months.

Royal Caribbean International President & CEO Michael Bayley took to social media to urge cruise fans to share their thoughts on cruises restarting, following a number of comments by a "a small anti-cruise group" against cruise lines.

Mr. Bayley posted on his Facebook page a short message urging everyone to submit their comments to the CDC prior to the September 21st deadline for input on how cruise lines should restart cruising.

"On Monday the 21st, the CDC closes the request for public comment regarding healthy return to cruising. There have been over 3000 comments, many of which have been very constructive and it has been incredible to hear from you all. Recently, a small anti-cruise group has lobbied their supporters to comment on cruise beyond the CDC remit. If you have a passion for cruising and the wonderful memories you have created sailing the oceans of the world, please visit and comment today."

He did not mention the group by name, but sifting through recent comments in the CDC's database of public comments showed one such post by a member of the group Stand.Earth.

Visiting the group's website, there are detailed instructions for members to submit anti-cruise messages to the CDC before the comment period expires.

The group went as far as to not only provide instructions on how to access the comments, but also a series of talking points to that bring up a few tropes about cruise ships.

The group asks its members to point out air pollution, the type of fuel cruise ships use, and "multiple reports" of health issues on ships that have resumed cruises.

At the time of this post, a search of the CDC's website returned at least 63 submissions that included the Stand.Earth URL referenced in the submission.

The CDC Public Comment period ends this weekend, on September 21.

The CDC has said they will use these comments in formulating a new policy for cruise ships. According to their website, "This information may be used to inform future public health guidance and preventative measures relating to travel on cruise ships."

How to submit a comment

Submitting a comment on how cruises should restart to the CDC is pretty simple and you can do it all online.

To complete it online, visit the Federal Register's E-Rulemaking Portal by going to the U.S. Federal Register's website.

Be sure to use the Document ID to search for this page: CDC-2020-0087-0001.

You are allowed to keep your submission anonymous, or include your name with the submission.

Wondering if there are any cabins left on your cruise or just how busy it will be onboard?

It can be very helpful to know if the Royal Caribbean cruise you have booked (or are thinking of booking) is getting close to selling out, and there are some easy ways to get a ballpark idea of what to expect.

It's fairly common for cruise ships to sail at full capacity, but occasionally there are some sailings that do not get completely booked up, especially if there are last-minute cancellations.

You should expect your cruise to be completely sold out by the time you sail, as it's the exception to have ships sail with empty rooms. The cruise industry is built around the concept of filling every room.

In Royal Caribbean's second quarter earnings for 2023, the average capacity for the second quarter was 105%. This means ships were sailing on average with every room full, and some rooms with third or fourth passengers in them.

This is a testament to the high demand the cruise industry enjoys, so it's quite likely your cruise will be sold out.

However, there is a chance for some sailings to have less demand, especially in the shoulder seasons when less people are able or willing to cruise.

Read more: When is the best time to go on a cruise?

If you're curious how to tell how full the ship is at any time, here's the easy steps to figure it out.

Why should you care if ship is close to full?

Reading this post, you might be curious why someone might want to know their cruise is almost full, and there are a few good reasons.

If you are on the fence about booking the cruise, depending on how full the ship is will determine how much time you have to decide to book the cruise or not.

In addition, prices tend to go up as rooms get booked, so a ship that is less than half full means prices may not fluctuate that much in the short term, whereas a ship nearing selling out likely will not see any price drops soon.

How to tell if your cruise ship is almost full

There is no exact method for knowing precisely how sold out a ship is or not, because Royal Caribbean does not divulge that information to the public.

However, there are some good strategies for getting a ballpark idea of how close to selling out a cruise is.

Making a mock-booking on Royal Caribbean's website is a very easy and simple way to get an idea how many rooms are left to book.

By going through the website and pretending to book a cruise, you will end up on the stateroom choice page, where you can see which categories are sold out, and drilling down from there, see how many cabin options come back as bookable.

