Drugmaker AstraZeneca announced today great news for the cruise industry, which has seen a great deal of hesitation among customers who are concerned about going on a cruise ship during the current pandemic.

The British company said it has begun manufacturing the University of Oxford’s potential coronavirus vaccine ahead of trial results and has doubled its capacity to two billion doses. It hopes to make 400 million doses for the U.S. and U.K. and 1 billion for those in low- and middle-income countries. 

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told journalists the company plans to start distributing the vaccine to the U.S. and U.K. in September or October, with the balance of deliveries likely to be made by early 2021.

Human trials began in Oxford at the end of April and scientists hope to have some indication over whether the vaccine works by July. 

Soriot added that the company expected to have clinical results by August. “Our present assumption is that we will have the data by the end of the summer, by August, so in September we should know whether we have an effective vaccine or not,” he told BBC radio.

Last month, American biotech company Moderna announced it has an experimental vaccine that resulted in positive interim clinical data in its first human safety tests.

A new plan by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will utilize a color-coded system of identifying potential and existing cases of Coronavirus on cruise ships while there are no passengers onboard.

The Miami Herald is reporting that the CDC's new system will assign each cruise ship with a color to signify the ship's status:

• Green: no confirmed cases of COVID-19 or COVID-like illness for 28 days.
• Yellow: one or more COVID-like illness cases pending confirmation.
• Red: one or more cases of confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-like illness within the past 28 days

The new system is one part of the agency's plan to detect, prevent and mitigate the spread of coronavirus on cruise ships. It was developed to assist in simplifying the process of getting crew members home.

If a ship is in Green status, crew transfers and repatriation are possible via commercial transportation, whereas non-commercial transportation would be permitted for yellow or red status.

In addition to the color-coded system, the CDC included recommendations for action to take onboard cruise ships for each color system to mitigate the spread of the disease.

Even while a ship is in Green status, the CDC recommends cruise ships take certain steps to slow the spread if it were to occur:

• Instruct crew members to wear a cloth face covering when outside of individual cabins
• Relocate all crew to single-occupancy cabins with private bathrooms
• Implement social distancing (6 feet) of crew members when working or moving through the ship

It also will require certain other changes for ships in Green status:

• Eliminate self-serve dining options at all crew and officer messes
• Discourage handshaking
• Place hand sanitizer (containing at least 60% alcohol) in multiple locations and in sufficient quantities to encourage hand hygiene
• Promote respiratory and hand hygiene and cough etiquette
• Place posters that encourage hand hygiene to help stop the spread in high-trafficked areas

Plan for passengers is still unknown

The color-coded system was designed for the current state of cruise ships during the global cruise shutdown, but an entirely different approach needs to be determined for passengers.

The CDC’s director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine Martin Cetron indicated these plans do not apply to passenger cruises. Furthermore, he told the Miami Herald, "the CDC has not begun to review plans for how to safely operate cruises prior to development of a vaccine."

"This is the bare minimum," Cetron said of the plans to mitigate spread of the virus on ships while cruising is stopped. "If a line ever wants to get back to full density on board, bringing on board people who are at risk of dying of COVID, they have to be able to control COVID on these ships when their occupancy is 90% less. It will be this plan on steroids."

Tourism opening back up elsewhere

While the cruise industry is under the microscope of government oversight, other aspects of the tourism industry have plans in place to resume operations.

Theme parks in Orlando, Florida are re-opening this month, with Universal Orlando re-opening select resort hotels and parks to guests this week. Walt Disney World will re-open in July, and SeaWorld Orlando & Busch Gardens Tampa will re-open June 11.

The airlines have been operating throughout the COVID-19 era, with regular flights in and out of countries such as Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Port Canaveral's CEO recently said he feels the cruise industry is taking an "unfair hit" from the federal government.

Norwegian Cruise Line released on Monday its new policies, procedures and measures meant to keep guests safe once cruising resumes.

Royal Caribbean has not released their new health policies, but have alluded to it coming soon.  To give Royal Caribbean cruisers an idea of what to expect, here is what NCL has in mind.

