Royal Caribbean has officially cancelled its May cruises, further extending its voluntary shutdown until at least June.

Royal Caribbean made the announcement that none of its May cruises will be able to sail in order to provide more time to prepare to restart cruise operations.

This means its voluntary cruise shutdown extends through May 31, 2021.

There are few exceptions:

• Quantum of the Seas from Singapore
• Odyssey of the Seas sailings from Israel
• China Spectrum of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas sailings from April 30 through May and beyond

The decision to cancel cruises by Royal Caribbean matches other cruise lines that have cancelled their May sailings already, including Carnival Cruise Line,  Norwegian Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line.

Cruise operations had been suspended through the end of April 2021, but will now be extended an additional month.

Read more: What you should do now that Royal Caribbean cancelled your cruise

Compensation

Guests affected by the cancelled cruises between May 1 - 31,  2021, have three options for compensation.

Lift & Shift: On or before March 23, 2021, move to a qualifying 2022 sailing on the same itinerary, sailing length, embarkation port, stateroom category and departing within 2-weeks of the original sail date and your client's cruise fare/promotion is protected.

125% Future Cruise Credit: To account for the inconvenience this has caused, guests are eligible for a 125% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) that is based on the total cruise fare paid at the guest-level if neither of the other options is selected. This will be automatically issued on or before April 16, 2021 if no other option is selected.

Taxes and fees, as well as any pre-purchased amenities or onboard packages, will be automatically refunded to the original form of payment within 45 days from the cancelation date.

Additionally, if you redeemed your Cruise with Confidence Future Cruise Credit on a sailing that is now cancelled, their original FCC will be reinstated, plus 125% of any amount paid by the guest on the cancelled reservation.

Refund: If you prefer a cash refund, you can do so by requesting this option on-or-before June 30, 2021.

You can expect their refund to the original form of payment within 45 days from the cancellation date. 

If you redeemed a Cruise with Confidence Future Cruise Credit on an impacted sailing and would now prefer a refund instead, Royal Caribbean will process this request in the amount of any new funds paid above the original certificate and, in turn, will reinstate the Cruise with Confidence FCC for future use.

Cruise Planner Purchases: If you had purchased any cruise add-ons, such as shore excursions, drink packages, wifi and more, you could opt to convert your Cruise Planner purchases  to an Onboard Credit valued at 125% of the total amount paid. This offer expires on March 23, 2021.

Still more time needed

Why are cruises being cancelled still?

There are a few reasons, but the most visible rationale is cruise lines are still waiting to begin test sailings.

Before Royal Caribbean can start offering cruises again, it needs to hit all of the steps outlined by the CDC.

The CDC added all of these requirements to allow the cruise lines to test out its proposed new protocols, while protecting the health of the public in the interim period.

The three phases of getting permission to restart passenger cruises are:

1. Testing crew members
2. Simulated cruises to test out new protocols
3. Apply for a Conditional Sailing Certificate

It is unknown how long it will take Royal Caribbean to complete all of the necessary steps and subsequently obtain permission to cruise again.

On February 22, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley told investors that Royal Caribbean has been in "regular communication" with the CDC and expects to get technical instructions on what each ship needs to do in order to prepare itself for test cruises.

He also added that they were expecting instructions from the CDC soon, "We're literally expecting the technical specifications any day soon."

RoyalCaribbeanBlog has reached out to the CDC for an update on technical instructions but has not received any response.

Hope for the future

While May cruises seemed like an inevitably they would be cancelled, there is a lot of optimism among cruise fans that we are closer to cruises restarting that not.

Mr. Bayley's comments about the CDC provided a boost to many that the cruise lines are not getting the "cold shoulder" from the CDC.  While "any day" did not specify exactly when technical instructions might arrive, the sentiment echoed by him points to a fruitful relationship.

Moreover, the rollout of the vaccine to Americans has been impressive, and case numbers are down across the board. With the global health crisis heading in the right direction, this adds more clout to the notion that perhaps the public's appetite for things to open back up is increasing.

