Royal Caribbean Group's new CEO Jason Liberty talked on a webinar for the first time in his new role about a variety of topics, such as becoming CEO and the short-term impact Omicron variant is having on business.
Mr. Liberty took over for Richard Fain as CEO of Royal Caribbean Group on January 3, and he was invited to speak to travel agents during a Royal Caribbean International webinar.
Here are a few of the intriguing topics covered during his talk.
100 Day Goal
Mr. Liberty was asked what he wanted to do in his first 100 days as the CEO, and he is starting off by listening more
"Most of my time is going to be around learning and listening from others," he explained. "Spending time with our travel partners, I'm spending time with our customers and spending time with our employees, and I'm spending time with many of our partners ...to make sure that I have the kind of firm understanding of of what everybody is looking for."
He also said continuing the company's return to service is a priority, "we have about 80 percent of our fleet up and running, making sure that we continue to execute on that successfully is certainly a priority."
When will bounce back from Omicron
Mr. Liberty also asked about the effects of Omicron on the business, and his view on the rebound.
He indicated that the good news is people want to cruise, but consistency is the key, "[it's] really, really clear that there's really strong demand for cruise and I think people are just looking for consistency."
Mr. Liberty leaned in the direction of the second quarter for things to feel better overall, "I think to you as we get into Q2 and beyond, we're going to see a much more global state of things based off of where the experts believe the disease will be, as it relates to Covid, and us getting our fleet back up and running."
He later said he thinks the second quarter should look more like the first quarter was supposed to before Omicron, "as it relates to our expectations, when we look at kind of Q2 and beyond, it's very much in line with what we expected in Q1 because of some of the cancelled sailings impact."
No compromise on guest experience
Despite the challenges of Covid, Mr. Liberty was adamant about not allowing it to compromise what passengers can look forward to onboard its ships.
"I think it's very important to note that even through this entire journey, we have not, and we will not, compromise our guest experience."
"We have a strong long-term business. This is an exceptional business that does very well financially."
'This is a meteor that hit our industry'
Mr. Liberty used a few different metaphors to describe the hit cruise lines have taken during the last two years due to Covid-19.
"This is a meteor that hit our industry and we have survived that hit," he said later in the interview. The silver lining, as he describes, is that it demonstrates they can adjust and overcome challenges by working together.
"I think that that comes through the innovation and continuous improvement oriented mentality that we have."
"These are good businesses that have just had to deal with a black swan event."
Is he a "bean counter"?
Since being named Richard Fain's successor, some have pointed out the fact Mr. Liberty comes from a financial background as a negative to choosing him to lead the company.
In response to such questions, Mr. Liberty explained he is not what you may think, "I know sometimes there are things that come along with, 'Hey, he was a finance guy, he's a CFO guy', but you really should understand and appreciate... that's actually the opposite of how I am."
He pointed to the fact he was a major proponent of the company providing commissions and loans to travel agents during the pandemic, as an example of putting the collective industry ahead of the company's bottom line.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the manner for cruise lines to transition away from the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) once it expires.
The CDC promised its CSO will move to a voluntary program when it expires on January 15, 2022. When it does, cruise lines can continue being part of the program if they so choose.
As reported first by Seatrade Cruise News, by volunteering to be a part of the program, cruise lines will follow all the CDC recommendations and guidance, and cruise ships will continue to receive a color status from the CDC.
Cruise lines that do not opt-in will have their color status to gray on the CDC website, which means the agency has neither reviewed nor confirmed their health and safety protocols. These gray-color coded ships will be subject to other CDC orders and regulations to the same extent as other vessels subject to US jurisdiction.
The CDC is asking cruise lines to opt in by January 21, 2022.
Changes to the voluntary program
Under the voluntary program, the CDC is relaxing certain aspects of its monitoring.
The threshold for CDC investigation will go from 0.1% passenger cases or one or more crew cases to 0.3% of passengers and/or crew. The definition of yellow, orange, and red status will be updated to reflect the higher threshold.
The CDC will also eliminate the need to conduct test cruises (simulated voyages), along with the conditional sailing certificate application process.
Other changes the CDC has made include:
Testing requirements will continue, and ships with at least 95% of fully vaccinated crew and passengers may continue to reduce or eliminate certain public health measures onboard, such as mask use and physical distancing.