A good travel agent can also provide insight into what is available by having them check on their site for availability. 

Is there any way to view the current amount of booked rooms?

The only way to figure out how many rooms are left on any particular cruise is to do a mock booking.

What you want to do is pretend you are going to book a cruise on the Royal Caribbean website. Select a stateroom category, pick the deck, and see how many are available.

The only caveat to this strategy is you cannot see rooms that might be in a travel agent group that is being held.

Everything can change at final payment

If you are looking this up, keep in mind that the final payment date can drastically change how booked up a cruise is or not.

Prior to the final payment date, anyone can place a deposit and hold a cruise reservation that assures them of that particular cabin.  That cabin will remain unavailable to book and appear sold unless the person fails to make final payment and/or cancels their reservation.

A very common occurrence is people who make reservations many months in advance and then decide to cancel it at the final payment date because they decided not to sail.  

If you are trying to get an idea of available rooms, or discover a sailing is sold out, prior to final payment date, be sure to double-check again the day after final payment to see if more rooms opened up.

Once you get past final payment, cancellations are less likely since there is a penalty associated with canceling.  Cancellations past final payment date are not unheard of, just less likely.

There are just three days left for the public to share their ideas with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control about how cruise lines should be allowed to restart cruises.

The CDC Public Comment period ends this weekend on September 21, which means now is the time to send comments before it expires.

Since July 29, the CDC issued a Request for Information on the resumption of cruising, which is open to anyone to comment on, including cruise fans.

You are free to write anything you like, or respond to any one of the  59 different topics and subtopics about cruise that the CDC would like feedback on. These topics include questions about who should be denied boarding, what cruise lines should be prepared to offer, and more.

Why should I send a comment?

If you are wondering if it is worth your time to send a comment, the cruise industry believes the answer is a definite "yes".

The CDC has said they will use these comments in formulating a new policy for cruise ships. According to their website, "This information may be used to inform future public health guidance and preventative measures relating to travel on cruise ships."

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has been encouraging all travel agents the importance of responding.

Cruise fans are keenly aware of the ins and outs of cruising, as well as the lengths cruise lines go to maintain a safe cruising environment.  Moreover, cruise fans certainly have a better handle on their favorite cruise line than the CDC does.

How to submit a comment

Submitting a comment on how cruises should restart to the CDC is pretty simple and you can do it all online.

To complete it online, visit the Federal Register's E-Rulemaking Portal by going to the U.S. Federal Register's website.

Be sure to use the Document ID to search for this page: CDC-2020-0087-0001.

Your comment can be up to 5,000 words, or you can instead write as long a response as you like in another document, and attach it to the submission form via the "Attach Files" box.

You are allowed to keep your submission anonymous, or include your name with the submission.

The appeal of going on a cruise is so much of the experience really is unlike anything else, and with that, comes a few nuances that tend to "fly under radar".

Millions go on a cruise every year (although maybe not this year), and it is a fantastic vacation, but there are a few things that could happen that usually do not make top ten lists or cruise tips videos, so I wanted to highlight them here.

Here are six things that happen on a cruise that no one seems to talk about, but it could happen to you.

Get frustrated at some point

Not unique to cruising, but sometimes a series of unfortunate events occur that leave you less than happy.

Getting frustrated, or even having a meltdown in front of family and strangers, happens to the best of us.  We are all humans, and we all have our tipping point, so occasionally something occurs that triggers someone and that leads to a few minutes we regret later.

One of the best pieces of cruise advice is to try to be as flexible as possible. You cannot control everything that occurs, and sometimes you just run into bad luck.

If an incident occurs that sets you off, try to remain calm and think is there someone else that can fix the problem, such as another crew member or your travel agent at home. 

The key is not letting this incident ruin the rest of your day or cruise. We all experience frustration, but try to remember the classic mantra of don't worry, be happy.

Travel stomach

Another thing that is not unique to cruising, but has happened to the best of us is an upset stomach.