Just yesterday, Royal Caribbean sent an email survey to many guests asking about their comfort level with going on a cruise given the current situation.

Royal Caribbean sent out a survey to a large collection of guests with a cruise booked in the future to get a better sense of their comfort level given the current global health crisis.

Throughout Monday, many Royal Caribbean cruise fans reported receiving a survey in via email that asked many questions about a specific upcoming cruise they have booked, and their thoughts on why they booked, as well as expectations for the cruise.

Many of the questions asked guests about their feelings on if they will be vaccinated, why they booked, protocols onboard and more.

Royal Caribbean uses guest surveys quite a lot to get feedback from guests.  This particular survey seemed to be sent to a very wide range of guests, as opposed to many surveys in the past which were far more targeted.

There were many questions, but here is a look at the ones that were specific to the Covid-19.

First, they wanted to know what compelled you to book a particular cruise.

The survey also asked what level of Covid-19 protocols do you feel will be in place on the cruise.

Then the survey went into greater detail to determine which health protocols you expect to find onboard.

The role of the vaccine came up in the survery, asking if you plan to get the vaccine.

As well as if you plan to get the vaccine as soon as you can.

Lastly, the survey wanted to know if you expect to be vaccinated by the time the cruise sails.

The survey also asked questions about general travel plans coming up in the next year, as well as what someone looks for in a cruise.

The survey did not ask any questions that hinted at protocol changes. Rather, it seemed to be geared towards "taking the temperature of the room".

The survey comes after it was revealed the Healthy Sail Panel is re-evaluating its health protocol recommendations.

Perhaps no single change has provided as much optimism that cruise ships might be able to sail again than the rapid roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine, and it looks like the rules might be changing as quickly as the vaccine gets into the public.

It now appears the group of public health experts assembled by Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings may be re-thinking their protocols.

According to an article by CruiseCritic, Royal Caribbean's vice president EMEA, Ben Bouldin, said the impact the vaccine has had prompted the cruise line to ask the Healthy Sail Panel to go over their recommendations.

"We have asked the Healthy Sail Panel to go back and revisit their findings in light of the improvements and the encouraging news vaccines provide."

"I think for all of us we'd like to get to a world where we don't have to wear masks, and for sure, on a cruise vacation, I think everyone would feel the same."

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reached out to the Royal Caribbean Group for clarification on what, if any, revisions are being made to the Healthy Sail Panel recommendations but have not received a response yet.

The Healthy Sail Panel crafted its protocols back in the summer of 2020 and they did not take into account the impact of vaccines, because at that time no one really knew what to expect.

When the Healthy Sail Panel released its 74 recommendations, it acknowledged their protocols were meant to provide guidance at that time, rather than wait for the vaccine later.

Read more: Royal Caribbean new cruise ship health protocols include masks, social distancing, testing and more

"The Panel acknowledges that its recommendations regarding testing may change over the coming months as the testing landscape evolves, and particularly once an effective vaccine is widely available. However, given the uncertainties around the timing, availability, and performance of a vaccine, the Panel recommends waiting until there is more certainty about these issues before recommending changes to the testing protocols based on vaccine availability."

Just last week, Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said no decision has been made yet if passengers will be required to get the Covid-19 vaccine to sail.

"Whether we will require vaccines of all of our guests on all of our ships hasn't been decided yet, but we are prepared to go where the science leads us."

Read more: 5 things you've probably overlooked with the new cruise protocols

Meanwhile, at least one Royal Caribbean cruise ship will require the vaccine for its adults.  Odyssey of the Seas will begin sailing from Israel in May 2021, and everyone above the age of 16 will be required to be vaccinated from Covid-19 in order to sail.

The vaccine requirement comes from the State of Israel, as opposed to a new policy crafted by Royal Caribbean.

In conjunction with Israel’s health and tourism authorities, Royal Caribbean will be the first to offer fully vaccinated sailings. Details on the additional health and safety measures to be implemented by Israel and Royal Caribbean will be announced at a later date.

