Did you know a U.S. President attended the naming ceremony of a Royal Caribbean, and a First Lady is the ship's godmother?

In honor of election day in the United States, I thought it would be worthwhile to hop into the RoyalCaribbeanBlog time machine and go back to 1988 when a U.S. President attended the christening of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

President Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter presided over the first mega ship to be built, Sovereign of the Seas, in Miami on Friday, January 15, 1988.

President and Mrs. Carter were onboard the ship, as the crowd, serenaded by a large orchestra, took their seats on the pier.

It was a festive throng, caparisoned with hats, flowers, company ties, and always, multitudes of cameras.

Mrs. Carter and President Carter emerged from the crew gangway and trod a red-carpeted path to the dignitaries' platform. The former First Lady had chosen a yellow suit, prettily matched by a chrysanthemum alee lining her right of way.

After the speeches and a solemn blessing, Mrs. Carter and Royal Caribbean Chairman Eigil Abrahmsen climbed atop the launch platform. 

"I christen you Sovereign of the Seas. May happiness and smooth seas follow," Carter said.

The music stopped. A hush fell over the spectators.  In a clear voice, Rosalyn Carter gave the official christening benediction and smashed a record-size bottle of Taittinger Champagne against its hull.

One of the ceremonial bottles of champagne was sent to the Carter museum.

The Carters had brought their family to the occasion, and one of Mrs. Carter's grandchildren told Chairman Abrahmsen his grandmother was not only the godmother, but now the company's namesake, "This young man told me that he knew what RCCL stands for," the chairman informed his audience. "It stands for Rosalynn Carter's Cruise Line!"

The Carters visiting the shipyards on July 9, 1987. Photo by Ouest France Archives

The presidential couple went on to sail aboard Sovereign's maiden voyage, along with their family.

"I looked forward to this day a long time," Rosalynn Carter said in one of the ship's two theaters. "The ship is so wonderful and so large, it took something special to christen it."

he Carters visiting the shipyards on July 9, 1987. Photo by Ouest France Archives

"It's nice to be away from speeches and work ... to be captured with your family," the former first lady said.

"It's just a romantic place to be," said Jimmy Carter. "Kind of like a second honeymoon."

Royal Caribbean announced on Monday it would cancel its December 2020 cruises (excluding Quantum of the Seas in Singapore) while the cruise line prepares to restart cruise operations.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lifted the No Sail order, the new regulations and requirements imposed on the cruise industry to be able to restart simply means Royal Caribbean needs more time to meet the new requirements.

In a statement to travel agents, Royal Caribbean said the cancellations were necessary to prepare for restarting cruises, "We are eager to welcome our guests back onboard while keeping their safety, as well as that of our crew members, our number one priority. We’re committed to taking the time needed to do things right"

"We plan to utilize this time to thoroughly train our staff and crew on our new health and safety protocols, while also conducting a number of trial sailings to stress-test these measures in real-world conditions."

"We will continue to work closely with the CDC and the Healthy Sail Panel as we take this next step and solidify our action plan."

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

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

Compensation

Guests affected by the cancelled cruises between December 1 - 31, 2020 have three options for compensation.

Lift & Shift: Select next year’s sailing with the same itinerary type, sailing length, stateroom category, and within the same 4-week window of the original cruise date, and you can take your existing reservation and move it to next year.Option expires on November 13, 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 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.

Cruise Planner Purchases: If you had purchased any cruise add-ons, such as shore excursions, drink packages, wifi and more, you could opt to convert your Cruise Planner purchases  to an Onboard Credit valued at 125% of the total amount paid. This offer expires on November 13, 2020.

Time needed to be able to restart

Unlike all of the other cancellations Royal Caribbean has made up until this point, this new round of cancelled cruises is for a different reason.

Rather than being prohibited by the CDC from sailing at all, the pathway for cruises to restart as opened, and Royal Caribbean is working on satisfying the CDC's stringent rules.

Before cruises can fully resume, the CDC has outlined a series of steps that need to occur before cruise ships can begin taking passengers onboard.

The framework for conditional sailing is meant to potentially allow cruise ships to sail again while not putting the public health at risk.