The cruise line posted its new "SAIL SAFE Health and Safety Program" that aims to ensure the health, safety and confidence of guests and crew onboard its ships.

There are six key areas of health and safety addressed in the program, and it will be implemented fleetwide.

Enhanced Screening Protocols

All guests will undergo an enhanced pre-embarkation health screening.

Additionally, all crew will undergo extensive screening prior to embarkation and constant monitoring throughout the voyage. \

Once on board, touchless temperature checks and continuous monitoring of guests and crew throughout the voyage will help identify potential health issues, offering an additional
layer of prevention and protection.

Checks will occur:

• Prior to embarkation and disembarkation
• Upon returning to the ship while in a port of call
• Prior to all activities in public venues
• Prior to all meals in dining venues
• A healthy crew helps ensure healthy guests. Constant monitoring of crew health includes temperature checks multiple times per day as well as rigid sanitation protocols.
• We’re enhancing our existing Pre-Employment Medical Examination process, which already screens for a wide variety of infectious diseases, to ensure the health and safety of our crew.
• We’re exploring on board testing capabilities that will allow crew members to undergo the latest, most advanced form of COVID-19 testing at any time throughout their employment contract.

Responsible Social Distancing

Staggered embarkation and advanced online check-in will be implemented for proper social distancing.

In addition, the cruise line will reduce capacity in all public areas throughout the voyage.

All onboard activities will still be available, although operated at a reduced capacity, and in some cases, slightly modified in order to ensure safe social distancing. NCL will take necessary precautions and follow applicable public health guidelines to ensure guest health and safety, which is our highest priority at all times.

Increased sanitation measures

All ships are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected prior to every voyage in accordance with company protocols, which are developed in partnership with CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program.

Embarkation terminals will be sanitized continuously, and, where possible, fogged before and after each embarkation and debarkation.

All staterooms, suites and public areas will be cleaned, sanitized and disinfected at an increased frequency, using Electrostatic Spray Technology.

Increased sanitation efforts include:

• The disinfectant we use for fogging in staterooms and public areas is hypochlorous acid (HOCl). Hypochlorous acid is a non-toxic, powerful oxidant that effectively kills bacteria, spores, and viruses. It is natural and safe to use in open areas since it is comprised of natural elements such as water and salt, and electric charge.
• NCL's 24/7 prevention schedule will feature continuous disinfection of public areas and high-traffic touch points. NCL will ensure that cleaning occurs continuously for all elevators and all public areas during on and off-peak hours.
• Buffets and beverage stations will be full service with staff available to serve guests.
• All guests will be strongly encouraged to engage in frequent handwashing, including when entering food and beverage venues, and hand sanitizer will be prominently placed and easily accessible throughout the ship

All-new Air Filtration

Installation of medical-grade air-filters, H13 HEPA, that remove 99.95% of airborne pathogens across our entire fleet to ensure the air you breathe is clean.

Extended Ship To Shore Safety

NCL will visit safe, open ports that may mean itinerary changes.

Enhanced Medical Resources

Onboard medical centers will be fully equipped with the latest testing kits and medical supplies.

NCL will also increase their medical team fleetwide.

Testing kits and medical supplies include:

• Advanced onsite COVID-19 testing
• Increased inventory of vaccinations
• Increased inventory of medications to treat COVID-19

NCL will begin to introduce a newly created onboard position of Public Health Officer, responsible for the oversight of all sanitation and outbreak prevention initiatives. Additionally, they will monitor the day-to-day cleanliness of all public areas and accommodations, maintaining compliance with the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program.

• Enhanced health & safety trainings and continued education for crew members.
• Webinars developed by our various health partners.
• WHO and CDC materials are available to vessels and crew.
•  All crew will have public health training when joining the ship.

What do you think of NCL's health program? Does it go far enough to make you feel safe to cruise? Are there rules you do not like? Share your observations in the comments!

