Are you ready to book an Alaska cruise in 2024?

Royal Caribbean has released its Alaska cruises for the 2024 season.

The cruise line will send four cruise ships to Alaska in 2023, matching the amount of ships it has been sending to the region in the years prior.

The new sailings are posted on Royal Caribbean's website.

Why booking early is so important

If you want to get in some of the lowest Alaska cruise prices, booking early is the key.

Equally important is the ability to get a specific cabin, especially suites.  Some highly desirable cruise cabins sell out quickly, especially the aft balcony cabins on the Radiance Class ships.

Read more: Difference between aft balcony & balcony cabins

While you could roll the dice and hope for a better last-minute deal on an Alaska cruise, the cabin selections will be paltry at best.

More information to help you save money on an Alaska cruise:

• How far in advance to book an Alaska cruise
• What is the cheapest month for an Alaska cruise?
• Tips for taking an Alaska cruise on a budget

A look at the 2024 Alaska cruises

The new Alaska 2022 cruises are available to book between April and September 2024.

Ovation of the Seas will sail from Seattle and offer 7- and 8-night Alaska glacier cruises.

Quantum of the Seas will also sail from Seattle, sailing 7-night cruises.

Both Quantum Class ships will visit scenic cities and towns along the Northwest coastline, including Victoria, British Columbia; Sitka, Skagway, Ketchikan and Juneau, Alaska.

The two Radiance Class ships will offer cruises from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Radiance of the Seas will offer 7-10 night Alaska cruises that can also combine with Land Tours to offer immersive visits to Alaska, including in-land destinations such as Denali. 

Radiance is sailing alternating, open-jaw itineraries between Vancouver and Seward.

Brilliance of the Seas will sail primarily 7-night roundtrip cruises, including some multi-glacier cruises that visit Hubbard Glacier in addition to Dawes Glacier.

Be sure to consult the Royal Caribbean website or your travel professional for further assistance with itinerary options and booking.

Hawaii 2024 cruises

In addition to the Alaska cruises, Royal Caribbean also included Hawaii cruises in this new deployment.

Royal Caribbean sails to Hawaii as part of the repositioning process to get its vessels between North America and Australia. This means each ship that sails to Alaska, does a one-time Hawaii cruise as it gets into position.

At the time of this article's posting, Radiance of the Seas Hawaii itineraries are not listed yet.

In April 2024, the ships will offer cruises from Hawaii to North America:

• Brilliance of the Seas: 8-night cruise from Oahu to Vancouver with stops in Maui & Hawaii.
• Ovation of the Seas: 9-night cruise from Oahu to Vancouver with stops in Maui & Hawaii.
• Quantum of the Seas: 10-night cruise from Oahu to Vancouver with a sailing along the Napali Coast and stops in Maui & Hawaii.

At the conclusion of the Alaska cruise season, the ships reverse the itinerary and sail from Vancouver to Hawaii.

• Brilliance of the Seas: 10-night cruise from Vancouver to Oahu with stops in Kauai, Maui, Hilo& Hawaii.
• Ovation of the Seas: 9-night cruise from Vancouver to Oahu with a stop in Maui and sailing along the Napali Coast.
• Quantum of the Seas: 10-night cruise from Vancouver to Oahu with stops in Victoria, Seattle & Maui.

More about Alaska cruises

• 50 tips for planning your Alaska cruise
• How to choose the right Alaska cruise itinerary
• What is the best time to cruise to Alaska?
• What Is an Alaska Inside Passage Cruise?
• What to pack for a cruise to Alaska?
• Best things to do on an Alaska cruise

It's been a few weeks since our last construction photo update of Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship.

Icon of the Seas is being constructed at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, and RoyalCaribbeanBlog commissioned a new set of drone photos to share with all of you what the ship looks like.

Since these are exclusive photos, please do not redistribute these photos. Feel free to share a link to this article instead.

These photos were taken earlier today from near the shipyard.

Last time we shared a photo update, we did not know what features Royal Caribbean had planned for the ship as details were still under wraps.  Since then, Royal Caribbean has revealed what the ship looks like, as well as many of the notable fun things to do onboard.  

One major change you're likely to notice is the addition of the AquaDome to the front of the ship.