There are three key phases to Royal Caribbean being able to restart cruises:

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

In order to meet the needs of the CDC, Royal Caribbean has adopted the recommendations of the Healthy Sail Panel's 74 recommendations.

Royal Caribbean has expressed it can operate in a safe manner, and is eager to prove the Healthy Sail Panel recommendations can work effectively.

The framework for sailing again is not simple, and the CDC admits the rules can change in terms of what is needed to get cruise ships operating again from the United States.

It is not clear yet how long it will take before Royal Caribbean (or any cruise line) can receive permission to offer cruises, but clearly Royal Caribbean feels more time is needed to get it right.

While many cruise fans are very eager for cruises to resume, Royal Caribbean Group executives were insistent that they while they are equally eager to resume operations, they will only do so when it is safe to do so.

"But it's fair to say that there is still a lot of uncertainty against this backdrop, " Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said during a conference call with investors in August. "We will not rush to return to service until we are confident that we have figured out the changes that we must make to offer our guests and crew strong health and safety protocols with the enjoyable experience that they rightly expect."

"We believe that our health is healthy. Return to service program will help get us there."

Royal Caribbean offers a wide variety of things to do, services, and benefits to all guests that it can be easy to overlook some of their lesser known options.

Even I forget about certain options that anyone can take advantage of as part of their cruise, so I wanted to share five things that commonly overlooked among most cruise guests.

Whether you simply forgot about these, or did not know about them at all, here are five Royal Caribbean things you had no idea existed.

Royal Caribbean offers a private shore excursion service

Did you know you can book your own private shore excursion through Royal Caribbean and take advantage of all the benefits of being on a cruise line tour without spending the day with other people on your ship?

Royal Caribbean introduced Private Journeys in 2016, and it is an easy and fully customizable way to come up with your own private tour.

While Royal Caribbean offers many different kind of shore excursions, some people prefer private tours, or want to customize the excursion to meet their preferences. 

Royal Caribbean decided to offer an option that would include the best benefits of booking through Royal Caribbean directly, and the diversity of choices that can be found when booking on your own. Private Journeys is a relatively new option by Royal Caribbean for guests to completely customize every aspect of what they want to do during a port stop, and make it the kind of experience that curtails to their family or group's needs.

You can earn onboard credit or a free cruise by playing games on your phone

There is a free game you can play on your computer or mobile device called MyVegas, which from time to time offers free cruises and onboard credit.

Playing MyVegas means choosing between different games, such as blackjack or slots, and winning points that go towards your profile.The games reward you for getting to the next level.

If you play the game regularly and earn enough points, you can actually cash out the points for special offers, including free cruises or onboard credits. MyVegas offers these kind of offers for other cruise lines as well, including MSC or Norwegian Cruise Line.

MLife benefits

Speaking of the casino, if you cruise with Royal Caribbean, you can achieve matched status on land when visiting a MGM casino.

Through the relationship between Royal Caribbean International based on your current tier status, Crown & Anchor Society members may receive a complimentary tier match into M life Rewards and associated Tier Benefits at all M life Rewards destinations Nationwide.

Crown & Anchor Society members must visit the M life Rewards desk to receive their tier match. 

You can ask for food not on the menu

Do not be afraid to ask your waiter for special requests that are not of the dietary need variety, but just something you really love.  Perhaps you like having a plate of vegetables to start your dinner off with or anything else that is not on the menu.  

Speak with your head waiter to make the request.  If the ship has the ingredients onboard to make it, odds are they will be happy to make it for you.

In general, I have found a 24 hour notice will ensure the dining room chefs can take care of the request for you.  

In addition, if tonight's menu features an ingredient you do not enjoy, feel free to ask your waiter if they can make the dish without it.  The dining staff are looking to make your main dining room experience as good as possible.

Royal Caribbean has its own airfare booking service

I sometimes forget this is a service, but you can book your flights to get you to and from your cruise through Royal Caribbean.

The Air2Sea program offers guests the option of not only reserving airfare, but also coverage in case there is an issue getting to your cruise.

You can purchase air accommodations in conjunction with your cruise reservation, and it comes with 24 hour support if there is an issue with your cruise or flight. Assured Arrival is the cruise line guarantee to assist when a guest encounters any flight disruptions that occur through no fault of their own.