Self-service beverage stations will continue to be allowed regardless of onboard vaccination status
Self-service food operations will begin to be allowed
Negative air pressure for quarantine cabins will not be required — these cabins must still be in a separate HVAC zone.
Isolation cabins must still have negative air pressure.
Port agreements between US port and local health authorities will still be needed.
CDC will continue to conduct routine unannounced inspections and announced outbreak investigations.
Seatrade reports the CDC will update their website on January 14 with the new program details.
Masks
The CDC will still require cruise ships to wear masks onboard ships, regardless of if the lines opt-into the voluntary program or not.
CDC Director: 'the industry has stepped up'
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Congress yesterday she was pleased with what the cruise lines are doing under the CSO.
"I think the Conditional Sailing Order and the fact that the industry has stepped up and is now interested in doing and exceeding... the the compliance with the sail order without the order even necessarily needing to be in place, as is a real testimony to how well that has worked and how we've worked collaboratively with the industry."
Moreover, Dr. Walensky believes cruise lines will opt-into this voluntary program, "the cruise ship industries will continue to understand that this is a really safe practice for those industries."
Cruise industry reaction
Following the CDC's announcement, here is the official statement by the the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA):
Today’s announcement by the CDC regarding the planned transition of the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) to a voluntary program recognizes the cruise industry’s unwavering commitment to providing some of the highest levels of COVID-19 mitigation found in any industry. Cruise is the only segment of travel and tourism that requires, prior to embarkation for both passengers and crew, exceedingly high levels of vaccination (approaching 100% compared to only 63% of the U.S. population) and 100% testing of every individual (21 times the rate of the U.S. on land).
When cases are identified as a result of the high-frequency of testing onboard, cruise ship protocols help to maximize onboard containment with rapid response procedures designed to safeguard all other guests and crew as well as the communities that the ships visit.
Further, cruise is the only sector that continuously monitors, collects, and reports case information directly to the CDC.
Given this oversight and the uniquely high vaccination rate required on board, the incidence of serious illness is dramatically lower than on land, and hospitalizations have been extraordinarily rare even during a time landside hospitalizations are peaking. CLIA ocean-going cruise line members will continue to be guided by the science and the principle of putting people first, with proven measures that are adapted as conditions warrant to protect the health of cruise passengers, crewmembers, and destinations.
The Omicron variant and CDC updates have all generated plenty of headlines about going on a cruise ship, but lost in the shuffle is what it's actually like to go on a cruise.
What you don't necessarily read about is the hard work cruise lines are engaged in behind the scenes to care for passengers and crew members, as well as work with government stakeholders on how to lead the entire travel sector with unparalleled protocols.
It looks like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will follow through on its promise to allow the Conditional Sailing Order to expire next week.
At a U.S. Senate Hearing on Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Congress the Covid-19 regulations will move from mandatory to voluntary on January 15.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) asked the Dr. Walensky what the cruise industry can expect, citing the enormous lengths they have gone to in order to adhere to Covid-19 protocols.
Senator Murkowski wanted "assurance" that the CDC recognizes the work cruise lines have done to protect passengers, crew members, and the communities their ships visit, is what is necessary to allow the Conditional Sail Order to expire, "I understand the conditional sail order is is set to expire in a few days in recognition that the companies have practices that adhere to or even exceed the guidance in the order."
"I'd like some assurance from you that that they can count on that, that this is clear guidance and messaging to those within the industries and to those who are counting on being able to to have a season this coming summer."
Dr. Walensky confirmed the CSO will not be renewed, "We anticipate that this order will not be renewed and that the cruise ship industries will continue to understand that this is a really safe practice for those industries."
Dr. Walensky pointed out how impressive the cruise lines have been with their dedication to these protocols, "I think the Conditional Sailing Order and the fact that the industry has stepped up and is now interested in doing and exceeding, as you know, the the compliance with the sail order without the order even necessarily needing to be in place, as is a real testimony to how well that has worked and how we've worked collaboratively with the industry."
Senator Murkwoski wanted some insight into the summer, since it greatly affects Alaska cruises. Dr. Walensky was not ready to make any predictions about what to expect in five to six months from now.
Walensky: "What I can't predict is what the summer will bring."
Murkowski: "I understand that, but for right now, you expect this guidance to stay in place."
Walensky: "That's my anticipation."
The Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) began as the No Sail order in March 2020, when the entire cruise industry shutdown due to Covid-19.
