Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain says his "optimism level is very high" that cruises could restart in 2020.

Speaking at the "State of the Global Cruise Industry" keynote event of Seatrade Cruise Virtual, Mr. Fain shared a sense of confidence that cruises could still restart sometime in 2020.

While Fain did not divulge specifics, he did say his confidence stems from Royal Caribbean's eagerness to get back to work, as well as the investment in using science to guide their restart plans.

"The Healthy Sail Panel report detailed look at 74 protocols, 74 recommendations that give us the confidence that it's safe to go back."

"We think we have a set of procedures that really put us in a position to say, yes, we have now come to the point where we can provide a healthy cruise."

In fact, Mr. Fain went on to say that he still believes cruises can restart this year.

"We're going to start with test cruises, I think, and and then a few shorter cruises and and gradually build up as we build up our experience. But I do think that's going to start this year. I'm highly I'm highly optimistic."

"Safer than your hometown"

Fain believes the nature of cruise ships allows them to control the environment more more than somewhere on land, and that is an advantage for the industry.

"Our objective when we started, was can we do this in a way that makes being on a ship as safe or safer than being in your hometown town."

"While there are there are special circumstances on ship that require special precautions, there's also something that no one else has, which is the ability to control the environment as well as we do."

Fain touted the recent announcement that it would implenent 100% testing of every person entering a ship, which is something that no other travel sector is doing.

Cruise lines working together

Another significant milestone Richard Fain sees is the entire industry working together to learn and innovate.

"We're all working in this together. We all are learning about COVID. We're all learning about the technology, the testing, the therapies. All of these things are coming together, working with the governments abroad, working in Europe, in the Caribbean, in Asia, in the United States, working with the CDC."

Mr. Fain was joined by the CEOs of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Carnival Corporation and MSC Cruises.  While some executives were willing to characterize the likelihood of cruises starting this year, Mr. Fain simply stated, "I don't like putting numbers on on things like this, but I am smiling."

When Royal Caribbean resumes sailings, it intends to test every single passenger and crew member.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain highlighted a recommendation of the Healthy Sail Panel to institute 100% testing of cruise ship guests and crew members.

Mr. Fain asserted that no other section of the travel industry has 100% testing, which separates Royal Caribbean (and other CLIA member lines) from the rest of travel.

"No other section of the travel industry, no other section does one hundred percent testing. In fact, no other industry in the world requires 100 percent testing. The closest anyone comes is the bubble that was organized to the NBA teams and that's been so very successful."

Fain seems very excited about the recent advances in testing and how much of it is offered.

"The improvement in our country's ability to test has been phenomenal," Mr. Fain explained. "The capacity for traditional testing has grown exponentially, and we now regularly seeing more than a million tests performed in a single day. That's unheard of."

Specifically, Fain believes the development of new test capabilities, combined with decreasing testing costs and speedier results is "staggering."

Vaccine vs. tests

To exemplify how important testing is and the advances made with them, Richard Fain went as far to say that he expects tests to have a greater impact on cruises than the vaccine in the short term.

"The advances are so significant that I believe in the near term we will see more benefit from testing than we will from vaccines in the near term."

Fain thinks the impact of a vaccine will take time, and in the meantime, new and better testing will make a quicker difference.

"Vaccines are the ultimate weapon against this virus and their development has been nothing short of amazing. But I do think it's likely that a vaccine will be available before the end of the year. But getting enough for widespread distribution is going to take probably until sometime in the spring."

"On the other hand, faster, cheaper and widespread testing will be much more impactful, much sooner. Widespread testing enables contact tracing, and it's the one two punch of testing and contact tracing that is so effective in limiting the community spread of the disease."

Testing can't solve the problem by itself

While testing is going to be a big part of Royal Caribbean's approach to ensuring cruises are safe when they return, it is not a silver bullet.

Mr. Fain admitted that as helpful as it is, testing cannot solve the problem by itself. That is why the Healthy Sail Panel's recommendations take a variety of different steps to create a layered approach of several different operating protocols.

"Each individual step whittles away at the risk levels until you have architected a overall much safer journey."

"I compare it to a car. The brakes keep you safe, of course, and a seatbelt and you've got even better protection. Then add an air bag and you start to see the effect of a layered approach."

Fain believes a bubble approach to cruise ships could very well be the answer, with testing at the top of that myriad of protocols.