Royal Caribbean has a team of Emergency Travel Specialists standing by that proactively monitor flights and act as a liaison between cruise ships and guests.

There is nominal service fee to use Air2Sea. Royal Caribbean International charges a service fee of $15 per person for travel within North America, and Canada, and $25 per person for International destinations.

Have you used any of these?

How many of these options were you aware of? Did I miss something really cool that should be on this list too? Share your thoughts in the comments.

While the CDC lifting the No Sail order removes a major barrier for the cruise lines to restart sailings, cruise ships will not be able to sail again immediately.

In fact, the Conditional Sail order is less of an open invitation to restart cruises as it is an opportunity for the cruise industry to prove it can operate safely.

There is no denying cruises are a lot closer now than they were last month, but there are still a lot of hurdles for the cruise industry to jump over before we will get onboard.

Tasks to complete before cruises restart

In the CDC's 40 page directive that outlines what cruise lines need to do in order to restart cruises, the agency requires a phased approach to restarting operations.

These phases are designed to allow the cruise lines to demonstrate that all of the new protocols the cruise industry has developed can work.

Over the summer, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings created the Healthy Sail Panel of health experts to create a framework for cruises to operate safely.

The panel came up with 74 recommendations for how a cruise ship could operate with minimal risk.

Essentially, the Conditional Sail Order requires any cruise line to complete a few key steps:

• Protect crew members from any health issues
• Conduct a series of test sailings with volunteer passengers
• Obtain a "Conditional Sailing Certificate" from the CDC

Protecting crew members

Before any hint of sailings can restart, the safety and well-being of crew members must be established through new health measures.

Cruise lines must test all crew members using a lab that is approved by the CDC.

In addition, new onboard labs must be set up so that the ships can run weekly PCR tests for crew. The CDC recommends PCR tests instead of antigen tests due to the higher accuracy.

When new crew members join the ship, they must be tested as soon as they board and quarantined on the ship for 14 days.

Simulated cruises

Once the new rules for crew members are setup, the next phase will be for test cruises with volunteer passengers that must be approved by the CDC.

It is not clear who these volunteers will be exactly, but the CDC stipulates volunteering cannot be a condition of employment or in exchange for consideration or future reward.

These simulated cruises will require both passengers and crew members to wear masks, and must include a number of real-world scenarios onboard, including:

• Cruise terminal check-in
• Embarkation and disembarkation procedures
• On board activities, including at dining and entertainment venues
• Private island shore excursions (if visiting an island)
• Evacuation procedures
• Transfer of symptomatic passengers or crew, or anyone that tests positive, from cabins to isolation rooms
• Quarantine of all remaining passengers and non-essential crew

Applying to sail

If all goes well with the simulated sailings, then Royal Caribbean (or any cruise line) can apply for permission to sail again and obtain a "Conditional Sailing Certificate" from the CDC.

Even with approval, comes restrictions on how cruise lines can operate for an indeterminate amount of time.

If approved, the CDC has said cruises would not be able to be longer than 7 nights.

In addition, guests must be made aware of CDC warnings in marketing materials. Guests and crew members must be tested with PCR tests upon embarkation and disembarkation.

This is what the cruise lines wanted

If all of this sounds like a major hassle, you are right that it is "no rubber stamp" operation, however, the cruise lines have been pleading for the chance to prove they can operate safely for months.

Royal Caribbean has been adamant that it wants to apply its Healthy Sail Panel recommendations in a safe manner and prove they can operate again.

At a meeting with Vice President Pence and the CDC in early October, all of the major cruise lines presented their proposal to start cruises again and a few weeks later, the No Sail order was lifted.

In addition, the CDC's multi phase approach to cruises starting mirrors what Royal Caribbean Group executives have been saying for months would be their approach as well.

Royal Caribbean Group Richard Fain has emphasized there is no rush to start cruises, "We will not rush to return to service until we are confident that we have figured out the changes that we must make to offer our guests and crew strong health and safety protocols with the enjoyable experience that they rightly expect."

Mr. Fain spoke of the work the Healthy Sail Panel has done to provide a roadmap for cruises to restart, "the panel has recommended that this process be carefully evaluated by independent outside observers and we will do that.