I am not talking about a bacteria or something that infects you, just your run of the mill grumpy gut.

While bacterial infection can occur, many times the transition to a new diet, dehydration from flying, a change in climate, stress and even lack of sleep can cause simple traveler's stomach. 

The good news is most of the time it is easily treated and a minor and short-lived inconvenience. You should travel with medicine like Pepto Bismol or Imodium to quickly take care of the symptoms. (These are affiliate links that cost you nothing extra, but I get a referal fee if you buy something).

Sleep through activities we wanted to do

You will see commercials for all the amazing activities onboard a Royal Caribbean ship, and even circle them in your Cruise Compass the night before to ensure you do not forget to try it out and then... you sleep in.

While these activities are really fun and Royal Caribbean bills itself as a cruise line packing in amazing things to do, more often the appeal of sleeping in wins over.

A cruise is a vacation, and sleep is important.  Moreover, being able to sleep in is usually a rare opportunity at home, so a few more hours of sleep is very appealing.

If you ever manage to get up early on a ship (before 9am or so) and walk around the ship, it looks almost deserted.

So don't worry that you slept your cruise away, because we all do it too.

Have one too many drinks on a sea day

Despite your best of intentions, sometimes you will overdo it and have a few more drinks than you had planned.

Between the fantastic drink package values, creative cocktails served onboard and party atmosphere, overindulging does happen.

The lesson learned is to pace yourself and not try to keep up with anyone that has the nickname "Cruise Life ____" or "Big Dawg ____" in  front of their name.

Breaking up those drinks with a snack is helpful as well (might I suggest Sorrento's Pizza).

The best DIY shore excursion: go to a supermarket

I learned this tip from my friend Billy at CruiseHabit, and it really is such a great, inexpensive and fun excursion: go to a local supermarket.

The ports you will visit usually are known for amazing history, beautiful scenery, incredible things to do, and fun days in the sun.  But if your budget is low, or you cannot find something appealing, hop in a cab and visit a supermarket.

This is a really fun shore excursion to do in a different country because it provides a lot of insight into the destination.

You can browse the aisles and see what is for sale, who is shopping, how much things cost and how to buy things. What is the popular snack food? How are things packaged? You will learn so much by lurking in the supermarket.

Readjusting to your routines after the cruise is no fun

This is the biggest shock every cruiser encounters: the inevitable return to home after a cruise and culture shock of having to readjust to civilian life.

You will have to make your own beds every day, with no one leaving towel animals behind for you.

There is no place to drop off your kids while you relax with other adults. 

You will not wake up to an ocean view from your balcony, or be able to order room service coffee to go with the view.

Worst of all, you will have to start cooking again, and cleaning up after yourself.

It is not pretty, so be sure to have another cruise booked to have something to start day dreaming about while you wait for your hot dogs to cook.

Your thoughts

Is there some aspect of going on a cruise that never really gets talked about, but definitely happens to you? Which of these have you regularly experienced? Share your thoughts in our comments!

More than 10 years since Royal Caribbean launched the Oasis Class ships, it remains an engineering marvel that introduced a variety of innovations, including adding a park to a cruise ship.

Kelly Gonzalez, Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President, Architectural Design (Newbuilding & Innovation), recently told the story of how the cruise line engineered a way to bring a live greenery with trees and grass to an ocean going vessel.

Ms. Gonzalez describes the story of creating Central Park as, "both a success story that became a failure story, that became a better success story in the end."

The idea

Royal Caribbean invited various architectural firms to submit ideas for what Royal Caribbean should do with the space on the ship, and the cruise line awarded the contract to a firm from the U.K. that came up with the idea for Central Park.

The original concept for Central Park was not what we see today on Royal Caribbean's ships.

While it did have the split atrium, where you could look up to the sky and then had the atrium-view staterooms looking into it, as well as the skylights that brought daylight down into the Royal Promenade, the design that won the contest was actually based on a series of rolling hills.

