The rumor mill has been working overtime when it comes to speculating on what could happen, including websites that list cruise ships for sale.

Have you seen screenshots or links to ship brokerage websites that have unnamed ships that are clearly a Royal Caribbean ship apparently for sale?

Some folks seem to think these are smoking guns of evidence that Royal Caribbean is planning to sell cruise ships, but these sites are not actually based in reality.

Proving the old adage, "don't believe everything you read" (especially on the internet), cruise ships are not bought and sold this way

Even before the current global health crisis, these sites are sales aggregators that list ships with an arbitrary price, hoping to get interest for a perspective buyer.  At that point, the website acts as a middleman to contact the owner to hopefully generate a sale and a significant finder's fee.

These websites are not official listings of cruise ships actually for sale, nor does Royal Caribbean list its ships for sale in such a brazen manner. 

While the cruise industry is struggling with not being able to cruise, as well as some cruise ships actually sold for scrap, sites with unnamed cruise ships for sale are not indicative of anything other than wishful thinking on someone's part.

We are exactly one week away from Royal Caribbean's second quarter earnings report, and perhaps answers to many questions about the short and long term future of the cruise giant.

Earnings calls are when the executives will provide shareholders with a look at its financial situation and answer questions from analysts. With so much disruption to the entire cruise industry due to the cruise shutdown, there are plenty of ongoing concerns to address.

While we will not know exactly all topics to be covered, here are the top issues cruise fans are curious about (and Wall Street too).

How bad of a loss?

Royal Caribbean Group reported over $1 billion in losses in the first quarter of 2020, and that was just at the beginning of the cruise shutdown and global health crisis, so how bad will things be this time?

On the one hand, there have been no cruises in the second quarter at all, but on the other hand, it sounds like 2021 bookings are surprisingly high.

There is no doubt that the Royal Caribbean Group lost money in the second quarter, but was it less than analysts expected or worse?

The nature of their financial situation may be a good indication of the overall health of the company.

Any plans to sell ships?

Rival Carnival Corporation has announced it will sell over a dozen cruise ships by the end of the year, so the question is will Royal Caribbean do the same.

Carnival made announcements in its earnings call of selling ships, so the question is will Royal Caribbean do the same.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said two weeks ago there are no plans to sell ships, but it is a consideration. A swirl of rumors last week that Empress of the Seas was headed to the scrapyard turned out to be incorrect.

As we all know, these plans can change at any time, especially if the losses start adding up.

Will there be any new cost-cutting measures?

Something Royal Caribbean announced in its first quarter earnings call was a series of cost-cutting measures, and many are wondering if more are to come.

At the last earnings call, Royal Caribbean group was considering ways to further reduce the average monthly requirement under a further prolonged out-of-service scenario and during start-up of operations.

Whether that comes in the form of more layoffs, selling ships, taking out more loans, or something else remains to be seen.

Safety protocol update

The blue-ribbon panel dedicated to coming up with new policies and protocols to keep guests safe once cruising does resume is likely to be mentioned, if not talked about at length.

Since the day Royal Caribbean announced the Healthy Sail Panel, everyone has been curious what policies exactly will be put into place.

While Royal Caribbean has said the Healthy Sail Panel's first round of recommendations will not be made until the end of August, perhaps we will get insight into what they are considering or working on.

How well is the cruise line booked next year?

While 2020 has been an absolutely terrible year for Royal Caribbean (and all cruise lines), their booked position in 2021 has been a bright spot for the cruise line.

Essentially, a lot of people opted to defer their cruise vacations to next year instead of outright canceling plans, and the question is if this trend is holding up.

Wall Street has been skeptical of any cruise line's ability to lure customers back once cruises resume, so positive feedback on how 2021 (and beyond) is looking would put a lot of concerns at ease.

MSC Cruises announced its new policies on Monday that it will implement on its first Mediterranean sailings, which provides insight into perhaps what Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines may do as well.