Earlier this week, two cruise lines announced they would scale back their European cruises to only offer sailings from the United Kingdom, which prompts the question if Royal Caribbean would do the same.

Both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises announced instead of sailing to destinations around Europe, they would offer sailings around the UK due to the global health crisis.

The Sky Princess, Regal Princess, and Island Princess will sail from Southampton and offer short sailings, with more details later.

P&O Cruises also announced new sailings around the British Isles for UK residents only.

Could Royal Caribbean follow suit and offer cruises from Southampton this summer to on the UK?

Royal Caribbean's vice president EMEA, Ben Bouldin, was interviewed by Travel Weekly about this very topic.

Mr. Bouldin says cruises around the UK could be done, but, "it's probably got limited appeal".

"Domestic cruising is probably looks and feels like the most likely opportunity in the short term based on the rhetoric we've had."

"I don't think Royal Caribbean for sure, is not a cruise line that wants to do that for too long."

Mr. Bouldin pointed out Royal Caribbean's cruise ships, namely Anthem of the Seas, is too large to go into many UK ports.

In terms of restarting cruises from the UK, Mr. Bouldin said they are "looking at a lot lots of options."

"I think all cruise lines are probably going to have to do some sort of test cruise. And we talked about the requirement for these test cruises previously, whether that's cruises to nowhere or whether it's cruises to a another U.K. port. I think there'll be some of those."

"It's not that we don't mind taking a bit of a punt and getting something up and running, but we need to know once we've started, there's so much cost involved in restarting that cruise program, we need to know we can continue it credibly. What we don't want to be in is this sort stop start pattern."

The topic of domestic cruising from the UK comes right after Royal Caribbean canceled its European cruise season for Odyssey of the Seas. Instead, Odyssey will sail from Israel during summer 2021.

Read more: Why can't cruise ships sail from other countries instead?

In terms of cruises in Europe in 2021, Royal Caribbean executives spoke on this topic during their fourth quarter 2020 earnings call with investors.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said that while cruises from the UK are not beholden to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the rules will likely be the same.

"We know that the operations in some of the European countries, particularly Germany, Italy, have been ongoing for the past couple of month... and those protocols that have government operations have basically been based on the Healthy Sail Panel or the CLIA member policies, and then overlaid with specific instructions by the National Health Authority."

"I think what we're going to see is very similar to what we're going to see in the United States, which is as we continue to see infections decline and vaccines increase, then we're going to move to protocols that probably are some kind of hybrid between vaccines and testing."

"We imagine that they'll be very similar to the guidelines that we'll get from the CDC."

This month marks exactly one year since Royal Caribbean, and the entire cruise industry, shut down due to the global health crisis. As things have not changed, many cruise fans are wondering why other embarkation ports are not being used.

Each week I highlight a question from a RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader that I hope will be helpful to others wondering the same thing.

Why don't the cruise lines use Nassau as a home base to "skirt the CDC"? Close, large harbor that can handle multiple large ships, and larger airport. Seems like a no brainer to me. Am I missing something? - Joe M.

Joe's question is something that has gotten a lot of attention over the last few months.  If cruises are not able to restart in the United States, why not move the ships to another embarkation port and start cruises there.

To some extent, Royal Caribbean has been doing that when the opportunity is just right. 

Most notably, Quantum of the Seas was able to restart operations in Singapore after the government there approved that ship for pilot sailings.  Since then, Royal Caribbean cancelled the entire Alaska cruise season in 2021 for Quantum so that it could remain in Singapore longer.  

In addition, Grandeur of the Seas will begin offering cruises from Barbados in December 2021, which will be a brand new homeport for the cruise line.

And just this week, Royal Caribbean announced Odyssey of the Seas will sail from Israel in May 2021 for the summer, replacing the European cruise season.

So why not expand that concept to other ships and, as Joe suggested, begin sailing from other ports?