These were structural hills that were covered with grass with skylights on the side.

Building Central Park

Royal Caribbean had never done anything on a ship before that involved live greenery and trees and grass and things of that sort, so they brought in experts, including scientists from the University of Florida and landscape architects.

"We looked for a company that we thought would be really bringing the best expertise in a Caribbean environment and all of what that entails seasonally," Ms. Gonzalez recalled.

"We had to spend an extraordinary amount of effort working with structural specialists because we were literally putting these giant holes in a steel structure that typically is not perforated in any way. So the fact that we were breaching that with skylights was something that was very daunting for the conventional ship engineers."

In addition, Royal Caribbean had to bring specialists to address the issue of bugs that live around these plants, and implications of what happens when a ship pulls into a port and the various local laws related to fauna.

Royal Caribbean had to also address the ability to fertilize the plants and not overcomplicate the water systems to the point of impacting the environment or ocean.  Specifically, how could Royal Caribbean capture water runoff that might contain fertilizers.

The experiment

Photo by STX Europe

A major hurdle for Central Park was the rolling hills concept. There was a lot of uncertainty about grass living in an environment where the sun really had an apex high sky for a limited number of hours a day.

To tackle the idea, they constructed a piece of machinery where they mocked up the hills of of grass with real grass on it. Then they created a machine with a long axle of a car that had wheels on it. These wheels had shoes, lined around the rim of the wheel that was simulating people walking up and down the grass down in the atrium. They then simulated the lighting effect to reproduce the conditions that allowed for limited daylight.

This experiment hoped to address concerns such as:

• How would the grass grow?
• How often would it have to be watered?
• How would foot traffic up and down be on the grass?

Ms. Gonzalez summed up the experiment by saying, "Well, to make a long story short, that task failed."

The test showed that regardless what species of grass that was used, and no matter what they would do with fertilization or any watering or anything else in this in this atrium, the grass was not going to be a surviving concept.

Not only had the test failed, but it was right before Christmas and the team had reached a point where they had to go back to the drawing board.

Becoming Central Park

The team spent four weeks over the Christmas holiday working in their London office rethinking the concept of the design and to change it drastically, keeping in mind time was not on their side.

Eventually, they settled on the idea of a Central Park area that looks a lot like what we see on cruise ships today, with more of the flat walkways and the skylights that actually stand up in the sky and capture even more daylight.

Photo by STX Europe

Ms. Gonzalez spoke about the risks the team took to make the concept work, "We understand there's risk, but we put a lot of effort into mitigating that risk. And we're not afraid of failure or failure usually leads us to a better place."

"And I think the Central Park is a story of how we ended up actually in a better place with the design than where we thought we were going to land, where we started it from the very beginning."

The team believed so much in the new design for Central Park, that they created a scale mock-up of the entire Central Park neighborhood at the Turku, Finland shipyard.

Photos by Kelly Gonzalez

Essentially, they printed the design on canvas and strung it up from the trusses in the ship hall, complete with facades of stateroom balconies.

They augmented the look with proper lighting and sound so that Royal Caribbean's Board of Directors could get a good ideas of what Central Park would become.

The team had do all of this for the rest of the company to be able to understand and regain trust behind the design, and the design process, to pull off a concept like Central Park.

Photos by Royal Caribbean

"Once it's proven, and we've gone through the risk mitigation and we kicked all the tires and looked at it inside out and outside in, that we are able to really stay very true to that and deliver on the concept as it is when we presented it to our executives."

Two United States Senators introduced a new bill that aims to reopen the cruise industry to start sailing again.

Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio announced new legislation known as the Set Sail Safely Act.

The bill creates a Maritime Task Force focused on the health, safety, security, & logistical changes to allow cruise lines & ports to resume operations. 

As we work to safely reopen Florida's economy, @marcorubio & I introduced the Set Sail Safely Act.