MSC has formed its own health panel, known as the COVID Expert Group, which is made up of  highly qualified and internationally respected experts to inform and review our initiatives and ensure that the actions taken are appropriate, effective and informed by the best available science and health practices.

MSC designed its protocols that it claims goes beyond the actual regional and national guidelines and effectively set a new standard. Additionally, RINA, the independent maritime certification corporation, has verified that the protocol meets the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) Guidance, which incorporates additional health standards including those from the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action.

These new protocols include universal COVID-19 testing for all guests and crew prior to embarkation, protected ashore visits at each destination only with an MSC Cruises excursion as an added level of protection for guests and the introduction of a COVID Protection Plan for further peace of mind for guests. 

New policies

The COVID Expert Group has come up with a series of new precautionary measures and response planning:

Health Screenings

Before a cruise begins, all guests will undergo a universal health screen that is encompassed in three steps:

1. Temperature check
2. Health questionnaire
3. COVID-19 swab test

Any guest who tests positive, displays symptoms or a temperature will be denied boarding. Following guidelines from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, guests traveling from countries categorized as high risk will be required to take a molecular RT-PCR test, to be done within 72 hours prior to joining the ship.

All crew members will be tested for COVID-19 prior to embarkation as well as regularly during their contract.

Enhanced sanitizing

Elevated sanitation and cleaning measures supported by the introduction of new cleaning methods, the use of hospital-grade disinfectant products and the sanitation of the air on board with UV-C light technology that kills 99.97% of microbes.

Social Distancing

Social distancing will be enabled through the reduction of the overall capacity of guests on board, allowing for more space for guests, approximately 10 m² (about 108 sq. ft) per person based on 70% overall capacity.

Venue capacity will be reduced, activities will be modified to allow for smaller groups and guests will be able to pre-book services and activities to manage guest numbers.

Onboard activities and entertainment have been redesigned to enable smaller group sizes and guests should book in advance. A rich program of activities will be available throughout the cruise including themed events, fun games, talent shows, fitness, dance and more.

Wide choice of live entertainment will continued to be offered around the ship. As the capacity of the theater will be reduced to ensure responsible social distancing, the entertainment schedule will be adapted so all our guests can still enjoy a great variety of award-winning shows.

Face Masks

MSC will ask guests to wear face masks when social distancing is not possible, such as in elevators.

Face masks will be provided daily to guests in their staterooms and will be available around the ship.

Kids

Children's activities and family live game shows will be available each day. 

New spaces on board will be reserved for children and teenagers as the youth areas will operate at a reduced capacity. Parents taking an excursion can still leave children with the youth staff by making a reservation one day in advance.

Lunch and dinner with the youth staff will still take place along with the most popular kids’ activities such as MSC Dance Crew, Cabin 12006 family game show & web series and the LEGO experience.

Dining

Restaurants, bars and lounges, will allow for social distancing and all meals and drinks will be served to guests at their table. The buffet restaurant will offer a new service concept and a new guest flow to ensure social distancing. Instead of self-service, the guests will select what they want and the food will be plated and handed to them to take back to their table to ensure the highest level of health and hygiene measures are followed. For a contactless experience, guests will be able to access restaurant and bar menus from their personal mobile device by scanning a QR code.

Medical facilities

Enhanced medical facilities and services with highly qualified staff trained, the necessary equipment to test, evaluate and treat suspected COVID-19 patients and the availability of free treatment at the onboard Medical Center for any guest with symptoms.

Dedicated isolation staterooms will be available to enable isolation of any suspected cases and close contacts.

Ongoing monitoring

Throughout the cruise, guests and crew will have their temperature checked daily either when they return from ashore or at dedicated stations around the ship to monitor the health status of every guest and crew member.

During this initial phase of operations, as a further enhanced measure of protection and to avoid risks to the health of guests and their fellow cruisers, guests will only go ashore as part of an organized MSC Cruises’ excursion.

Tour guides and drivers will also undergo health screening and will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Response plan

If a case is identified onboard, MSC will work in close cooperation with the national health authorities. The suspected case and close contacts will follow isolation measures and may be disembarked according to local and national regulations.