The AquaDome will be a new neighborhood on Icon of the Seas that doubles as dining venue and evening theater.

The AquaDome was lifted from its former location behind the ship to its current position at the front of the ship.

You'll also notice the bow of the ship is fully installed, featuring the parabolic bow.

This is a functional design element that creates a curved indentation in the bottom of the vessel’s hull. 

Moving to the side of the ship, we can see a good look at the progress being made across the ship.

While none of the water slides are added yet, we can see the support structures for them.

The Royal Caribbean logo is also on the side of the ship, which is where you can try the Crown’s Edge aerial adventure.

It’s part skywalk, part ropes course, part thrill ride, and the floor can fall away leaving you dangling high over the ocean. 

Let's move to the aft of the ship and see the progress being made on the back half of the ship.

Where the AquaDome was located before, we still see something in its place.

Icon of the Seas is scheduled to be delivered in late 2023 and begin sailing in January 2024.

Icon of the Seas is the first of three Icon Class cruise ships, although more could be ordered. The other two Icon Class ships will be in service by 2026.

Construction of Icon of the Seas has reached a new milestone with one of the signature areas added to the ship.

Royal Caribbean has designed Icon of the Seas to have many new features that stand out from the rest of the fleet, as well as just about every other cruise ship out there.

The AquaDome is a new neighborhood concept that will take the AquaTheater concept from Oasis Class cruise ships to a new level.

On Sunday, the Meyer Turku shipyard installed the 363-ton dome, which has over 600 glass panels and was installed using more than 1,600 feet of cables. The length of cables is longer than the height of the Empire State Building.

The process of lifting the massive dome is a large-scale, complex process.

Up until now, the AquaDome was located next to Icon of the Seas at the shipyard.

The dome had been constructed on its own in tandem with ship construction. This is a common strategy in cruise ship building, as it allows multiple facets of the cruise ship construction process to be done simultaneously.

Cruise ship cabins, ship blocks, and other features are built elsewhere and then assembled together later at the shipyard.

What is the AquaDome?

Once complete, the AquaDome is located at the very top of Icon of the Seas.

It will be home to restaurants, retail, bars, lounge spaces, and–most importantly–Royal Caribbean’s next-level AquaTheater.

By day, passengers can relax in one of the AquaDome’s comfortable seating areas with expansive, 220 degree views of the ocean. Based on the ship’s deck plans, the AquaDome also features several dining venues including Hooked Seafood.

The show has the tallest waterfall at sea (55 feet tall), along with flying artists and divers.

Royal Caribbean is also promising guests will see a transforming pool, four robotic arms, state-of-the-art projection, and more.

Other notable new neighborhoods on Icon of the Seas

Besides AquaDome, there will be a few other new areas added to Icon of the Seas that are new to Royal Caribbean.

Thrill Island is a new water park at the top of Icon of the Seas, which has 6 waterslides to choose from.

If you prefer relaxation over excitement, then Chill Island neighborhood is for you, with seven pools to choose from, along with whirlpools, in-water loungers and breathtaking views. 

The Surfside neighborhood is another new concept designed with young families in mind, where adults and kids ages six and under can stay and play all day.

There will also be a revamped adults-only area, known as Cloud 17. For guests age 16+ years old, it overlooks the ocean with dedicated Lime &
Coconut bar and whirlpool.

The Hideaway has a multilevel terrace and first suspended infinity pool at sea.

Icon of the Seas launches in 2024

Icon of the Seas will debut in January 2024 from her homeport of Miami.

The first sailing of Icon of the Seas, a seven-night voyage out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean, is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2024.

The ship will alternate between Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean itineraries.

Hurricane season isn't over yet, and the proof of that is in the late-season subtropical storm Nicole.

While not a hurricane yet (and possibly never a true hurricane), Royal Caribbean has begun re-routing a number of ships to avoid the path of the storm.  

Guests with sailings this week have been notified on a series of changes.

"We're very sorry for the last-minute change caused by the weather. The decision to modify our itinerary is not one taken lightly, and we explored all options before taking this measure," a letter distributed to guests on Liberty of the Seas said.

"However, as always, your safety comes first."

"Please know, being onboard a ship is one of the safest places to be because we are faster and can move out of the way of any inclement weather.