This bill creates a Maritime Task Force focused on the health, safety, security, & logistical changes to allow cruise lines & ports to resume operations. https://t.co/YZlGSlYvfD

— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) September 16, 2020

At its heart, the Set Sail Safely Act would do two basic things:

• Require the proper federal agencies, led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to work together with input from private sector stakeholders to develop a plan for the safe resumption of cruise line operations.
• Create a timeline for meetings of the Task Force, recommendations, and implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations.

The Maritime Task Force would include representatives from several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Coast Guard, Health and Human Services, Department of Transportation, Department of State and the Federal Maritime Commission.

Private Sector stakeholders would include representatives from the passenger cruise line industry, U.S. ports, commercial fishermen, small businesses and health professionals.

Senator Scott emphasized this new law will ensure developing the proper guidelines for cruises to resume, "this legislation will support the development of guidelines needed to ensure the safe resumption of our cruise lines and port operations."

Senator Rubio echoed his colleague's support of the bill by saying he believes this is part of the path to recovery, "I am proud to join Senator Scott in introducing legislation that will provide a roadmap for cruise lines and port authorities to safely resume operations, allowing our valuable tourism economy, and the people it employs, to begin to recover."

Lots of support already

The legislation has the backing of many organizations, including the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

CLIA Global Chair (and former Royal Caribbean International President) Adam Goldstein commented on the new proposal, "The cruise industry is an important economic contributor in the United States, supporting nearly half a million U.S. jobs, and over 150,000 in Florida alone, prior to the pandemic. The Senators’ bill draws much needed attention to the importance of strategic dialogue between appropriate federal agencies and a broad group of public and private sector stakeholders to safely advance a resumption of cruising in the U.S. that mirrors the gradual and successful restart of cruise operations in Europe."

A number of other high ranking industry officials have already voiced their support for the bill, including:

• PortMiami Director & CEO Juan M. Kuryla
• Miami-Dade Tourism and the Ports Committee Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa,
• Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez
• Florida Ports Council President and CEO Doug Wheeler
• American Association of Port Authorities President and CEO Christopher J. Connor

Royal Caribbean's next-gen cruise ship class, the Icon Class, has been the subject of a lot of interest and very little detail thus far, but we have a small update to share today.

During a webinar with travel agents, Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President, Architectural Design (Newbuilding & Innovation) Kelly Gonzalez was asked about what we can expect with the Icon Class.

Ms. Gonzalez did not have much to share, but did talk about a few important details about these new ships.

"I guess what I can say is that we've been working on Icon for a little more than two years now, so we are still in the early stages."

Ms. Gonzalez confirmed a few key details:

• The concepts are still being developed.
• The ship will be built in Finland (Meyer Turku shipyard).
• Delivery for the ship is planned between 2022-2024.

With other new ships being delayed due to the current cruise industry shutdown, it is interesting to hear Ms. Gonzalez speak to the timeline of the new Icon Class ships.

Royal Caribbean has three Icon Class ships on order from the Meyer Turku shipyard.

Each Icon class ship will accommodate approximately 5,000 passengers and be powered by a combination of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fuel cell technology.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is envisioned as the primary fuel for the new vessels, which would dramatically reduce or even eliminate emission of nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulphur oxide (SOX) and particulates, as well as cutting carbon dioxide (CO2). The ICON Class will also introduce fuel cell technology, which in combination with hull air lubrication means that the ships could potentially be some of the most fuel efficient cruise vessels ever constructed. 

At 200,000 tons, the as-yet-unnamed vessels will be bigger than Royal Caribbean's Quantum class ships but not as big as the Oasis class ships.

Royal Caribbean has not even announced names for any of the ships, but it has filed a trademark for Icon of the Seas.

While you may not know if your upcoming Royal Caribbean will sail or not, there are some things everyone can be doing right now to prepare for their cruise, just in case it does happen.

Just the other week, Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said, "We are closer to the other side of this crisis every day," and that kind of optimism may mean we might see Royal Caribbean ships sailing again sooner than later.