There are a couple of good reasons why that idea is not as simple or easy as it sounds.

First and foremost, the United States is the biggest cruise market in the world, and offering cruises from the U.S. is the most lucrative option for Royal Caribbean. Domestic travel for passengers is always going to be cheaper, easier, and more readily available than traveling internationally.

No matter which port you pick outside of the country, you are forgoing a large percentage of potential customers because many are either unwilling or unable to travel outside the U.S.

Not to mention the fact that whenever cruises are able to restart in the United States, suddenly sailings from other countries will be instantly not as profitable.

Even if you disregard the logistics involved in getting passengers to other countries, offering cruises from a place like Nassau is not necessarily possible.

To offer a cruise from any port, you need more than a pier and a deep harbor.

There needs to be facilities to accommodate embarkation, check-in, and security. There needs to be facilities to bunker fuel, remove waste, replenish supplies and more.

In the case of Nassau, the cruise docks are set up for ships to visit, but embarkation and disembarkation is a different story.

While I do not claim to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Nassau's port facility, I have not seen check-in desks, security, and other necessary functionality for a cruise ship of thousands to be processed.

Recently, the Mayor of Cozumel proposed cruise lines using that port as a new homeport.  

Cozumel is building a new pier that could have the necessary facilities for a cruise ship embarkation, but details were light from the Mayor.

Moreover, Cozumel has its own logistical challenges, such as very few direct flights.

Considering the orchestration required to get a new port set up, arrange new cruises, and market them for booking, it is no simple task.

In addition, the global health crisis finally seems to be getting better, and there is real talk of the cruise lines being able to move towards test sailings resuming.

With momentum starting to shift back towards cruises resuming, it seems to me trying to get new homeports set up outside the United States just isn't practical.

In the case of Odyssey, Grandeur, and Quantum, these situations seem to be more unique than planned.  

Grandeur of the Seas was recalled after almost being sold to Pullmantur Cruises after they went out of business and literally had no where to go.

Quantum of the Seas began sailing from Singapore during her scheduled season, but extended her stay because staying there was a sure bet in terms of revenue.

Just like the other ships, the opportunity to sail from Israel provided another safe bet for Royal Caribbean rather than waiting and seeing if scheduled Mediterranean sailings would or would not be possible.

In the case of all three ships, none were planned as a means to circumvent U.S. regulations.  It just worked out for different reasons why they could offer cruises, and offering cruises from outside the United States is not logistically simple.

Working towards getting cruises back in the U.S. and Europe is still the best strategy from a long term business perspective.

More mailbag questions:

• Should I book flights for my cruise if I'm not sure my cruise ships will sail?
• What are the chances my cruise will sail?
• What's worth paying extra for on a cruise?

A recent study has debunked yet another stereotype about cruises, this time about the air circulation onboard.

An independent study conducted by University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) on Oasis of the Seas looked at air flow, and movement of particulate matter indoors.

The study was conducted in July 2020 right in the middle of the global health crisis to evaluate how a cruise ship's HVAC system worked and what risks were posed to guests and crew members.

The study found the risk associated with transmission of airborne particles between spaces, through the HVAC system, is exceptionally low and undetectable both in the air and on surfaces.

How they tested

The team of five medical scientists focused on the effectiveness and efficiency of ship air management strategies – ventilation, filtration and supply – and examined air flow across different areas of the ship, including guest staterooms, crew staterooms, lounges and other public spaces. 

They looked at guest staterooms, the casino, ice rink, comedy club, and crew quarters, and proposed to release billions of microspheres – simulating SARS-CoV-2 aerosols – to be released in separate locations across the ship.

The microspheres used in this study are spherical particles made of a plastic polymer that are coated with unique DNA barcodes so that they can be easily detected.