Read more: Safe at sea: what it’s like on a cruise ship when there’s a hurricane

Here are the changes due to Subtropical storm Nicole so far:

Liberty of the Seas will change her 4-night Bahamas cruise to skip all scheduled ports and instead sail to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Freedom of the Seas will change from a 4-night Bahamas cruise to head to Falmouth, Jamaica instead.

Anthem of the Seas is altering her 7-night Bahamas itinerary to instead visit Labadee for two days in a row.

Independence of the Seas will still be able to visit Nassau as scheduled, but will drop a visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay.

The November 7 sailing of Independence of the Seas will be extended by one day and will now return on November 12. As a result, the November 11 sailing of Independence of the Seas will be shortened by a day and begin on November 12.

Enchantment of the Seas is on an 8-night Southeast Coast and Perfect Day Cruise.  She was already able to visit Charleston and Port Canaveral, but will drop Nassau and CocoCay and head back north.

Read more: What to know about cruising during hurricane season in the Caribbean

Necessary changes

Altering the planned itinerary for cruise ships due to a tropical storm is no simple task, and a large part of the planning process falls to Royal Caribbean's in-house meteorologist.

James Van Fleet shared a video update on Monday explaining the nuances of predicting a hurricane's track, which is necessary to know where to send Royal Caribbean's fleet to avoid the path.

"This is a very odd track, friends. It looks super weird, but it all makes sense to me meteorologically how this plays out."

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Mr. Van Fleet explained that the storm's track is the result of various fronts the storm will encounter, including a cold front that is going to, "punch it right in the face, knock it back to the south west."

"That's why such a weird track over the Bahamas, down over Florida, and then finally going north. It's because that first front literally pushes it back to the southwest. It hangs out for about 12 hours or so, and then a next front comes and grabs it as we get into Thursday and Friday and will yank it up the East Coast as we head into Saturday, Sunday and Monday."

Mr. Van Fleet sees swells between North Carolina, the Bahamas, and the east coast of Florida.

"I think the worst part of that will be on Wednesday in the middle of the week. And that's when much of the fleet is out in ports and away from Florida."

How bad seas? Mr. Van Fleet is expecting ocean swells between 21-28 feet (7 or 8 meters).

Where is Subtropical storm Nicole headed?

According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is located about 495 miles east of the northwestern Bahamas.

Nicole has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and a minimum central pressure of 1002 mb.

According to the National Hurricane Center, a subtropical storm is a cyclone where maximum sustained surface wind speed is 39 mph or more.

Meteorologists expect Nicole will gradually strengthen over the next few days and be near or at hurricane intensity by Wednesday as it approaches Florida.

Happy Sunday! Temperatures may be dropping, but there is plenty of Royal Caribbean news to share.  This is your weekly summary of all the Royal Caribbean news from this past week, perfectly fitted for your consumption.

Royal Caribbean shared when it will put new cruises on sale in 2024-2025.

While not complete, the initial deployment schedule gives an idea of when to expect new cruises to book to  Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, and Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean promises more release dates will be announced soon for other 2024 - 2025 sailings.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean drops pre-cruise testing requirement for almost all cruises
• Royal Caribbean adds daily limit to unlimited dining plan a la carte restaurants
• Royal Caribbean makes small change to make it easier to track Diamond drink vouchers
• Royal Caribbean has quietly brought back pre-cruise entertainment reservations on some cruise ships
• The best cruise itineraries for every type of traveler
• Royal Caribbean cruises in November 2022: What to expect
• What families will love about Icon of the Seas' new dedicated family neighborhood

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 475th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available to enjoy, where Matt lists the things that change about how you cruise as you cruise more often.

Cruising a lot changes your outlook on how you cruise, and I have a list of 5 things I think people that cruise a lot would tell first time cruisers about how the process changes.

Please feel free to subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! We’d appreciate it.

New RCB Video: Where to keep Seapass Card, phone, and cash when on a shore excursion?

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Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — Where to keep Seapass Card, phone, and cash when on a shore excursion? — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean Group reports first quarterly profit in almost three years

Royal Caribbean reported its third quarter earnings this week, and had positive cash flow for the first time in almost three years.

Royal Caribbean Group posted better than expected earnings for the third quarter of 2022 with a total revenue of $3.0 billion and net income of $33 million.