MSC Cruises has introduced a new MSC COVID-19 Protection Plan to provide guests with additional peace of mind for the summer cruises. This will cover the guest if they become infected prior to their departure if they are not able to travel, during the cruise for medical expenses and after the cruise if the guest falls sick. The MSC COVID-19 Protection Plan is currently available only to guests from Schengen countries. In addition to this, guests should also choose their usual travel and health insurance coverage.

Norwegian Cruise Line announced on Wednesday it was extending its global cruise suspension by canceling all of its cruises through the end of October, and that has prompted a lot of Royal Caribbean cruise fans to wonder if their line will do that same.

During a webinar with travel advisors, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed, clarified there was no update at this time for Royal Caribbean.

"The announcement that Norwegian Cruise Line came out today extending their pause, or their suspension of sailings, through the end of October, and people are asking, what is Royal Caribbean doing?"

"And at this point, we are suspended through the end of September. We are following the CDC guidelines. The CDC has extended through September. If the CDC extends that and of course, we will as well. But right now through the end of September."

Ms. Freed is referring to the CDC's recently extended "No Sail" Order, which forced all cruise lines to cancel their U.S. sailings through September 30, 2020. As a result, two weeks ago Royal Caribbean extended its cruise suspension through the end of September.

Typically, when one of the big three cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian) has suspended sailings, the other two lines follow sooner or later.

In recent months, some cruise lines have cancelled cruises ahead of the CDC's guidance, while other times the lines mirror the CDC's action.

Royal Caribbean's current target date to resume operations is October 1, 2020.

Will they or wont they cancel?

While Ms. Freed's comments today provide confirmation no decision has been made yet to cancel more cruises, but the question remains if more will occur.

There is no indication on what to expect in terms of if more cancellations will occur, nor when Royal Caribbean will actually resume sailings.

At the heart of the concern for many is if the cruise they booked will actually sail, and there is no answer, just conjecture.

In short, there is not enough information available and too many variables to know what to expect.

When Royal Caribbean cancelled cruises through September 30, it was matching the CDC guidelines, whereas the cancellation period before that preemptively cancelled sailings through the end of mid-September, even though the CDC had not extended its No Sail order.

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley sent an email to past cruise guests that provided an in-depth update of the cruise line's current status.

In an over 2,600 word email, Mr. Bailey touched on a number of topics that have been frequently asked by guests during Royal Caribbean's global cruise shutdown.

Crew update

Chief among the concerns of guests have been the hard working crew members and where they are now.

Mr. Bailey characterized their main focus on reuniting crew members with their families. Each country has rules and regulations for who can travel home, how and when.    

To date, Royal Caribbean has repatriated more than 43,000 crew members. By the end of this month, Royal Caribbean will have more than 97% of crew members back home.

For crew members still onboard, a great deal of special offerings have been rolled out in order to take care of them. 

"Our F&B team has introduced seafood nights, our culinary teams have been celebrating birthdays and anniversaries with surprise cakes for crew members, and we have also added a variety of activities and entertainment designed with physical distancing in mind. While nothing can beat being home with their family and friends at this time, we want our crew members to be in the best of spirits during this time."

In addition, Royal Caribbean has rolled out a new support program called RCL Cares: Employee Edition, which offers free and confidential counseling, assistance with legal and financial matters, and much more.

In addition, crew members can apply to receive financial assistance if they or their family have been severely impacted by the pandemic with hardships, such as death, hospitalization and the potential loss of their home.

Where are the cruise ships?

During the shutdown, Royal Caribbean's ships have visited more than 40 countries around the world, including Anthem and Ovation of the Seas in India, Voyager of the Seas in Manila, and three ships in Europe.  The remainder of our fleet is in the Caribbean.

In order to keep the ships ready to resume service when the time is ready, each ship has a small number of marine and repair crew members staying on board to prep our ships and keep everything running smoothly.

There was also a link to the videos of the Sovereign class ships being beached at the scrapyard.