Since then, the CDC and cruise lines worked together to craft new health protocols that would keep everyone onboard safe from spreading the disease unchecked.
All the cruise lines operating from the United States have since adopted this framework so that they can safely operate during the pandemic.
The CSO was extended on October 25, 2021 with the understanding it would expire on January 15. Cruise lines had said they intend to follow the CSO regardless of if it's required or not.
Since then, the Omicron variant shot up Covid numbers around the world, including cruise ships. There was concern that Omicron would change the CDC's minds.
Dr. Walensky pointed out the up tick in cases, "just over the last two weeks with Omicron, we've seen a 30 fold increase in cases on ships during this season because of Omicron."
Senator Murkowski pointed out the work cruise lines have put in over the last two years, "in fairness, the industry itself has undertaken extraordinary precautions as one industry, to make sure that people are protected from from this virus."
When the CSO ends on January 15th, it will transition to a voluntary program where the CDC will continue to oversee the industry as it always has in the past.
What does this mean for cruise ships?
The CSO transitioning to a recommendation may or may result in any noticeable changes in the short term.
Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines have already committed to follow the CSO regardless of if it's required or not. Cruise lines first indicated they would follow the CSO following Florida's legal victory against the CDC in summer 2021.
Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said in July 2021, "We will continue to voluntarily follow all CDC guidelines and recommendations."
Some cruise fans were hoping the end of the CSO would mean a relaxing of certain health protocols, but there's been indication yet that is going to happen. Certainly not while the Omicron variant is driving up case counts and capturing the attention of the world.
Showing its dedication to assisting crew members, one of the Royal Caribbean cruise ships that was taken out of service will be used to house crew members from other ships that have tested positive for Covid-19.
Serenade of the Seas was one of the ships that had her cruises in January through April cancelled last week. Instead of operating cruises with paying passengers, she will join two other Royal Caribbean ships in a support role.
Almost since the onset of the Omicron variant, Royal Caribbean has done its best to care for crew members that are sick.
Unlike land-based companies that just send their workers home with little to no support, Royal Caribbean has taken the extraordinary step of taking two of its ships out of service to serve as Covid wards, where these crew members can rest and get the care they need in order to be healthy and return to work.
Serenade of the Seas is one of three ships operating in this role, alongside Rhapsody of the Seas and Vision of the Seas.
Assisting crew members across the fleet
A Royal Caribbean crew member, Martina, talked about Serenade's new role in a YouTube video she posted shortly after Serenade of the Seas stopped sailing with passengers.
"In order to relieve the pressures of the amount of Covid cases around the fleet, Serenade will perform a supporting role," Martina explained.
"We will be what they call a quarantine or a hospital ship for Royal Caribbean crew members that are Covid positive."
She said they would accept the non-serious cases among crew members, "They will be embarked on the Serenade of the Seas in order to get better, be well taken care off, be able to recuperate in a healthy and more isolated environment without putting pressure on the other ships still trying to sail."
Why move crew members off the ship? A Royal Caribbean spokesperson recently said the idea is to keep crew healthy crew members away from the sick ones, while simultaneously caring for all of them.
According to Royal Caribbean, transferred crew members, who are all fully vaccinated, are in isolation and are being monitored by an onboard medical team. After each crew member completes their 10-day quarantine, they return to their assigned ships.
Besides helping the crew, having less crew members on operational vessels means a better chance of cruise ships not being denied entry into a port of call due to exceeding the threshold of people onboard with Covid-19.
Martina sees this as an opportunity, and not bad news, "I don't see it as bad news. I see it as a role that I'm proud that the Serenade can take, because as you can see, it doesn't mean that cruises are stopping, not at all. We're just using our resources, I think, in a smarter way."
Why was Serenade picked to help?
Martina thinks perhaps the reason Serenade of the Seas had her cruises cancelled is because the timing works well for an upcoming refurbishment.
Serenade of the Seas is scheduled in a few months to take a break from cruises in order to undergo a multi-week refurbishment. These refurbishments typically occur once every few years, and is a front to back maintenance visit to a shipyard.
Martina speculates that since Serenade had to leave the fleet anyway, taking her out of service a little earlier made more sense, "Since this date was coming up so soon and we were anyways just eight cruises away to stopping operations regardless for the dry dock, we're just pausing before."
Martina also points out that since Serenade started up in Alaska last summer, a lot of crew member contracts were about to expire around this time.