Revenue hitting $3 billion is the highest since the third quarter of 2019.

What to expect with Royal Caribbean's Black Friday and Cyber Monday cruise deals

While Royal Caribbean’s Black Friday sale changes year to year, there will undoubtedly be a sale for cruise fares and add-ons.

Just like so many retailers, there will be a post-Thanksgiving sale to look for and it will bring potentially higher savings.

You might be wondering how lucrative these sales will be, and if it will save you any money.

Royal Caribbean is targeting people who vacation in Orlando

Are you a family that typically does a land vacation in Orlando? Royal Caribbean wants you to go on a cruise instead.

During Royal Caribbean Group's earnings call with investors this week, Royal Caribbean Group executives talked about how Icon of the Seas was designed to attract families away from a land vacation in Florida.

The ship's new family-centric offerings are part of the cruise line's more aggressive marketing approach to Orlando attractions.

Royal Caribbean wants to make it easier to keep track of your Diamond drink benefits.

Diamond, Diamond Plus, or Pinnacle members get a set amount of complimentary beverages every day of your cruise, which includes alcoholic beverages.

In an email to guests, Royal Caribbean said it would make a slight change to how drinks are redeemed.

Effective on sailings starting this Friday, November 4th, guests will sign their check when using any beverage vouchers.

Prior to this change, there was no receipt to sign and the vouchers were all managed in the backend. 

Guests that purchase a drink and pay for it with their SeaPass card get a receipt, so this will be more similar to this.

This is another recent change by Royal Caribbean to the Diamond drink program. In June 2021 the amount of drinks was altered so the Diamond drinks would essentially cover almost any beverage and could be used all day.

Benefits of this change

Royal Caribbean says it is making the change for two reasons that it thinks will benefit guests.

First, the receipt has a count of vouchers to help you better track how many you have left.

So if you’re a Diamond member, and you have 4 a day – it may tell you 2 of 4 have been redeemed.

The second reason is to help with billing discrepancies.

For instance, you ordered a $3 coffee and they may have applied your voucher – and you don’t learn about it until you’re at dinner, wanting that nice $13 cocktail and you’re out of vouchers.

For these reasons, offering receipts should make it simpler to track for guests, "While it’s a little more work for our teams, by having you have your hard check – you can better control both your count and the proper application!"

How the Diamond drink vouchers work

Royal Caribbean provides complimentary drinks each day to its Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle guests.

Guests who are at a lower tier of Crown and Anchor Society (Gold, Platinum, or Emerald) do not qualify for the drink vouchers.

• Diamond: 4 beverage vouchers valid all day at any bar (except Starbucks)
• Diamond Plus: 5 beverage vouchers valid all day at any bar (except Starbucks)
• Pinnacle: 6 beverage vouchers valid all day at any bar (except Starbucks)

Drink vouchers are loaded automatically every day on a guest's SeaPass account. 

This includes alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, and includes any beverage up to $14 per drink.

Royal Caribbean is eyeing its competition, and it's not another cruise line.

With Royal Caribbean's introduction of Icon of the Seas, the company wants to attract families that would otherwise consider a land vacation in a place like Orlando, Florida.

With its mega theme parks, Orlando is one of the top family vacation destinations. The city saw 75 million annual visitors in 2018. While that number has fallen since then due to the global health crisis, Orlando still saw 59.3 million visitors in 2021.

During Royal Caribbean Group's earnings call with investors on Thursday, executives singled out Orlando as the market they hope their new cruise ship will more favorably compete with once it launches.

"The Icon product, along with Perfect Day, with the kind of experiences that we're offering, with the kind of new accommodations that we have on Icon and the experiences that we have for young families, older families and of course couples and singles and what have you, is really squarely standing shoulder to shoulder with Orlando and those kind of destinations," said Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley.

Mr. Bayley sees the Royal Caribbean International brand being more "aggressive" with how it competes with the Orlando attractions, "And what we're beginning to see is us moving certainly the Royal brand into that space far more aggressively."

"We're really focusing on this target market, which is family and of course has many new neighborhoods, including a neighborhood called Surfside, which is absolutely focused on young families and those young families with children six and under travel all year round, because obviously parents can pull their kids out of pre-K."