New Main Dining Room menu

Mr. Bailey indicated a revamp of the main dining room menu is one activity that is being done during the shutdown.

"Our shoreside teams are also taking this opportunity to think about how we can continue to improve the guest experience. Our F&B team has been revamping the Main Dining Room menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as adding some unique experiences to our specialty dining venues."

Cruises starting again

Mr. Bailey also touched on the work being done to get cruises back operating again, which falls under the cruise line's Healthy Return to Service program.

This new program will focus on four key aspects:

• Upgraded screening prior to boarding
• Enhanced processes on board
• A special focus on addressing the destinations
• Procedures for addressing any reports of exceptions

The recently announced Healthy Sail Panel will coordinate efforts to ensure cruise ships are as sanitized and clean for guests and crew.  This group will review all of cruise line health and safety protocols and provide third party validation of their efforts. 

While the Healthy Sail Panel work has not been announced yet, Mr. Bailey also touched on some of the other key efforts being done to keep guests safe, including Muster 2.0.

Read the entire email

If you want to read the entire email from Mr. Bailey, click here to view it at your leisure.

It has been over four months since Royal Caribbean stopped cruising, and everyone is still wondering when cruises might resume.  

When cruises do start up again (like they have in Germany), would repeat cruise fans feel comfortable going on a Royal Caribbean cruise immediately.

I posed this question back in April, just a few weeks after the cruise shutdown occurred.  Since then, a lot has happened, including a greater proliferation of the global health crisis across the United States.

I wanted to know if cruisers felt as strongly now as they did in April about wanting to go back.

In April, about 61% of the people that responded to the poll answered "yes" to the question if they would feel comfortable going on a Royal Caribbean cruise right away once it resumes.

About 28% responded "no", and another 10% responded with "maybe".

Fast-forwarding back to today, I posted the exact same poll question for a little over 24 hours to get a sense of if attitudes have changed in regards to cruising again immediately.

At the time of writing this post, 1,181 responses were received, and an overwhelming 775 people answered yes, they would feel comfortable going on a Royal Caribbean cruise right away. This amounts to 65% of the votes, which is a slight increase compared to the last poll.

Two hundred ninety-two people voted "no" (24%), and 114 voted "maybe" (9%).

Many of the comments in the poll covered the gamut of emotions involved with their desire to cruise again, along with concerns over their safety.

"I feel they will make sure everything is sanitize and kept clean while everyone is onboard. They don’t want to take any chances. And if I have to get my temperature checked prior to boarding and periodically getting it checked, I am fine."

Many of the comments were in favor of getting back onboard, and there was a lot of enthusiasm about having the opportunity to sail again.

"As much as I would love to cruise, I'm not ready to shell out all of the money only to have the virus in the back of my mind."

The line between "no" and "maybe" seemed to be blurred, as some would feel more strongly about the potential negatives than others. Worry and concern were are the forefront of those that indicated they were not ready to sail again.

"Comfortable? Yes. But do I really want to? Probably not.... until the "party vibe" can get back to normal without the stress levels being associated with virus being hiked up...... the real question is...Would we Enjoy it? I just don't know, and with the amount of money we shell out, we don't want to risk it being wasted."

This was interesting comment that tried to balance the willingness to cruise again, with caution over if it is the right thing to do.

"I want to go - but I can not say its a "yes" until I see and understand "the new world of cruising" at the start; I went with maybe".

Many more of the "maybe" votes added comments why they felt that way, indicating they were torn between their love of cruising and concern over how safe things can ever really be onboard.

Your thoughts

If you missed out on the poll, let us all know in the comments below what you think. Will you be ready to cruise as soon as Royal Caribbean resumes? Or will you be waiting a few weeks or months before getting back onboard?

Royal Caribbean Group has hired someone to oversee all health concerns and initiatives on its cruise ships, including keeping crew and guests safe from COVID-19.

On Tuesday, the parent company of Royal Caribbean International announced it has hired Dr. Calvin Johnson as the Global Head, Public Health and Chief Medical Officer.