The most asked question about Royal Caribbean, and cruising in general, is when will cruises resume sailing, and Royal Caribbean is still sorting that out as well.

With Royal Caribbean's announcement last week it was canceling all cruises through the end of July, the company updated its website to indicate it will return to service on August 1.

However, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard Fain spoke on CNBC last week and was frank with his answer about when his company will start sailing again.

"Well, I think we have said that we're not sure when we're coming back. We won't come back until we're absolutely sure that we've done everything we can to work to protect the safety of our guests and crew."

"We said when we we won't be back before the end of July, but we we haven't gone to the next step of saying we're absolutely confident that we're starting on August one."

"We will work with the authorities. We will work with all the experts that we have asked to help us on this, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to protect our guests and crew."

What to expect

Without a doubt, you are likely wondering when cruising will start back up again and what date to believe.

For now, you should take Royal Caribbean's date of operations to resume on August 1 as the defacto answer, but prepare for more cancellations.

The answer of when cruises will resume may be better determined by looking out your window and seeing when life begins to return to some kind of normalcy. The sooner daily life starts back up, the less impediments the cruise lines will have to face in starting up again.

The Australian Border Force announced it has extended its ban on cruise ships until September 17, 2020.

The Australian Border Force said in a statement: "On 15 May 2020, the Governor-General has extended the human biosecurity emergency period for an additional three months, from 17 June to 17 September 2020. This has enabled the Minister for Health to continue to exercise the emergency powers under the Commonwealth Biosecurity Act to prevent or control the spread of COVID-19."

"On 20 May 2020, the Minister for Health extended the determination to prohibit the arrival at an Australian port of any international cruise ship that has left a foreign port. The restrictions included direct arrivals and Round Trip Cruises."

The ban prohibits any cruise ship capable of carrying more than 100 passengers is prohibited from operating cruises in Australia, including direct arrivals and round trip cruises.

The ban was put into place on March 27, and was set to expire in June.

"The Australian Border Force has been in constant contact with the cruise industry which has been cooperative and understands the Government's overwhelming priority to ensure the health and safety of the broader Australian community," the ABF said in a statement.

Royal Caribbean announced on Wednesday it has cancelled another batch of cruises, and that means thousands more guests will be waiting for refunds and future cruise credits to be processed on top of the many more that are still waiting for refunds from their cancelled sailings.

It is no secret Royal Caribbean, and all cruise lines, are struggling to process refunds in a timely manner. Royal Caribbean has issued public apologies for the delays, but the lag in getting the money back to consumers is still a source of frustration for many.

So why are refunds taking so long to be processed and payed out?

The answer from the top

During a webinar with travel agents on Wednesday, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard Fain was asked about the delays in refunds and issuing future cruise credits, and could he address what the cruise line is doing about those delays.

Mr. Fain started off with saying the cruise line has two top priorities at the moment: repatriating crew members to their home countries and getting refunds out to guests.

Two issues were identified by Mr. Fain as causing friction in the processing of credits or refunds: many employees having to work from home and "a dramatic increase in the number of cancellations and refunds."

"So the volume simply exploded. And a very nice system that worked for a volume of X doesn't work per volume of 50 times X or whatever the number is, but we simply weren't prepared for it. And by the way, this requires more training than other things."

According to Mr. Fain, compounding the problem is how the credit card companies work to process these requests.

"We also found that the credit card companies weren't equipped to handle this as quickly as we thought. And so in some cases, we would send them a notice to put a credit on somebody's account. And it was taking up to 10 days to actually get posted through again. Once we understood it and we really dealt with it, that we were able to deal with."

In light of these issues, Royal Caribbean has worked to expedite the refund process, although that is still a work in progress.

"We have sped this up, so I think we're getting better at it, we're bringing it more under control. It's still not as as fast and as efficient as we would like it to be. But again, it is the combination of the volume that we simply weren't prepared for and have never experienced, combined with the inefficiency of so many of our people working from home."

With more cancelled cruises and longer delays in refunds, it creates an even bigger problem.