It is always a good idea to be prepared, and while we have some extra time now, here are some important things you can take care of to ensure you are ready to cruise, whenever that happens.

Download the Royal Caribbean app

If you have not downloaded Royal Caribbean's app, now is a great time to get it downloaded and installed on your mobile device, because the app is going to be more important than ever.

Royal Caribbean recently highlighted the importance of the app, which is transitioning from convenient trip planning tool to important tool for everyday use.

Royal Caribbean intends to leverage its mobile app for paving a way for a safe return to cruising.

Download the Royal Caribbean app from either the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store.

Check your passport expiration dates

Since no one has cruised since at least March, now is a good time to double-check your passport expiration dates.

If your passport expiration date is coming up, you should get it sent out as soon as possible for renewal.  The U.S. State Department is renewing passports, but it does take some time to process, so getting it in the queue now will get it processed sooner than later.

If you do not have a passport, now might be the right time to get one. Regardless of if you need a passport or not, I recommend everyone (including U.S. residents on cruises from the United States) get a passport.  It is simpler and safer, and a fantastic investment for any traveler.

Check for price drops on pre-cruise purchases

One of my favorite money saving tips is to pre-purchase popular add-ons, such as drink packages, Wifi, or specialty dining.

Not only should you consider pre-purchasing these items now, but also double check the prices on these items, as many RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers have reported price drops and significant price changes for these items.

Complete online check-in

Once you get to within 90 days of your cruise, you can complete the online check-in to expedite things when you arrive to the cruise terminal on embarkation day.

It looks like check-in times will be later than before the shutdown, so it is super important to complete online check-in as soon as you can in order to get an early check-in time.

You will need a copy of everyone's documentation (passport or birth certificate), travel plans and a credit card to store for incidental charges.

Review what you are not allowed to bring

If you are new to cruising, you should be aware of which items you are not allowed to pack or bring aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Some are pretty obvious (no baseball bats), while others are surprising (no surge protectors or clothing irons).

Refer to Royal Caribbean's list of prohibited item list, as their list changes from time to time.

Fill out the special needs form

Royal Caribbean is very accommodating to guests who may have special needs, such as mobility assistance, dialysis, oxygen supply, medical dietary requests and more.

Anyone that has a special need should fill out the Guest Special Needs form on Royal Caribbean's website. 

Royal Caribbean recommends you do this no later than 30 days prior to your sailing, except for sign language interpreting requests which must be submitted 60 days prior to sailing.

Get pricing for travel insurance

Travel insurance is always a good idea to consider, and now might be a good time to review different policies and get a quote.

Royal Caribbean offers travel insurance, as well as many third party companies.  Read exactly what the insurance covers and does not cover, especially related to the current health crisis.

Be sure to also review the refund policy if your cruise is cancelled to ensure you are not left paying for a policy you do not need.

Don't book shore excursions yet

I usually advocate researching and buying shore excursions before your cruise to save money and time later, but I think right now you should hold off on booking shore excursions.

Royal Caribbean has not announced its new set of health policies and protocols, but some other cruise lines that have restarted sailings in Europe have restricted guests to tours purchased through the cruise line.

While we do not know if Royal Caribbean will do the same yet, I would not book anything until we know what the policy is, and which tours will actually be approved.

Book a kennel stay for your pets

Something I always forget to do is to make a reservation for your pets at a kennel.

If your cruise is scheduled for a popular time of year (such as school holiday), kennels fill up fast with other families looking to getaway, so be sure get a spot now.

Stock up on sanitizing products

I used to think bringing sanitizing wipes and other hygenic products was unnecessary, but it is likely to be an important thing for everyone to bring along.

While Royal Caribbean will do their part to implement enhanced sanitization across their ships, it is a good idea to grab travel size sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, and other products that will keep you healthy now.

The supply of disinfectant products seems to vary wildly where we live, so now is a great time to start buying them when you see it, so you are not scrambling to find some before the cruise starts.