People that cruise a lot have been the steady base for the cruise industry throughout Covid-19, and some are going over and over again because of how much they are enjoying it.
Greg Brockman lives in Iowa, but is sailing on his fourth Freedom of the Seas cruise in a row, with number five coming up next weekend.
What's it like to go on consecutive cruises during the height of the Omicron wave, and has anything changed in his approach to being on a cruise? Given that Greg is one of thousands of loyal cruise passengers that loves being on a ship, his thoughts on getting onboard today seem intriguing to consider.
From his stateroom on his Royal Caribbean ship, Greg talked about what it's like to stay onboard a cruise ship right now.
Booking five cruises in a row
Even before the pandemic, booking more than one cruise at a time may have seemed eccentric to someone that has not been on a cruise. In today's hyper focused media attention of cruise ships, the decision to sail over and over again can do more than raise an eyebrow.
Greg is sailing on Freedom of the Seas from Miami for a total of 17 nights starting December 31 to January 17.
He first booked cruises only in January, but decided to add more, "As time went on, I was able to add the three night on to the end extending my time until the 17th. Then, in November when there were many price drops, I added the New Year’s Eve sailing ."
What's the atmosphere on the ship right now?
What does it feel like to be on a cruise ship, and what are passengers and crew members saying?
Greg says he's seeing people having fun, "For the most part, the general vibe on board the ship is that of relaxation and enjoying the cruise."
Greg thinks the key to a fun cruise despite all the changes recently is having the right view, "From what I have seen, the passengers having the best time on each of the sailings have been those coming on board who are happy with any perks or benefits they receive but they are not coming on board expecting to be waited on every moment of the day."
"The frustrations tend to happen when people come on board with expectations of everything being just like it was two years ago and being disappointed and frustrated."
Greg was impressed by how upbeat the crew members are given that they are short staffed, "The crew all seem to be maintaining a very positive and energetic outgoing attitude."
"You can tell some of them are very exhausted working longer shifts and covering for other crewmembers who have tested positive and are no longer on board."
"But they are always smiles and happy to see you when you pass by."
Speaking of the crew, I wanted to know more about how the crew members are doing, and he indicated a lot of the senior officers seem to be stepping in to help out, "They all are maintaining excitement, enthusiasm and passion for what they do."
"Ivan, the Food and Beverage manager, oversees the largest department on board the ship and has been hit the hardest with crew members testing positive. I frequently see him all over the ship chipping in and picking up duties whenever some thing is needed."
Greg was impressed by how Freedom's Guest Services manager, Dolly, took extra care of his experience, "She just spoke with me last night knowing that I was a consecutive cruiser and staying in the same cabin for multiple cruises. She asked if I would be interested in a complementary cabin upgrade for the next sailing but wasn’t sure if I would be interested in moving multiple times between each sailing."
"This is something I absolutely did not expect but was very appreciative of. Just one more way the crew is trying to go above and beyond whenever they can with the resources available."
How does the back-to-back process work?
Given all the protocol changes onboard, what changes have been made to going on more than one cruise in a row?
All of the consecutive cruisers have an antigen test done on the day prior to debarkation, which is complimentary.
On the morning the test is scheduled, consecutive cruisers meet around 7:30 am and wait in the Star Lounge until the negative test result has been received. At that point, they are allowed to leave the lounge and go on with your day.
On the turnaround day, everyone again meets in the Star Lounge at 9:30 AM waiting for all other passengers to disembark. At that point the cruisers are escorted through the security checkpoint to officially depart the ship and proceed into the cruise terminal.
The passengers then complete the facial recognition process (required by U.S. Customs and Border Protection) and then get back in line to re-board the ship.
Greg said extra Royal Caribbean delayed the back-to-back cruisers from returning immediately in order to conduct sanitization, "On the last two sailings, the ship did additional cleaning and sanitizing and we were asked to wait in the terminal about 20 minutes before we were allowed to proceed back on board the ship."
Across Greg's four sailings, he's had a good chance to look at trends among passengers, including how many are on each sailing.
According to Greg, there have been less passengers on each cruise since the New Year's Eve holiday sailing.
"Passenger count has been decreasing on each of the sailings since New Year’s Eve. The December 31 sailing had approximately 2000 passengers on board, this was down from the 2400 they initially expected."
"The next sailing was expecting around 2100 passengers and ended up with 1850 actually boarding. The third sailing was expecting 1800 passengers and ended up sailing with about 1450. We are expecting 1800 for the current sailing."