"When something like this happens, it it builds on itself. And so this same issue also reverberates into affecting our call centers. So we start to get more calls. People are on hold longer and it becomes a vicious circle."

What Royal Caribbean is doing to get refunds out faster

With the problem identified, Royal Caribbean is not content with maintaining the status quo.  Mr. Fain explained what the cruise line is doing to get refunds out faster and improve the process.

"What we're working to do is convert the vicious circle into a virtuous circle. We've added technical capabilities to hopefully speed up more of the processes. We've added a lot of people to the process. So the the numbers, and I and I get a daily report on the numbers of delays in refunds and FCC fees, are coming down."

"We're not to a point yet where I no longer need to get that daily report. And I look forward to that day. But where we're making progress towards it."

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & Service Vicki Freed also added by apologizing for the issues, and re-assuring travel agents that they are working on it.

"We do recognize travel advisors that the whole time have been long, and we apologize, it's not level of service. We strive to have at Royal Caribbean. So we hear you. We are aware of it."

"But we promise you we're going to keep working really hard to reduce those long hold times. Now, with the new suspension announced today, it's not going to get easier."

"So standby, we're aware of it travel partners, and we will do better. We need to do better, because you deserve us to be doing the right thing for you."

Royal Caribbean held a call with investors this morning to discuss its first quarter 2020 results, and touched upon a variety of topics related to the current business climate, as well as what the future may look like.

During the hour-long call, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. executives answered questions related to return to service, refunds, future demand and more.

Surprisingly high demand by cruise fans

Despite all the upheaval in the cruise and travel industries, Royal Caribbean reports its brand loyalty members are showing surprising dedication to the cruise line.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty touched on the subject, "Our loyalty guests have really just been absolutely incredible in their support, and you can really see their love of cruising as they begin to want to focus further out."

Royal Caribbean International President & CEO Michael Bayley also spoke about the loyalty of cruise fans, "I think we've really seen surprising demand from our loyalty members, and remember we've got close to 20 million loyalty members. Their response to various promotions that we've put into the market, just to understand what the demand looks like is been surprisingly positive. So, as we move into Q4 and into '21, we've been honestly surprised in terms of the demand that we've seen coming in, particularly from loyalty guests."

Outlook on cruising resuming

Of course, the question everyone wanted to know is about Royal Caribbean starting cruises again. While Royal Caribbean provided no firm dates on when they plan to cruise again, executives did touch upon its approach to resuming sailings.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard Fain started off the call touching on the matter, "While it's very difficult to have any certainty around the timing or shape of a recovery we do intend to make sure that we are prepared for it and for the changes it will entail. To this end, we are focused on all aspects of our safe return just to serve as strategy with special emphasis on safety security and health. We know that the public expects that we will elevate our health and safety protocols to a new level. We are prepared to make sure that we meet and exceed those expectations."

"We have been and are working on ways to up our game in this field to ensure that we use our ingenuity, our passion, and our innovation, raise the bar to new heights. We are calling our aspirational program the healthy return to service program. The program will have four main focuses: upgraded screening prior to boarding, enhanced processes and procedures onboard, special focus on addressing the destinations we visit, and procedures for dealing with any reports of exceptions."

"It is tempting to start talking now about all the individual components of how things will change. However, we still defining all those enhancements, and we're still taking guidance from our expert advisors. And this process will continue in keeping with our mantra of continuous improvement."

"The one thing that won't change is our determination that we will not start operations until we are fully ready to do so with all the hygiene and other health protocols solidly in place."

Not all ships will start up at once

Continuing comments made over the last few weeks, Mr. Fain reiterated that when Royal Caribbean starts sailing again, the entire fleet will not resume at once.

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

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

Millennials vs. Baby Boomers

An intriguing stat shared during the call was Mr. Liberty's breakdown of who is taking refunds versus future cruise credits based on age.

Younger cruisers, specifically millennials, typically opt for a cash refund, whereas families and baby boomers are more likely to take a future cruise credit.