UPDATE: The answer is yes, Royal Caribbean has cancelled its November 2020 cruises.

In the days since the No Sail Order was extended, Royal Caribbean's primary competitors have each announced a new round of cancellations, so is Royal Caribbean next?

There has been no official word by Royal Caribbean on any new cancellations, but typically when one of the "big three" cruise lines has announced a new wave of cancelled cruises, the others have eventually followed suit.

Royal Caribbean currently only has cruises cancelled through October 31, 2020, although it has also canceled transatlantic, European and Australian itineraries beyond that date.

The dominos begin to fall

The first cruise line to announce changes was Carnival Corporation, when it canceled sailings from most ports through December 2020.

Carnival essentially cancelled all of its cruises, minus ships sailing from Port Canaveral and Miami in Florida. The line has not yet canceled November or December sailings from those two ports.

Earlier today, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. cancelled all of its cruises through November 2020, with three ships cancelled through the end of March 2021.

Both cruise lines made their announcements less than a week after the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) extended its No Sail Order through October 2020. 

An unconfirmed, but widely accepted, report claims the CDC wanted to extend the No Sail Order to February 2021.

Cruise line executives were scheduled to meet with White House officials last week, but the meeting was postponed.

What will Royal Caribbean do?

The big question is if/when Royal Caribbean may announce a new set of cancellations to match what the other cruise lines have done.

Royal Caribbean rarely gives any kind of warning when a new set of cancellations are going to occur, and there is no consistent pattern to when they have been announced.

Earlier today, Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain offered a video update that did not specifically call out any new changes to its cruise schedule, but did allude to some recent news impacting the cruise industry.

"Soon, we hope to have the opportunity to put our plans to the test. It's not going to happen overnight. It is going to take time for this process to work through."

"The process will be carefully evaluated by independent outside observers and then only on a ship or two at first, we hope to start sailing again."

Cruise fans are quite eager to know what the cruise line will do, with many having sailings scheduled to depart in less than a month.

"It’s less than 30 days from November 1st, and based on prior cancellations by Royal, we should have had Royal’s decision about November (at the very least) by now," writes S.Marie. "I would even be ok with Royal saying we are still waiting for the green light from the CDC but here are the ships we plan to deploy (or not deploy) for our start up phase."

"If I was a cruise line," twangster postulated, "I'd be hesitant to begin bringing thousands of crew back for two ships until there was an absolute green light from the CDC or CV Task Force that a restart is a sure thing."

CJS2766 exemplified the concern so many seem to have, "I'm also one of those that's supposed to cruise Nov 8... I wish we would hear something already, even though I know the realistic outcome."

Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain published a new video update on his outlook on testing, as well as the impact the new health recommendations will have on cruises restarting.

Following the submission of the Healthy Sail Panel's 74 health recommendations the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), Mr. Fain said the recommendations will serve to protect guests and crew onboard in a bubble type environment.

"The panel made seventy four specific recommendations towards accomplishing these two goals. By implementing the panel's recommendations, we intend to make our ships and environment a bubble, if you will, that actually presents less risk of transmission than in their home communities on land to get there."

"To get there, the panel proposed a thorough and layered approach of several different operating protocols. Wasn't just one."

One of the most important aspects of the recommendations is 100% testing of guests and crew.

"Most importantly, they recommended that we institute one hundred percent testing of everyone who enters the ship's guest and crew."

Mr. Fain was proud of the fact they are going to implement 100% testing, and noted the closest any other industry has reached with testing was the NBA's bubble concept.

Cruises can be done safely

Based on the results so far in limited cruises in Europe, Mr. Fain is bullish on the idea cruises can be offered safely.

"The cruises have been enjoyable, and more importantly, they continue to be safe."

"Our panel came away convinced that it could be done. Our leadership team came away, convinced that it could be done. And as we have met with government officials, our confidence has grown as well."

Cruises vs. CDC

Perhaps no other government agency has become so critical a focal point for cruise lines than the CDC, and Mr. Fain did speak to them during the video.

"The CDC, and other regulators, have been working on this for a long time. We're grateful for the CDC's focus on health and for the time they and their observers have spent on this important topic with the Healthy Sail Panel."

Furthermore, he touched on the meeting with White House officials on Friday that was postponed.