This new role will tackle the needs of the global health and wellness policy, manage its public health and clinical practice, and determine the strategic plans and operations of its global healthcare organization.

In addition, Dr. Johnson will  collaborate with the Healthy Sail Panel to ensure the company establishes and implements its protocols and recommendations. 

Dr. Johnson, most recently Principal at Altre Strategic Solutions Group, is the former Chief Medical Officer for Corizon Health, then the largest provider of correctional health care in the United States, and for Temple University Health System. He served as Secretary of Health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2003-2008 and was Medical Director for the New York City Department of Health from 1998-1999. He earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a BS in Chemistry from Morehouse College.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain commented in a statement on the hiring of Dr. Johnson, "Calvin's extensive experience in public health and clinical care will help us raise the bar on protecting the health of our guests, crew and the communities we serve. Calvin will also work closely with the newly announced Healthy Sail Panel to ensure we establish and implement leading health protocols and procedures."

Dr. Johnson has a strong background in protecting public health through service delivery innovation, policy development and analysis, and leadership training and development. He has successfully led significant response efforts during active infectious disease outbreaks and was responsible for ensuring all aspects of patient care while overseeing a clinical operation with 1,300 caregivers and more than 300,000 individuals.  

This is not the first time Royal Caribbean created a corporate role to address a sudden need to protect guests and crew.

Royal Caribbean created the role of Chief Meteorologist and hired James Van Fleet, following a high profile weather incident involving Anthem of the Seas.

On Friday, German cruise line TUI Cruises started cruising once again and it might offer a preview of what a Royal Caribbean could look like when they restart.

Royal Caribbean is a 50% owner of a joint venture that operates TUI Cruises, and the Mein Schiff 2 set sail on Friday with about 1,200 passengers onboard.

The ship sailed with about 60% capacity onboard in order to promote social distancing, a concept Royal Caribbean has said they will initially implement on its ships when they start sailing again.

USA Today reported passengers and crew onboard are required to stay five  feet away or wear protective masks and won’t serve themselves at the ship’s buffet. All passengers filled out a health questionnaire before boarding and had temperature checks.

In addition, TUI Group (parent company to TUI Cruises) noted they had "implemented comprehensive health and safety protocols on board."

The itinerary for this sailing was a departure from Hamburg, Germany that would sail to no ports, before returning to Germany on Monday. This is an intentional move to stick to short and restrictive sailings.

Germany is now in the process of reopening its economy, with strict guidelines on social distancing, mask use and personal hygiene measures.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wants to hear from people and organizations comments and questions about cruise lines resuming passenger operations.

The Federal organization has filed a new opportunity for the public to comment and submit questions that the CDC will use in formulating a new policy for cruise ships.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces a Request for Information related to cruise ship planning and infrastructure, resumption of passenger operations, and additional summary questions. This information may be used to inform future public health guidance and preventative measures relating to travel on cruise ships.

The CDC recently extended its "No Sail" order through the end of September, and it now requests comments from the public that will be used to inform future public health guidance and preventative measures relating to travel on cruise ships.

Specific questions

The CDC wants public participation specifically on the following topics:

1. Given the challenges of eliminating COVID-19 on board cruise ships while operating with reduced crew on board during the period of the April 15, 2020 No Sail Order Extension, what methods, strategies, and practices should cruise ship operators implement to prevent COVID-19 transmission when operating with passengers?

2. How should cruise ship operators bolster their internal public health programs with public health experts and invest in a robust public health infrastructure to ensure compliance with measures to detect, prevent, and control the spread of COVID-19?

3. How should cruise ship operators ensure internal public health programs Start Printed Page 44084are involved in all levels of decision-making processes relating to passenger and crew operations, crew welfare and mental health, occupational health, food safety, potable and recreational water safety, outbreak prevention and management response, and illness surveillance?