Freedom of the Seas has a capacity of just under 4400 passengers.
It's also worth noting January is also a traditionally slow month for cruises, since the holidays are over and school is back in session. Plus, many people just took a vacation at the end of December.
On December 30, Royal Caribbean Group told investors the company "experienced a decline in bookings and increased cancellations for near-term sailings but to a lesser degree than that experienced with the Delta variant. "
Load factors for sailings in the first half of 2022 remain below historical levels, as expected.
Advice for anyone going on a cruise ship right now
I asked Greg what advice would he give someone going on a cruise today while the Omicron variant is on the top of everyone's mind.
His primary suggestion was for everyone to pack patience, "be prepared to be flexible, and do not board with expectations of benefits or perks because of past cruises."
"Follow the rules and don’t argue with the messenger. They are following their instructions. Just know the crew is doing everything they can to ensure you're having an amazing vacation and a safe and healthy environment for you, your family and their family (fellow crew members)."
"I absolutely feel safer onboard a Royal Caribbean ship that almost anywhere right now. "
While Royal Caribbean has been able to get most of its cruise ships back into service, it has had to cancel a few sailings due to Covid-19.
The good news is the cruise industry is still able to sail and operate its ships with arguably the most comprehensive health protocols of any private business. However, canceled cruises are still happening in select cases.
In order to keep you up to date with which ships and dates have been canceled, here is a list of the Royal Caribbean cancellations in 2022.
Keep in mind things change a lot, and this list will be updated as quickly as possible.
Cancelled cruises in 2022
Here is a list of the cancelled cruises by Royal Caribbean so far.
On January 28, 2022, Royal Caribbean announced more Spectrum of the Seas cancellations for cruises from Hong Kong on these dates: February 04, 07, 10, 12 and 14, 2022.
On January 18, 2022, Royal Caribbean had to cancel Spectrum of the Seas’ Hong Kong sailings scheduled on January 21, 23, 26, 28 and 31, 2022.
The sailings were canceled following an update to local COVID-19 prevention policies by local authorities on January 14, which requires a 14-day suspension of all cruise operations.
On January 14, 2022, Royal Caribbean cancelled three sailings on Independence of the Seas (one was a chartered sailing). She will return on January 29, 2022.
On January 7, 2022, Royal Caribbean cancelled four ships:
Vision of the Seas’ return to cruising is postponed until March 7, 2022
Serenade of the Seas sailings from January 8 – March 5, returning after dry dock on April 26, 2022
Jewel of the Seas sailings from January 9 – February 12, returning on February 20, 2022
Symphony of the Seas sailings from January 8 – January 22, returning on January 29, 2022
Royal Caribbean cancelled the January 6 sailing of Spectrum of the Seas from Hong Kong because nine passengers on the previous sailing were identified as close contacts to someone that tested positive on land in Hong Kong. The local government required Royal Caribbean to cancel the next sailing.
Will there be more cancellations?
Royal Caribbean intends to offer its scheduled sailings as currently listed, but more cancelations are certainly possible given the fact the Covid-19 pandemic is still happening.
For the time being, there is not much discussion of the entire cruise industry shutting down again given the fact that vaccines and stringent health protocols are readily available.
Even the cancelled cruises listed above are expected to resume service on the specified dates.
If you have a cruise booked in 2022, the possibility of it being cancelled is possible, but not necessarily probable.
It's important to be realistic about expectations for not only the cruise happening, but also the onboard experience. Certainly changes, especially at the last minute, are likely, so be prepared for them.
If you would rather cancel your cruise, regardless of if Royal Caribbean decides to cancel it later, you have a few options.
Up until final payment date, you can cancel your cruise and get a full refund for money paid by cancelling, minus any change fees if you booked a non-refundable deposit.
Alternatively, Royal Caribbean's Cruise with Confidence program allows guests to cancel their cruise up to 48 hours before your sail date for a 100% future cruise credit.
Welcome to this week's round-up of all the Royal Caribbean news and happenings. Hope you are staying warm and are ready to cozy up to the cruise happenings this week.
Sailings on Symphony, Serenade and Jewel of the Seas were cancelled for at least a few weeks. Vision of the Seas had her return to service pushed back.
The cruise line did not specify the exact reason why these ships were taken offline, only saying the decision was, "a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, and in an abundance of caution."