"Many of you know that we were scheduled to meet with the CDC and the COVID-19 task force on Friday on this very subject. Unfortunately, the unexpected announcement of the President and various White House officials testing positive caused that particular meeting to be postponed."

"But the lines of communication remain open and we expect the dialogue to continue productively."

Restarting plans

Mr. Fain also reiterated the basic plans for getting cruises back up. He did not provide a timeline, only saying they are ready to do so and hope it happens soon.

"Soon, we hope to have the opportunity to put our plans to the test. It's not going to happen overnight. It is going to take time for this process to work through."

"And we propose to start slowly by training our crew and embarking on a series of non-revenue test sailings, where we can rehearse and we can validate the new protocols."

The results will be evaluated by independent observers before a few short sailings begin again.

"There'll be short cruises at first with limited destinations and controlled shore excursions."

"But as we learn and as the science continues to improve, we will expand."

The bottom line for Mr. Fain is Royal Caribbean Group believes in getting it right and taking their time to address the issues, rather than rushing back.

"We've told you from the start that we understand the importance of getting this right. We've told you that we won't rush, we won't cut corners. And we are still committed to making sure that we do it right. "

There are not many details about Royal Caribbean's next new Oasis Class cruise ship, but we can confirm one specialty restaurant that will be onboard.

Izumi Teppanyaki will be available onboard based on a social media post by the creator and mastermind behind Izumi specialty restaurants.

Chef Travis Kamiyama posted on social media that Izumi Teppanyaki will be added to the fifth Oasis Class ship.

Izumi has become one of Royal Caribbean's most popular and most widespread specialty restaurants, many new ships and ship refurbishments having an Izumi location onboard.

Izumi hibachi is a teppanyaki-style restaurant, which is sometimes referred to as a “Japanese steakhouse."  Made famous by Benihana restaurants, the experience combines cooking and service into one fun performance.

Izumi's teppan style dining has become a big hit with guests, and newer Izumi locations have seen more space dedicated to the hibachi side than the traditional sushi side of the restaurant.

On the other four Oasis Class ships, Izumi is split into two restaurants: the sushi side and the hibachi side. It is unclear yet if that setup will continue on Wonder of the Seas, or if the layout and/or location will change.

Wonder of the Seas will not join Royal Caribbean's fleet until sometime in 2022 and will sail from Shanghai and offer sailings around Asia.

Royal Caribbean has not released itineraries for Wonder of the Seas to book, nor indicated when exactly in 2022 Wonder will start sailing yet.

Happy Sunday! It has been a busy week of Royal Caribbean news, and we have it all summarized for you in this round up.

The big cruise news this week was the extension of the No Sail order through the end of October 2020.

Prior to this extension, the "No Sail Order" was set to expire on September 30 at midnight, although Royal Caribbean and all the cruise lines have already voluntarily cancelled its cruises through October 31, 2020, with the intention to possibly resume November 1.

The CDC announced it would be extended an additional 30 days, although there is a report circulating that the CDC wanted to extend it longer, but the White House overruled them.

Royal Caribbean News

• The ability to cancel or defer a cruise without penalty has been extended until November 30.
• Royal Caribbean released itineraries for the redeployed cruise ships.
• A scheduled meeting between the cruise lines and the White House has been postponed.
• Why did the CDC extend the No Sail order?
• Where Royal Caribbean cruising is right now.
• Royal Caribbean is offering Kids Sail Free for the first time during summer.
• Top 5 things that Royal Caribbean had planned for 2020 but are now delayed.
• How to know if you should buy a dining package.
• Should you use porters to take your luggage when going on a cruise?

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 374th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where James shares the important lesson of being flexible on a cruise.

James started off his cruise with a major storm and an accident, but did not let these speed bumps deter his ability to have a great cruise vacation.

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: 5 things you can buy for a cruise that aren't worth it!

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 — 5 things you can buy for a cruise that aren't worth it! — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

What it's like to be a on cruise ship with no guests

Royal Caribbean's cruise ships are still operating with limited staff onboard, and a lot of people are curious what life is like onboard without passengers.

While Royal Caribbean cruises are currently shutdown due to the current health crisis, its ships remain ready for when cruises resume. So what is happening onboard while there are no cruises?

Captain Johnny Faevelen is the Master of Harmony of the Seas, and shared what the crew are up to onboard, and what sort of things they are doing while the ship is not conducting any cruises.