Big ships vs small ships

One of the questions asked was if bigger or smaller ships made more sense to start cruising first, and Mr. Liberty talked about how bigger ships are better situated to handle the demands, both financially and socially.

"Load factors can be lower because they have great economies of scale, they're extremely fuel efficient, and the cabin cabin category makes it very rich. Really more broadly within the fleet, public space per berth is very good. But certainly the newer ships have more public space per passenger. And would be heavily in consideration for the return to service, as well as other ships that we've modernized and having more venues on to."

During a call with investors, Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley announced on Wednesday the cruise line will cancel all sailings through July 31, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When asked directly by a Wall Street analyst, Mr. Bayley confirmed Royal Caribbean will match other cruise lines by extending its global suspension of cruises through July 31, 2020.

"Our plan is this afternoon we'll be announcing further suspension for voyages until the end of July, until July 31st. The only exception to the suspension will be our China operations."

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Royal Caribbean International suspended its global cruise operation starting on March 13, 2020. This new set of cancellations will extend that suspension from June 12, 2020 through July 31, 2020.

NOON UPDATE: Royal Caribbean has issued this official update: "Given ongoing global public health circumstances, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has decided to extend the suspension of most sailings through July 31, 2020, with the exception of sailings from China, which will be suspended through the end of June."

"We expect to return to service on August 1."

For those currently confirmed on sailings departing June 12–July 31, 2020, and not previously cancelled under our Cruise with Confidence offer, a few options have been prepared for consideration.

Lift & Shift: Select next year’s sailing on the same itinerary type, sailing length, stateroom category, and within the same 4-week window of the original cruise date and your clients are all set. Act quickly — option expires on June 10, 2020!

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 and will be automatically issued on-or-before June 30, 2020 — if neither of the other options 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 cancellation date. 

If you previously opted to take advantage of our Cruise with Confidence policy, the 100% FCC will stand, and this new option is ineligible.

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 December 31, 2020.

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.

The United States and Canadian governments announced they have agreed to extend their agreement to close the border between both countries to non-essential travel until June 21, 2020.

The original agreement for the border shutdown was to expire this week, but the Associated Press is reporting the agreement has been extended an additional 30 days.

The border shutdown was announced on March 18 and then extended in April.

Royal Caribbean had already cancelled all of its cruises to Canada through June 30, 2020, primarily due to the Canadian government closing its ports to cruise ship traffic until at least July 1.

Essential cross-border workers like healthcare professionals, airline crews and truck drivers are still permitted to cross.

Americans who are returning to America and Canadians who are returning to Canada are also exempted from the border closure.

An American biotech company announced its coronavirus vaccine resulted in positive interim clinical data in its first human safety tests.

Moderna published the results of its vaccine candidate against novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), from the Phase 1 study led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

These results have not been published in a scientific journal and are only a first step toward showing the experimental vaccine is safe and effective.

The results show an increased level of antibodies in the 8 patients given various dose levels that matched the levels of antibodies blood samples from people who have recovered from COVID-19.

The vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, was generally safe and well tolerated. The only side effect was in one patient where there was redness around the injection site.   

"With today’s positive interim Phase 1 data and the positive data in the mouse challenge model, the Moderna team continues to focus on moving as fast as safely possible to start our pivotal Phase 3 study in July and, if successful, file a BLA," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer at Moderna. "We are investing to scale up manufacturing so we can maximize the number of doses we can produce to help protect as many people as we can from SARS-CoV-2."

Countries and private companies around the world are in a race to create a working vaccine, and the U.S. is aiming to have hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine broadly available by the end of the year.

The cruise industry has been especially hard hit by COVID-19, and the result has been ships not sailing since March and tremendous financial losses.

A vaccine is widely seen as a key step to restoring consumer confidence that going on a cruise, as well as various other aspects of daily life, is safe. Meanwhile, over 75% of cruise fans are willing to return to a cruise even without a vaccine.

Royal Caribbean currently has cancelled all sailings until at least June 12.