4. What is the feasibility of conducting COVID-19 diagnostic testing using FDA-approved or authorized laboratory tests on board a cruise ship?

a. Should specimens be tested on board or should specimens be collected on board for commercial testing onshore?

b. How frequently should cruise ship operators test all passengers and crew?

c. What would be the anticipated financial cost of testing all passengers and crew?

5. Because reports of illness may lead to restrictions on crew activities, how should cruise ship operators encourage crew members to report mild symptoms of COVID-like illness to medical personnel?

a. How should cruise ship operators encourage medical personnel to report these cases to CDC?

6. What should be the medical capacity to manage an outbreak or a severe case of COVID-19 on board the ship?

a. What arrangements should cruise ship operators have with private companies to transport and obtain medical care shoreside for passengers and crew with severe COVID-19?

7. What pre-arrangements should be made to ensure that all U.S. seaport communities will accept a returning ship after a COVID-19 outbreak is identified?

8. What plans should cruise ship operators have for operationalizing shoreside quarantine facilities in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak on board a ship, without exposing the public and without relying on Federal, State, or local resources?

9. Due to obstacles with commercial travel thus far, what pre-arrangements should cruise ship operators make with the airline industry to accept crew and passengers from ships not affected by COVID-19?

10. How should cruise ship operators address specific country travel restrictions that emerge as COVID-19 activity increases in geographical areas, such as

a. border closures preventing passengers and crew from repatriating?

b. seaport closures preventing porting of ships?

c. embarking passengers originating from countries with heightened COVID-19 activity?

11. What measures should cruise ship operators be required to take to reduce the burden on U.S. government resources if foreign seaports deny cruise ships the ability to come into port during a voyage?

12. Given difficulties cruise ship operators have experienced when repatriating crew via non-commercial transportation, what preparations should the industry make to repatriate passengers or crew via non-commercial transportation after COVID-19 is identified on board?

13. What innovations should cruise ship operators develop to reduce transmission of COVID-19 on board ships and how would these innovations be effective?

14. Should cruise ship operators implement other interventions to decrease or prevent the spread of COVID-19 on board ships?

15. What evidence of efficacy or other rationale exists for any public health interventions that cruise ship operators propose to take on board ships?

16. What steps should cruise ship operators take to prevent the introduction of COVID-19 onto ships after resuming passenger operations?

a. Should cruise ship operators deny boarding to passengers with COVID-like illness or confirmed infection with COVID-19?

b. Should cruise ship operators deny boarding to passengers with known exposure to a person with COVID-19 during the previous 14 days?

c. What methods should cruise ship operators use to screen for exposures and detect COVID-like illness in passengers seeking to board the ship?

d. Should cruise ship operators deny boarding to passengers coming from COVID-19 high-incidence geographic areas?

e. How should cruise ship operators manage embarking crew with COVID-like illness, known exposure, or coming from high-incidence geographic areas after resuming passenger operations?

f. Should cruise ship operators test passengers and crew pre-boarding? If yes, what should the testing protocol be?

g. Should cruise ship operators transport and house passengers and crew denied boarding at the seaport to avoid exposing the public?

17. Should cruise ship operators plan to reduce passenger and crew loads to decrease the risk of transmission on board the ship?

a. To what extent and for how long should cruise ship operators reduce passenger capacity?

b. To what extent might reducing passenger capacity affect the economic viability of cruise lines?

c. Should cruise ship operators be required to provide scientific evidence that reducing passenger capacity will prevent transmission on board?

18. Should cruise ship operators decrease the length of voyages and, if so, by how much?

a. How would decreasing the length of voyages affect the transmission of COVID-19 on board the ship and in U.S. communities?

b. Should cruise ship operators be required to provide scientific evidence that reducing length of voyages would decrease the risk of further introduction of COVID-19 to U.S. communities?

19. Should cruise ship operators limit shore excursions?

a. What precautions should cruise ship operators take during shore excursions to prevent passengers and crew from being exposed to COVID-19?

b. During shore excursions, how should cruise ship operators prevent transmission of COVID-19 into land-based communities?