In this study, no exchange of aerosol particles was observed between spaces only connected by the ventilation system (such as adjacent staterooms, both crew and guest), indicating that the likelihood of aerosol exchange between adjacent rooms is very unlikely

In public spaces, the casino performed the best, since it has built-in filtering for tobacco smoke.  Nonetheless, all venues showed no evidence of aerosol or surface contamination. In general, particles released in the public areas were not observable after 15 minutes, likely due to dilution in the large spaces.

The conclusion was transmission of aerosol particles between spaces, through the ventilation system, to be undetectable on surfaces and in the air. 

Based on their findings, Royal Caribbean has adopted a few changes to add even more protection for anyone onboard.

• Adjusting shipboard settings to allow for the maximum air changes per hour
  •  Incoming air is filtered twice when it comes into the ship, including through a MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) 13 filter
  • It then branches out across the ship through the system to be filtered again in local areas, say your stateroom or the theater
• Upgrading to MERV 13 filters throughout the system
• Equipped its medical facilities with an independent ventilation system and has added HEPA filters for additional precaution
• Ocean air is continuously drawn in from one side of the ship for cooling and ventilation as the existing air is exhausted on the opposite side of the ship
  • This constant intake of fresh air, combined with the other robust components of the HVAC system, allows for up to 12 air changes an hour in staterooms and 15-20 changes in public venues
  • This frequency is twice more than what is recommended for land-based public venues by ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. 

The MERV rating of a filter refers to how much it can filter particles in the air, with a higher number meaning a higher level of filtration.  The MERV ratings range between 1 and 20. A MERV rating of 13-16 is considered hospital level air quality.

A team of five medical scientists specializing in bioaerosols, led by Josh Santarpia, PhD. – associate professor, pathology and microbiology, UNMC; and research director, chemical and biological programs, NSRI – were called on to understand in detail the role of HVAC systems in spreading airborne particles on cruise ships. 

The uncertainty of when cruises might actually restart sailings again has a trickle down effect on second guessing a lot of other vacation decisions, including should you buy flights for a cruise that may or may not sail.

Every week I pull a popular question that RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers have been asking in case others are curious about the answer.

With the uncertainty of the Alaska cruise sailings this year, how close to our sail date should we have airline and hotel reservations? - Jamie H.

While Jamie asked about Alaska, this question can be applied to anyone with a cruise booked for later this year and trying to decide whether or not to make additional travel plans.

The issue with booking flights or hotels is laying out money for a cruise that may or may not happen, and getting a refund for it later.

Hotels are the easy answer, so let's begin there.

Most hotels allow for refundable deposits, so make sure you are only booking a refundable hotel rate.  In many cases, you many not have to put any money down in advance until either much closer to your check-in date or the day you check-in.

Your best bet is to keep tabs on hotel prices, because prices fluctuate constantly. Book only refundable rates, so you can easily cancel if the cruise ends up being cancelled.

Airfare is a bit more complicated and requires more money upfront compared to hotels.

Before the cruise industry shutdown, locking in flights for your cruise was a game of trying to time prices without risking the perfect flight times selling out.

Today, you have to balance price with flexibility.

Assuming you are willing to go on the cruise you have booked, yes, it is a good idea to book a flight to ensure you can make it to the cruise, but with a few caveats.

First and foremost, you want to book a flight that you will not be penalized for if you have to cancel.

Most airlines have pretty flexible cancellation terms these days, but make very certain there is no penalty for canceling the flight.

Unfortunately, most airlines will not refund you the money if you cancel.  Rather, you will get a credit for a future flight to use later.

Getting an airline credit is fine if it is an airline you fly regularly, but if your flight is on a different airline, this complicates the issue.  Getting a credit for an airline you will never fly is essentially throwing money away.

You could get a full refundable airfare, but refundable airfares tend to be extremely expensive.

An alternative is to book your flight directly with Royal Caribbean through their Air2Sea program.

Air2Sea is Royal Caribbean's airfare option for guests to purchase flights in conjunction with their cruise.

The nice thing about Air2Seas is because you are booking through Royal Caribbean, if the cruise line cancels the sailing, your airfare is fully refundable and the cruise line takes care of the cancellation process.