Many cruise fans think perhaps the decision was due to Covid cases among crew members impacting operations.
Brandon Smith sailed on Freedom of the Seas recently and had to quarantine due to testing positive for Covid, and shared his experience.
Brandon shared what happened when he tested positive for Covid on a ship, and what steps and changes you might expect to encounter should it happen to you.
My best advice for going on a cruise ship in early 2022 during Omicron
It seems everyone is thinking twice about traveling during the Omicron variant spike in Covid cases, but thanks to Royal Caribbean's strict health protocols, going on a cruise can still be an enjoyable and relatively safe cruise experience.
There's risk with everything, but there are a few easy things any traveler can do to protect themselves while getting back to sea.
Top untrue myths about Omicron variant and going on a cruise ship right now
While there's been lots of announcements in the cruise industry, there's also been a few rumors that simply aren't true about going on a cruise.
Between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warning vaccinated passengers to not go on a cruise ship, and news reports about missed port calls making the rounds on social media, a lot of misconceptions about where cruising is right now have emerged.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced Royal Caribbean to cancel scheduled cruises on 4 ships for varying lengths of time, with one as far out as April.
Royal Caribbean posted an update that it has cancelled the sailings, "as a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, and in an abundance of caution."
The affected ships and sailings are:
Vision of the Seas’ return to cruising is postponed until March 7, 2022
Serenade of the Seas sailings from January 8 – March 5, returning after dry dock on April 26, 2022
Jewel of the Seas sailings from January 9 – February 12, returning on February 20, 2022
Symphony of the Seas sailings from January 8 – January 22, returning on January 29, 2022
It's important to note that Vision of the Seas was not sailing with passengers and had yet to restart operations. It was scheduled to restart cruises on January 24, 2022 from Fort Lauderdale.
Passengers on affected sailings were sent emails to inform them of the change. Guests will receive a full refund, which will include any non-refundable deposits.
The cruise lines says they can expect to receive refunds within 14 days after we process the cancellation.
"We know how much time and effort go into planning your vacation, and we're sorry for the impact to your plans," Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley wrote in an email to passengers.
" We are working as quickly as possible, and we appreciate your patience."
Travel agents received similar emails that also touched on the impetus for this decision, "Our top priority is always the well-being of our guests, our crew and the communities we visit. Despite stringent health and safety measures, including vaccination and testing requirements for guests and crew, and extensive contingency planning, we have had to move forward with this decision."
For Serenade & Symphony of the Seas departing January 8, 2022, and Jewel of the Seas departing January 9, 2022, Royal Caribbean is providing passengers with a 100% Future Cruise Credit to book a new cruise by May 31st, 2022.
"This is amount is based on the total cruise fare paid (excluding taxes & fees, gratuities, and any RoyalUp upgrades). Certificates can be used on any Royal Caribbean International sailing that departs on or before December 31, 2022 (or one year from your original sailing - whichever is further out), as long as it's redeemed by May 31, 2022.
There is no indication yet why these specific ships have had their sailings cancelled.
Why these four ships?
After seeing Royal Caribbean cancelled sailings on just four ships, the question of why these, and not other ships, appears.
Vision of the Seas makes sense, since it was being used for crew quarantine procedures.
But the three other ships had been operating with passengers for some time.
Royal Caribbean did not specify why these particular ships were chosen, although cruise fans certainly have plenty of theories.
On the RoyalCaribbeanBlog message boards, Pattycruise thinks perhaps too many crew members testing positive is the reason, "Lack of crew members who are Covid free would be my guess."
Neesa agreed crew members were likely the reason, "This does not surprise me at all. The Holiday sailing capacity issue I feel is directly responsible for this. Everyday on the Odyssey more and more crew were missing. They need this pause to get the crew healthy again, just my humble opinion. "
Omicron impact
The cancellations are the first mass-cancellations by Royal Caribbean since they restarted operations in June 2021, and reminiscent to many of what happened in March 2020.
Back in 2020, the entire cruise industry ceased operations for 30 days. The shutdown ended up going over a year after governments refused to let cruise ships sail.
On December 30, 2021, Royal Caribbean Group said that while there had been more Covid-19 cases onboard, none had been severe or needed the person to be taken to a hospital.
The surge in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant has resulted in many industries suffering staffing shortages due to its employees contracting the virus.
While some ships are pausing operations, the majority of cruise ships remain in operation, thanks to the stringent protocols onboard.