With so many great specialty restaurants available on Royal Caribbean ships, many readers are curious if a specialty dining package is worth it.

Specialty dining is an optional set of restaurants that have an additional charge to dine there, and are quite a popular alternative for some cruisers who prefer other kinds of cooking styles and cuisines.

Should you get a dining package on your cruise? Here are the top reasons to know that you need to buy a dining package on your next cruise.

You want to dine at more than one specialty restaurant

If you want to eat at just one restaurant, a dining package does not make sense, but as soon as you start planning to dine at more than two, a dining package can make financial sense.

Dining packages offer a flat fee for enjoying multiple restaurants on your cruise, and it will absolutely save you money compared to eating at the same amount of restaurants if paying out of pocket. The key is knowing if you want to dine at more than one.

Certainly if you know there are two or three specialty restaurants that you want to eat at, a dining package is a near slam-dunk decision.

How you feel about the main dining room

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the food served in the complimentary restaurants on Royal Caribbean, including the main dining room, however, it tends to be a polarizing topic for some people.

Some cruisers simply do not like the regimented times or setup of the main dining room.  Others may not care for the majority of food served in the dining room.

Regardless of your rationale, if you have a strong opinion of going to the main dining room for dinner on most/all nights of your cruise, a dining package may the perfect alternative.

You are on a budget

While specialty dining does cost extra, it does not have to cost a fortune either.

Royal Caribbean advertises its dining packages will save up to 40% off the list price and it is quite accurate. Considering most specialty restaurant cover charges run between $35 to $50 per person,  a dining package has the potential to save a lot of money.

Budgeting for a vacation involves a lot of costs, and the last thing anyone wants is a surprise bill at the end of the cruise that is much higher than expected. Investing in a cruise dining package assures that all those dinners will not run up your bill.

Which ship you are sailing

The assortment of specialty restaurants varies from ship to ship, and certain ships offer a greater variety of restaurants than others.

Before you buy a dining package, research which restaurants are on the ship you have booked, and determine if they are a good fit for your family.

Some ships may only have a few restaurants, while other ships have quite a few options.

Oasis and Quantum Class ships offer the greatest amount of choices that can offer a different specialty restaurant every night of your cruise.  Other ships may require repeating certain restaurants over the course of a cruise, which may or may not be a problem for you.

More information

Have more questions about specialty restaurants? Check out these helpful links:

• 4 Easy steps for getting a Royal Caribbean dining package
• Royal Caribbean specialty dining packages guide

The year 2020 will be known for a lot of things, including everyone's plans getting delayed or canceled, including Royal Caribbean.

At the start of the year, Royal Caribbean had some major plans lined up, and unfortunately most of them did not come to fruition.  Many were delayed, and some may never actually happen. 

While there are a couple of months left in the year. here are the top five things we can safely say are definitely not happening this year anymore.

Ship upgrades

One of the early casualties for Royal Caribbean fans this year were scheduled ship upgrades.

While Freedom of the Seas managed to get her Royal Amplification complete in the early part of the year, every other ship upgrade scheduled for this year (and next) is on hold until further notice.

Allure of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas were scheduled to get upgraded this summer, and those plans have been scrapped indefinitely. 

In addition, scheduled upgrades for Liberty of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas have also been put on hold.

Odyssey of the Seas debut

Few dates are as significant for a cruise line as the debut of a new cruise ship, but Royal Caribbean was forced to delay the debut of its next new cruise ship until next spring.

Odyssey of the Seas was scheduled to begin sailing in November 2020, but will now not sail until April 2021. All scheduled Odyssey of the Seas sailings between November 5, 2020 - April 17, 2021 have been canceled.

In addition to the canceled sailings, Royal Caribbean also announced two other changes to Odyssey of the Seas.

First, the trapeze school will no longer be a feature of the SeaPlex.

Second, the age restrictions for the Sky Pad virtual trampoline experience will change: guests must be at least 7 years old to jump, and at least 13 years old to jump with a virtual reality headset.

Odyssey was set to be the first Quantum Ultra Class ship to arrive in North America, and will feature a two-level pool deck, as well as a collection of restaurant choices to enjoy.

Oasis of the Seas sailing from New York area

So many cruise fans were excited to welcome the first Oasis class cruise ship to call the New York City area home, but those plans were dashed.