The cost of airfare will be added onto the cruise amount and payment will follow cruise payment guidelines (90 days prior to sailing).

The downside of using Air2Sea is there is an extra cost for going through the airline, but if you are considering booking international air travel and/or a flight on an airline you never fly, this might still be your best option.

Maximum flexibility is king right now, and the last thing you want to do is spend money on any aspect of your vacation that you have a good chance of never using. 

Whatever you book, be sure to consider the worst case scenario to ensure you don't regret it later.

Waiting to book

Another option is to wait a little bit longer until your cruise is closer.

Air travel is still depressed, and that means less people are flying than before the global health crisis began. 

There is a good argument to be made that waiting a few more weeks or months and perhaps paying a bit more for the flight is worth it to get a better sense of if your cruise will happen or not.

If your flight options are limited because of where you live, or where your cruise is sailing from, then you may not have a choice in waiting things out.  But if you live in a place where flights are plentiful, you might want to give it a little bit more time before pulling the trigger on a flight.

More mailbag questions:

• Why do I have to pay gratuities for my toddler?
• What are the chances my cruise will sail?
• What's worth paying extra for on a cruise?

Royal Caribbean has been successfully sailing Quantum of the Seas in Singapore since December 2020, so what will be the next cruise ship to restart operations?

While Quantum will remain in operation from Singapore for a little while longer, further restart plans are still ambiguous.

During Royal Caribbean Group's fourth quarter earnings call with investors, the next ship to restart operations could be outside the United States.

Royal Caribbean Group CFO Jason Liberty noted the company could add a second ship outside of the U.S. soon, "We are already operating Quantum of the Seas in Singapore, and our second ship in the water could also be outside of the US."

The fact Royal Caribbean may be able to resume sailings outside of the United States is not surprising, considering the success it has had with Quantum of the Seas in Singapore and its TUI brand of cruise ships in Europe.

"These early returns to service not only provide vacations, but they provide an opportunity to demonstrate proof of concept as well," Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said during the call

"They provide important learnings on how we can coordinate most effectively with governments, port authorities, travel partners, and others to protect our guests, crew, and the destinations we visit."

Thus far, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said about 35,000 Singaporeans have sailed on Quantum of the Seas and he says the customer satisfaction increased with the new health protocols compared to before.

"The customer satisfaction ironically is higher with our protocols than it was before our protocols, which is quite funny in a way. And our revenue has exceeded our expectations both from a ticket and an onboard revenue perspective."

Which ship and where would it sail from?

Royal Caribbean cruises are shutdown in North America, Europe, and Australia through at least April.  Even May sailings look to be questionable at this point.

The ship with the best odds for that to occur is Spectrum of the Seas, since is scheduled to potentially restart sailings in China in April 2021.

Whether or not Spectrum sailings are able to restart in China remains to be seen, as throughout 2020 sailings from China looked like they might be able to restart sooner, but that never materialized.

Australia remains closed to cruise ship traffic, so that essentially leaves Europe.

Jason Liberty told investors during the call his company is working with governments around the world about opening back up, "With regards to ship starting in Australia or China or Europe or elsewhere, for example, we literally are in discussions globally around the world with different governments and looking at where they are with COVID and vaccines, et cetera, et cetera."

"I think the point is that there's a lot of opportunity that's starting to open up globally in terms of what's occurring with COVID. And so we are in discussions around the world."

Last, but not least, we have to remember the "second ship" that Mr. Liberty mentioned did not specify if that would be a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship, or a ship from one of the other brands operated under the Royal Caribbean Group corporate umbrella.

Royal Caribbean Group just sold its Azamara cruise line, and the new owners have cancelled cruises through June 30, 2021.

Azamara announced it has decided to extend its global suspension of cruises through June 30, 2021.