Illustrating how compelling a choice Icon of the Seas is to Walt Disney World, the Wall Street analyst shared an anecdote from a recent trip in which another traveler he did not know told him he was going to book Icon of the Seas instead of Disney World, "a random traveler behind me saying they were thinking about going to Disney, but going to book the their family on the Icon."

"One off conversation but part of a broader theme."

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty talked about how the cruise line has narrowed the competitive advantage land vacations have over cruises, "We've seen this 40% gap to land based vacation. It used to be about 20%."

"The Royal brand actually closed the gap very significantly with the introduction of Perfect day, the modernization of our fleet. And so we see there is a lot of opportunity to close that gap here over time."

How Royal Caribbean can compete better with Orlando

Mr. Liberty was pleased with the progress Royal Caribbean International has made to be a more attractive offer compared to land vacations, but thinks more is needed.

"We need to increase frequency with our guests, we need to improve our loyalty programs," he explained when talking about ways to improve.

"We need to be more 1:1 so that we're putting offers in front of our guests that are very relevant to them individually and just bring more awareness."

He thinks by doing those kind of things, it will make Royal Caribbean more competitive with land-based vacations.

Super weapon: Icon of the Seas

Royal Caribbean sees the launch of Icon of the Seas as not only a great new ship, but the asset that will give them the best choice yet to skip a land vacation.

"It is a game changing, first of its kind vacation experience where everyone can experience their version of the ultimate vacation," Mr. Liberty explained at the beginning of the call with investors.

While Royal Caribbean has always been a top family cruise line, Icon of the Seas is poised to move the cruise line beyond anything else it has ever offered.

Royal Caribbean will introduce a first of its kind area of the ship dedicated to young families at the back of the ship, which has everything a family with young kids could want, along with family-focused accommodations and with easy access to the kids club and other popular onboard attractions.

"Icon is the first in a new class of ships for Royal Caribbean, which is squarely in the family market, which is a scale brand with huge presence in the American market and in a strong global footprint," Mr. Bayley explained.

In Surfside, there will be places for kids and adults to enjoy, including Splashaway Bay and Baby Bay splash parks for junior cruisers and the Water's Edge pool for grownups.

Surfside will also house family-friendly dining venues, although those venues have not been announced yet.

The tide has finally changed for Royal Caribbean Group's bottom line.

Royal Caribbean Group posted better than expected earnings for the third quarter of 2022 with a total revenue of $3.0 billion and net income of $33 million and Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was $742.3 million.

Revenue hitting $3 billion is the highest since the third quarter of 2019.

The change comes as demand for cruise vacations surges following the global health crisis. The cruise line's occupancy rate was 96%, more than double the 36% level in the year-ago quarter.

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty called the third quarter "better than expected", "Last quarter's better than expected performance was a result of the continued robust demand environment and strong execution by our teams."

"The combination of our leading global brands, the best and most innovative fleet in the industry, our nimble global sourcing platform and the very best people have delivered a successful return of our business to full operations and positions us well to deliver record yields and adjusted EBITDA in 2023."

As expected, total revenues per passenger cruise day were flat as reported and up 1%.

Third quarter by the numbers

Load factors (meaning how full were the cruise ships) in the third quarter were 96% overall, with Caribbean sailings reaching almost 105%.

Royal Caribbean Group expects fourth quarter load factors to be similar to third quarter overall, and to reach triple digits by year-end.

Booking volumes in the third quarter accelerated versus the second quarter of 2022 and remained significantly higher than booking volumes received in the third quarter of 2019 for all future sailings.

Bookings update

Booking volumes in the third quarter were significantly higher than the corresponding period in 2019, because Covid-19 testing and vaccination protocols were eased.

The company said its customers continue to make their cruise reservations closer to sailing than in the past, resulting in about 50% more bookings in the third quarter for current year sailings when compared to the third quarter of 2019. 

While 2022 bookings remain strong and on pace to achieve occupancy targets, the most notable change has been a substantial acceleration in demand for 2023 sailings.

Booking volumes for 2023 doubled during the third quarter when compared to the second quarter and were considerably higher than bookings for 2020 sailings during the comparable period in 2019, the highest in company history.

As of September 30, 2022, the Group's customer deposit balance was $3.8 billion, reflecting typical seasonality as peak summer sailing deposits have been recognized in revenue. In the third quarter, approximately 95% of total bookings were new versus FCC redemptions.