Consider buying disinfectant wipes, disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer, and liquid hand soap to have in your stateroom. (Note, these links contain affiliate links which cost you nothing extra to use, but I get a commission).

Even if your cruise is cancelled, these products are likely to be useful in our everyday lives for the foreseeable future.

Ever since Royal Caribbean shut down operations in March, everyone has been wondering when and how the cruise line will start back up again.

While there is no clear answer just yet, there have been some clues and guidance provided throughout the shutdown by Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain.

Mr. Fain has spoken on television, in webinars, and on conference calls many times during the voluntary cruise suspension, and offered hints at what cruises starting up again will involve.

For anyone trying to piece together Royal Caribbean's game plan, here is some of the significant plans Richard Fain hinted or alluded to over the last few months.

Slow and methodical return

Despite losing money everyday with cruises not operating, Royal Caribbean has been adamant about getting their plans right before starting up again.

Richard Fain has spoken repeatedly about a slow and careful approach to returning, and using the time off to focus on crafting a solution to keep guests and crew members safe onboard.

"We will not rush to return to service until we are confident that we have figured out the changes that we must make to offer our guests and crew strong health and safety protocols with the enjoyable experience that they rightly expect," Mr. Fain said during an earnings call with investors in August.

In addition, he mentioned Royal Caribbean is learning from other cruise lines that have started back up around the world. Mr. Fain emphasized the strategy of cruises starting back up "slowly and methodically", and the need to learn from these first cruises back.

Capacity of ships will be reduced initially

One change we can expect when cruises resume is there will be less passengers onboard.

In order to foster social distancing, Royal Caribbean will limit the amount of passengers on its ships.  There has been no indication yet how they will do that in situations where sailings are already past a given threshold for a limit, but that is likely forthcoming.

Mr. Fain was very clear on this strategy during a webinar in July, "It is likely that when protocols are implemented, at least at the beginning, the capacity of the ships will will be reduced."

"It's likely we'll start out at lower capacity in Europe, the capacity levels for the starting up or at 60 to 70 percent potential load factors. And obviously that's quite a bit less than we're used to."

"But I think over time, particularly as treatments and pervasiveness of the disease and especially vaccines, that will then go back up. So there's a cost in the early period which hopefully will disappear fairly quickly."

Four tiers making cruising safe

Royal Caribbean's approach to cruises resuming safely focuses on four major tenets, which Mr. Fain outlined in July.

• Screening
• Onboard the ship
• Destinations ship visit
• What if there is a case on a Royal Caribbean ship?

"We really need to be able to address all four of those. You probably have some ideas by seeing what's happening elsewhere, but we have some really cool, innovative ideas coming out of the committee."

New ships and projects delayed

In order to cut or defer costs, Royal Caribbean has had to delay new builds and projects.

"On top of all these efforts, most of our capital projects have been delayed or canceled because we don't know how long it will take to get beyond this epidemic," Mr. Fain outlined during a call with Wall Street analysts.

"These are painful, but these are necessary decisions, I have to say that these five months have been the longest five months any of us can remember now since the crisis began."

We already know that the new Galveston cruise terminal is delayed a year, Odyssey of the Seas is delayed until 2021, and Wonder of the Seas is delayed until 2022.  Royal Caribbean has made no other announcements regarding the timeline of other projects such as the Freeport or Nassau port projects, or Perfect Day at Vanuatu or Royal Beach Club.

Which ships will sail first

When the time is right for cruises to return, only a few ships will start up initially.

Richard Fain explained in the first quarter 2020 results call that when Royal Caribbean starts sailing again, the entire fleet will not resume at once.

"We don't expect that... someday somebody blows a horn, and all the ships start operating right away. We think that it will be a gradual start, a little bit like society is opening up gradually."

"So we would imagine that we would start with fewer ships, and more likely to be more drive markets in the beginning, and then it would then evolve and grow from there."