Unlike theme parks, casinos, airlines and every other form of leisure travel, cruise ships implemented the strictest health protocols possible, including requiring vaccinations, mask wearing, pre-cruise tests for all and more.
Other cruise lines cancelled cruises too
Royal Caribbean joins Norwegian Cruise Line and others that also cancelled sailings on select ships.
Earlier this week, NCL announced it had cancelled sailings on eight of its ships due to "ongoing travel restrictions".
Norwegian Pearl departures through Jan. 14.
Norwegian Sky departures through Feb. 25.
Pride of America departures through Feb. 26.
Norwegian Jade departures through March 3.
Norwegian Star departures through March 19.
Norwegian Sun departures through April 19.
Norwegian Spirit departures through April 23.
In addition, Oceania cancelled cruises on its Marina ship, and Regent Seven Seas cancelled a 120-day world cruise.
What is it like if you go on a cruise ship and test positive for Covid-19?
With the Omicron variant driving up positive case counts around the world, cruise ships have not been immune to seeing more cases onboard as well.
While Royal Caribbean is still operating its ships with arguably the most stringent health protocols found anywhere, some guests are more concerned with what the onboard process is like if you were to test positive, rather than concern over getting sick.
While sailing on a New Years Eve cruise aboard Freedom of the Seas, Brandon Smith tested positive for Covid on the second day of his voyage, and documented the experience on his YouTube channel once he got home.
Just like all aspects of life right now, there are no zero-risk activities, but Brandon felt better about going on a cruise ship in terms of the procedures the cruise line has in place, "if I was going to be anywhere, if I was traveling, I think on a cruise ship, especially with Royal Caribbean, knowing that they've got all this taken care of is the best place to have a bad situation."
Brandon shared what happened when he tested positive for Covid on a ship, and what steps and changes you might expect to encounter should it happen to you.
Testing
Every single passenger on a cruise ship must take a Covid-19 test in the days leading up to a cruise ship sailing.
In the case of Brandon, he took his test two days before embarkation and it came back negative. In fact, he felt great walking onboard Freedom of the Seas, "I felt absolutely fine when I boarded."
"I was even well enough to go work out when I got on the gym around 6pm that evening went to dinner, luckily, by myself at that time. And then walking around the ship trying to figure out what the New Year's Eve celebration was that I wanted to do."
As the evening went on, Brandon started to feel the early effects, "Towards the end of the evening, I was starting to get fatigued. And at the time I didn't think anything about it. I was kind of disappointed in myself that I couldn't make it to the New Year's Eve celebration."
He returned to his cabin to rest, but woke up the next morning with a sore throat and found it difficult to swallow, "That was my first sign that something was amiss or awry."
"It progressively got worse. The headache kicked in, the fog, and a little bit of a cough started to creep in."
Sensing something was off, he called the medical center onboard to share his symptoms.
Every Royal Caribbean ship offers limited professional medical services through licensed (international or domestic) physicians and nurses. All ships have shipboard medical facilities that are built, staffed, stocked and equipped to meet or exceed guidelines established by the American College of Emergency Physicians Cruise Ship & Maritime Medicine Section.
Royal Caribbean says depending on the ship and amount of passengers onboard, there are one to three doctors and three-to-five Nurses, available to passengers and Crew members 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
After arriving at the medical center, Brandon took a PCR test, "unfortunately, that returned the positive result that nobody wanted to see."
Quarantine
Once he tested positive, Royal Caribbean moves the passenger into a quarantined area of the ship.
In Brandon's case, he was escorted to a new cabin on deck 2 of the ship, which was an oceanview cabin.
"They first offered for security to pack up my belongings," but since Brandon was traveling alone, he was able to be escorted back to his original cabin to pack up his belongings.
Each of the crew members escorting Brandon is wearing full PPE outfits, with white gloves, shoe covers and face mask. They also carry a ionizer that resembles a hair dryer, which the crew member can spray a mist to cover the area where Brandon walks.
"They're also closing off all of the hallways and all of the areas that you're going through. So we do take the service elevator at that time. You don't go in the traditional guest elevator, take the service elevator to my floor."
"There's a gentleman in the service elevator, so they're protecting the crew so crew members can't come up or down the stairs that are located there."
"And then there's two security guards at the beginning and entrance of the hallway where my room is standing there, blocking the hallway so that people can't come in and see and be exposed to Covid-19."