Oasis of the Seas was scheduled to offer summer cruises from Bayonne, New Jersey between May and October 2020.

The voluntary cruise shutdown hit before one sailing could be offered, and eventually, the entire season was canceled.

The good news is Oasis is scheduled to return to Cape Liberty for summer 2021.

President's Cruise in Europe

The annual tradition of Royal Caribbean's President and CEO Michael Bayley hosting a cruise for loyal cruisers is among the many disappointments from the year that was 2020.

While there was hope it could be pulled off, Mr. Bayley informed guests in August that it was indeed cancelled.

"This is disappointing news for you and me. The President's Cruise is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to come together and celebrate the cruise line we love, our incredible crew and each other — something we have been doing since 2016."

There has not been a President's Cruise announced yet for 2021, but Mr. Bayley did say they were working on other ideas that the cruise line is working on for guests that will be announced at a later date.

New project construction delays

With cashflow coming to a near halt, so many projects had to be postponed.

Royal Caribbean's new Miami headquarters that are still under construction were paused, resumed and paused again.

Plans to begin construction of a new cruise terminal in Galveston have been delayed by a year.

Many other destination projects have had no updates at all, including the Royal Beach Club in Antigua, Freeport Harbour Village, Perfect Day at Lelepa and more.

Like most plans, the sooner Royal Caribbean can begin cruising again, the more likely these projects may get back on track again.

Which of these projects were you most looking forward to enjoying? Share your comments below!

The meeting scheduled between cruise line executives and White House officials has been postponed.

A meeting had been set up between the cruise lines and Vice President Mike Pence on Friday to discuss the No Sail order extension, but it is being reported that meeting has been postponed.

VP Pence meeting with #cruise executives has now been postponed https://t.co/MtBcH6CBPQ

— Seema Mody (@seemacnbc) October 2, 2020

No reschedule date for the meeting has been announced.

Earlier this week, it was revealed the White House overruled the U.S. Center for Disease Control's recommendation to extend the No Sail Order until February.  Instead, the order was extended through just the end of October.

In addition, a meeting was set up for Friday afternoon between representatives of the cruise industry and the Trump administration to, "describe their transformation and dozens of ways that they will mitigate risk and ensure public health," according to a White House official.

And in that meeting there will be a discussion and afterwards a decision will need to be made about whether the order needs to be extended," the White House official added. "These things can be extended for a month and then we can reassess the conditions on an ongoing basis."

One senior official added that the cruise ship decision "is an example of the task force weighing all the equities of the departments and agencies represented on the task force and making a decision that properly balances the public health impacts and the economic ramifications on the country."

The CDC believes cruise ships would create an unacceptable amount of risk to the public health if allowed to resume sailings.

"Cruise ships continue to be an unsafe environment with close quarters where the disease spreads easily and is not readily detected," is the direct rationale for why cruise ships may not sail.

"Cruise ships continue to be an unsafe environment with close quarters where the disease spreads easily and is not readily detected," is the direct rationale for why cruise ships may not sail.

In short, the CDC sees these factors as necessitating the extension of the No Sail Order:

• The continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide
• Risk of resurgence in countries that have suppressed transmission
• Ongoing concerns related to restarting of cruising internationally
• Need for additional time to assess industry measures to control potential SARS-CoV-2 transmission on board cruise ships with passengers without burdening public health

Royal Caribbean has released the new itineraries for the five cruise ships that were redeployed last week for summer 2021.

Last week, the cruise line announced it would redeploy five cruise ships for summer 2021 based on, "market research and valuable feedback from guests and travel partners".

The new itineraries bring variety and options for Caribbean and European sailings and are available to book immediately.

Europe

Adventure of the Seas will sail a mix of new 4- and 5-night Mediterranean itineraries from Barcelona.

Jewel of the Seas will sail from Copenhagen and Stockholm on 7-night cruises calling on Northern Europe ports of call.

Caribbean

Independence of the Seas will call Miami her home for the summer season and offer a combination of 6- and 8-night cruises to the Southern and Western Caribbean.

Vision of the Seas will sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico in summer 2021. She will offer 7-night Southern Caribbean cruises.

Brilliance of the Seas will remain in Tampa and sail 4-, 5- and 7-night cruises to the Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean’s other summer 2021 cruises will sail on as planned in the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe and Asia-Pacific.