In a statement, Azamara said the cruise line wants to ensure it can sail safely, "As the world continues to confront the many challenges resulting from COVID-19, our primary goal continues to be a healthy return to service for our guests, crew and the communities we visit. "

Despite being sold, Azamara also said it is "working diligently with Royal Caribbean Group's Healthy Sail Panel to create a small-ship cruising experience that will protect the wellbeing of our guests and crew yet stay true to the Azamara spirit."

Royal Caribbean currently has its cruises cancelled through the end of April 2021.

Sycamore Partners recently acquired Azamara from Royal Caribbean Group in January 2021.

Royal Caribbean created Azamara in 2007 and operates a fleet of three small cruise ships.

During the earnings call with investors, Royal Caribbean Group CFO Jason Liberty said the sale of Azamara made sense given the opportunity, "This opportunity came our way here with Sycamore. It gives Azamara an opportunity to grow. And I think that it's a great brand that we think will do quite well under this other -- this other venture."

Guests with affected sailings have three options – accept a 125% future cruise credit to book a cruise by April 30, 2022 for departure before September 30, 2022; “lift and shift” the booking to a 2022 equivalent within four weeks of original sailing date; or request a full refund by May 20.

As the cruise industry inches ever closer to restarting operations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked Royal Caribbean to share some of its safety technology, a cruise line executive revealed Monday.

On a Royal Caribbean Group earnings call, Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said the CDC has asked the line to share the technology behind two new tools on which it is heavily relying during Quantum of the Seas voyages, which resumed from Singapore on December 1, 2020, with no port calls.

"...that technology development is really, we think, groundbreaking and very sophisticated," Bayley said. "And in our conversations that we had the week before last with the CDC, they specifically asked us to share that technology and what we've been doing in Singapore with them, which we've subsequently done."

"There are two technologies that have come from Quantum that really are game-changing. One is the e-mustering, which completely transforms the whole process of lifeboat mustering," Bayley explained.

Muster 2.0 -- otherwise known as "e-mustering" -- is a system that helps to keep large groups of passengers from congregating for what, previously, was an in-person safety drill prior to sailaway on each cruise.

Now, passengers can simply watch safety briefings via a cell phone app or their in-cabin televisions. They will have a four-hour window in which to do so and then report, in person, to a designated area where a crew member will verify completion.

Read more: Top 10 questions about Royal Caribbean's new Muster 2.0

Bayley then discussed a second innovation used on Quantum of the Seas -- contact tracing.

"The second is, we've really developed technology for contact tracing, using a combination of technologies. One of them is a Tracelet, which basically each guest wears, and you can tell exactly how long they've been in contact with everybody else who's wearing a Tracelet.

"Then, we have artificial intelligence connected into basically CCTV cameras that use facial and body recognition to then double check and verify contact tracing in the event that somebody did have covid onboard the ship."

Although Royal Caribbean filed a patent for Muster 2.0 in 2019, months before the pandemic was declared, the Traclet's patent was filed in October 2020 as a means to help track covid cases onboard.

Read more: How cruising changed on Royal Caribbean's first cruise back

Similar to Royal Caribbean's WOWBands, Tracelets are made of silicone. The latter use tracking technology to determine who came in contact with any person found to test positive for covid during a sailing. This information allows proper action to be taken in terms of isolating and quarantining to avoid further spread.

Royal Caribbean's new rules state the following:

"Contact tracing is an important part of our enhanced protocols to keep all our guests and crew safe. Each guest will be provided with a wearable device that allows rapid tracing in the event it is necessary. If you have found to have come within 6 feet of a covid-positive person, for at least 15 minutes, certain actions may be required for your safety and the safety of your fellow guests."

Currently, cruise lines are implementing a slew of new protocols in line with the CDC's conditional sail framework. They include improved air filtration systems and cleaning procedures, as well as plans for isolating, quarantining and disembarking ill passengers if necessary.

In order to test these protocols, cruise ships will soon be required to undergo test sailings with volunteer passengers. If all goes well, each vessel would then be required to receive authorization from the CDC in order to resume revenue voyages.