Once in his quarantine cabin, Brandon describes his cabin experience, "It's kind of bare. They've really stripped the room out. There's not a separating curtain. The bed doesn't have a bed skirt. It's really been taken down to bare bones a little bit. I think just so that you they don't have as much to clean when they need when you leave the room."
"There's also red trash bags for biohazard, there's cleaning cloths, there's two large bottles of I think one was Clorox and one was another disinfectant that was there."
Communication
One thing that struck Brandon about the experience was all the communication he received from crew members to walk him through the process.
In the end, the guest services manager, the hotel director, security, and the medical facility all contacted him.
"I was getting or averaging around two phone calls in the morning and two phone calls in the afternoon, just checking up on me and seeing how I was doing."
Once he was settled in his new cabin, guest services informed him of the basics of his quarantine experience:
Complimentary room service
Complimentary pay-per-view movies
Complimentary internet access
"I had an extension I could dial if I needed to get up with my person there, and they also sent a lot of letters to the room. This started happening more on the evening before debarkation."
These letters detailed the future cruise credit he was going to receive for the missed days onboard, as well as the refund for a drink package purchase.
In addition, Royal Caribbean provided Brandon with documentation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how he should quarantine once he gets home.
Contact tracing
One of the many steps Royal Caribbean takes if someone tests positive for Covid-19 is to conduct contact tracing.
Brandon said a member of the onboard security department contacted him to go over where he had been, "I walked him through where I was, how much time I spent with people."
"I was a little bit of a loner that evening. One of the benefits of going on cruises allows you can kind of pick and choose when you want to be extremely social or when you kind of just want to do your own thing."
"I got the impression that given the exposure that I had to other people, which was traditionally, less than 10 minutes, I kept my mask on. Most of the time I had dinner by myself, I was in the gym with. I think there was only two other people in the entire facility. There just wasn't a lot of opportunity for me to be around individuals or people that I could expose more heavily."
Disembarkation
Getting Brandon off the ship and safely back home without exposing other crew members or passengers to Covid was the next step in his journey.
Brandon recalls the ship's Hotel Director called the night before the cruise ended to walk him through what would happen the next day.
On disembarkation day, Brandon said getting off the ship made him feel "a little bit like you're in the movie Mars".
He said he was among the last passengers to disembark the ship so that other passengers can disembark first, "They made sure everybody was off the ship and then they came to my cabin, knocked on the door and said, We're getting ready to escort you off."
He packed his bags and put them in the hallway, at which point his bags were wrapped in plastic wrap and put it on a luggage cart.
"Almost everybody's kind of dressed up and you're going through hallways with plastic."
"I was really surprised at how many rooms were set up for the potential of quarantine on deck number two."
"I believe it was only me and one other gentleman who was unfortunately making use of these rooms, but there were a lot of rooms that were set up that I was able to walk by and kind of peek in all with the same setup that my current room had as well."
He walked off the ship from the deck 1 gangway instead of the gangway passengers usually use on deck 4.
At this point, a U.S. Customs officer met Brandon to process his paperwork. He was then taken by private car to his vehicle in the parking garage.
"I was in good hands"
Looking back at what happened, Brandon was grateful to Royal Caribbean for taking such good care of him.
"I felt extremely well supported. They were communicative. They kept me in the loop on what was happening, and I got the sense that they knew what the next step was."
"They knew what the process was. They kept to whatever playbook or guidebook was that they have."
"And for me, as a passenger going through this quarantine Covid test experience, I felt really comforted knowing that all of that was taken care of. It was thought through and that I was in good hands."
Brandon's advice to anyone who is on a ship is don't be afraid to let someone know if you aren't feeling well, "Make sure that you are seeking medical treatment and not just waving it off. Just give it a whirl. Just see what they have to say.
"You might have to go through the quarantine experience, but you'll have the comfort in knowing you don't expose other people to it."
I asked Brandon having gone through the entire process, how he felt about getting back onboard a ship once he felt good again and tested negative.
"Being on a cruise still is a safe place to be."
"You can get Covid anywhere at the end of the day, and it's probably always going to be able to make its way onto the cruise ships. But it's reassuring to me to know that when that happens, they do have those policies and procedures in place."
Royal Caribbean Blog is an unofficial fan blog written for other fans of Royal Caribbean International. The Royal Caribbean Blog is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International
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