20. Should cruise ship operators restrict the number of persons per room (e.g., maximum capacity of 2 adults per cabin)?

a. Should cruise ship operators be required to provide single-occupancy rooms with private bathrooms for crew after resuming passenger operations?

21. What mental health services should cruise ship operators provide to crew and passengers during quarantine or isolation?

22. What precautions should the cruise line industry take to safely disembark passengers and crew without transmitting COVID-19 into local seaport communities?

23. Should the cruise line industry immediately cancel cruise voyages if COVID-19 cases are identified on board or after disembarkation?

24. Because of the economic costs associated with cruising, some cruise ship passengers may be reluctant to cancel travel plans if they become ill or are exposed to COVID-19 or may try to hide symptoms of illness. Should cruise ship operators fully refund or provide incentives to passengers that:

a. Are denied boarding due to COVID-like illness symptoms, confirmed infection, or known exposure?

b. are denied boarding due to coming from high-incidence geographic areas?

c. request last-minute cancellations due to COVID-19 concerns?

25. Due to the costs associated with seeking medical care on board, and the likelihood that sick passengers will be isolated and their travel companions quarantined for the remainder of their voyage, how should cruise ship operators encourage passengers to notify the medical center when they experience COVID-19 symptoms?

26. How should cruise ship operators decrease or eliminate the risk for COVID-19 transmission for both passengers and crew in the following group settings?

a. Embarkation and disembarkation?

b. Safety drills and trainings?

c. Dining?

d. Onboard entertainment events?

e. Shore excursions?

27. What benefits can be expected in terms of averted deaths and illnesses and how does this compare to the expected financial costs of the above measures?

28. Should cruise ship operators be required to designate a responsible company official who will accept legal responsibility for failure to implement measures to protect public health?

How to submit comments or questions to the CDC

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2020-0087 by any of the following methods listed below.

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Maritime Unit, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS V18-2, Atlanta, GA 30329.

CDC does not accept comment by email.

Written comments must be received on or before September 21, 2020.

Royal Caribbean informed travel partners on Wednesday they have extended its popular Cruise with Confidence policy by another two months.

Cruise with Confidence now allows cancellations up to 48-hours prior to sailing, in exchange for a 100% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) on sailings through April 2022 for bookings made on or before September 30, 2020.

There is no change to the policy parameters, which was originally announced on March 6, 2020 in an effort to give consumer a higher level of trust that they could change their mind later if they do not want to cruise.

Under the program, should you change your mind about a booked sailing, Cruise with Confidence offers the flexibility to cancel up to 48-hours prior to the sail date in exchange for a 100% Future Cruise Credit.

Cruise with Confidence is applicable to guests booked on-or-before September 30, 2020 on sailings departing through April 2022 (all open deployment as of July 22, 2020).

Ordinarily, guests would incur a penalty for canceling a sailing beyond the final payment date, which is typically 90 days before a sailing commences. Cruise with Confidence provides a great deal more flexibility to change minds with no penalty.

In addition to Cruise with Confidence, guests can still take advantage of "Best Price Guarantee" and "Lift and Shift."

• Best Price Guarantee: Guests can choose to change the price and promotional offer on their reservation up to 48 hours before their cruise.
• Lift and Shift: This option is ideal for those guests wishing to move their vacation plans to next year. Eligible between now and September 30, 2020, guests can protect their original cruise fare and promotional offering by shifting to a future sailing on the same itinerary type, sailing length, stateroom category, and within the same 4-week period of their original cruise date same-time-next-year.

“Guests are reacting positively to our Cruise with Confidence policy,” says Royal Caribbean Group chairman and CEO Richard Fain, “because it enables them to make informed decisions and to better manage complicated travel plans during this unprecedented time of uncertainty.”

Currently, Royal Caribbean has cancelled all of its sailings through September 30th, 2020.

Helpful resources:

• Royal Caribbean Cancellations
• Royal Caribbean Future Cruise Credit: What you need to know
• Top 10 Royal Caribbean Lift and Shift questions
• How Royal Caribbean will let you take advantage of a price drop up until 48 hours before your cruise