A look at 2023

For 2023, all quarters are currently booked well within historical ranges at record pricing.

While still early in the booking cycle, the view for 2023 is encouraging and the company expects a return to historical load factors in early summer, record yields and adjusted EBITDA for 2023.

The company expects to benefit from lower transitory expenses and accelerating benefit from actions taken to improve margin while partially mitigating continued inflationary pressures expected to persist through the first half of 2023.

Trifecta program

Royal Caribbean Group announced a new three-year plan it hopes will get it back to maximum profitability.

The Trifecta Program has three main goals to be achieved by the end of 2025:

• Triple Digit Adjusted EBITDA per APCD, to exceed prior record Adjusted EBITDA per APCD of $87 in 2019.
• Double Digit Adjusted Earnings per Share to exceed the prior record Adjusted Earnings per Share of $9.54 in 2019.
• Return on Invested Capital ("ROIC") in the teens to exceed the prior record ROIC of 10.5% in 2019 through optimizing capital allocation and enhancing operating income.

The company plans to achieve these goals through a formula of moderate capacity growth, moderate yield growth, and strong cost controls, all while ensuring disciplined capital allocation, investing in the future and improving the balance sheet.

With few exceptions, Royal Caribbean has dropped its pre-cruise testing requirements across the board.

Royal Caribbean sent out an update on Wednesday with new protocols that have removed the need to conduct a pre-cruise Covid-19 test, even if you are unvaccinated.

"Effective November 2, 2022, all travelers on U.S. sailings — regardless of vaccination status — will no longer require pre-departure testing (excludes sailings to Colombia, Haiti, & Honduras)." Cruises from Australia are also not included in this policy change.

Travel agents and guests were notified of the change in policy.

Prior to this change, unvaccinated guests had to take a Covid-19 test before their cruise. Fully vaccinated guests and guests ages 11 and younger are exempt.

Royal Caribbean recommends guests be fully vaccinated and boostered against Covid‐19. While vaccination is not required, they kindly ask passengers to disclose their vaccine status during check-in.

A guest is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after the required number of doses in their vaccine series have been fully administered (e.g. 2 shots of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, etc., or 1 shot of Johnson & Johnson). Vaccines must be approved for use by the WHO or U.S. FDA, with the exception of CanSino.

Pre-cruise testing remains for certain itineraries

If your Royal Caribbean cruise visits Labadee, Roatan, or somewhere in Colombia, then unvaccinated will still need to test.

Guests age 12 and up who are not fully vaccinated have 3 days to take a test before their cruise, regardless the duration of the cruise.

Guests under the age of 12 do not have any testing requirements.

Accepted Tests

Guests can take advantage of in-person, telehealth, and self-swab tests. This includes unsupervised testing.

Proof of a negative test can be the printed or digital results, a clear photo of your self-test result, or your actual self-test in hand.

Another relaxation of policy

This is one of many changes in Royal Caribbean's approach to Covid-19, which has steadily seen health protocols erode in order to be closer to other forms of leisure travel. Airplanes, theme parks, casinos, and hotels no longer require any such Covid protocols and have not had any requirements for months.

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty spoke about the change during an earnings call with investors earlier this year and said the change is a move to be more like other forms of leisure travel, such as theme parks, casinos, or air travel. 

"We are continuing to adapt our protocols to align more closely with how the rest of society and other travel and leisure businesses are operating."

"This means that we're transitioning to the point where everyone will be able to vacation with us while always working with our destination partners to meet their regulations."

When Royal Caribbean resumed cruises in 2021, Covid-19 protocols were a major component to the onboard experience.

Since September 2022, all travelers, regardless of vaccination status, were able to cruise on most itineraries, as long as they meet testing requirements to board.

Since then, more itineraries opened up to unvaccinated cruisers.

In the past when Royal Caribbean relaxed travel requirements, they've reinforced their ships are still a step ahead of other travel in terms of protocols, "We continue to maintain additional layers of protection that far exceed any other vacation experience. This includes vaccination of all crew and keeping them up to date with boosters when eligible, routine surveillance of all crew, enhanced testing and treatment capabilities in our onboard medical centers, and much more."