"And then only on a ship or two it first and in a gradual and methodical way, we expect to start sailing again."

In a statement hours after the CDC announced the Conditional Sail order, Royal Caribbean Group characterized the move as "a positive step".

"While we are eager to welcome our guests back on board, we have a lot to do between now and then, and we’re committed to taking the time to do things right. This includes training our crew in new health and safety protocols and conducting a number of trial sailings to stress-test those protocols in real-world conditions."

In short, the new regulations by the CDC will not open a floodgate of ships starting up, but it is a pathway for a return to service and that is an important step in the right direction

It is a new week, and with it comes a new Odyssey of the Seas construction photo to share.

The Meyer Werft shipyard shared a new webcam image of Odyssey of the Seas in Hall 6 for everyone to check out the progress being made.

November 2 photo

The webcam caught more of the AIDAcosma under construction than Odyssey of the Seas, but the placement of the webcam does change now and then.

October 30 photo

Just about every week, Meyer Werft updates its webcam to showcase a new photo of the ship and progress being made.

Odyssey of the Seas will be Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship and begin sailings in Europe with cruises from Southampton and Barcelona in early April 2021.

Odyssey will then transition to Rome, where she will sail Eastern Mediterranean cruises for the summer.

After her inaugural season in Europe, Odyssey will then continue its inaugural year in Fort Lauderdale, FL with 8- and 6-night Caribbean itineraries.

What makes Odyssey of the Seas different?

Odyssey of the Seas will be the first Quantum Ultra Class cruise ship to sail from Europe and North America, giving a new audience the opportunity to experience this class.

Royal Caribbean always takes steps to ensure its newest ship comes with a variety of new features that stand out, and Odyssey of the Seas will be no exception.

In Europe, Odyssey will offer longer stays in every destination and overnights across select Mediterranean cities.

Royal Caribbean has not revealed all of her amenities, but here is what we do know about Odyssey:

• SkyPad bungee trampoline experience 
• SeaPlex - the largest indoor space for recreational activities at sea
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade with club-level views of the SeaPlex
• Reimagined Adventure Ocean kids program and a maxed-out teen lounge with gaming consoles, music and movies
• Teppanyaki restaurant
• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar
• Two-level pool deck will feature two open-air, resort-style pools and four whirlpools with shady casitas and hammocks
• FlowRider surf simulator
• Skydiving with Ripcord by iFly
• North Star glass capsule
• Robot bartenders at Bionic Bar

Happy Sunday! November has arrived, and we hope you had a great week with friends, family, and plenty of food.  Each week we summarize all of this week's Royal Caribbean news, just in case you missed any of it.

There is big news, and then there is BIG news, and this week's news was seven months in the making: the CDC has lifted the No Sail order and opened a pathway for cruises to restart.

The CDC announced following the expiration of the No Sail order on October 31, the agency will take a "phased approach to resuming cruise ship operations in U.S. waters."

The Conditional Sailing Order will establish a series of phases and requirements for cruise lines to test out its new protocols and demonstrate they can operate cruises in a safe manner.

More on the Conditional Sailing Order:

• What does the Conditional Sailing Order mean for cruises to restart?
• Royal Caribbean responds to No Sail Order being lifted
• Royal Caribbean shares prediction for early 2021 cruises

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean Group reports $1.3 billion loss in third quarter.
• Royal Caribbean makes using future cruise credits easier with rule change.
• Royal Caribbean released Spring 2022-2023 opening schedule.
• Canada extended its cruise ship ban through February 2021.
• Royal Caribbean CEO says pent-up demand still exists for cruises.
• Royal Caribbean has not ruled out selling any cruise ships.
• New Odyssey of the Seas construction photo update.
• Royal Caribbean trademarked names for possible venues on new cruise ships.
• Here are your options if you want to cancel or defer your booked cruise.
• 8 things Royal Caribbean trademarked but never did anything with.
• A new sale on pre-cruise purchases is still available.
• CDC updated its warning against worldwide travel on cruise ships.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

Have you ever taken your whole family on a cruise?

In this week's podcast episode, Chris shares his experience having a family reunion on Adventure of the Seas.

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: 5 times Royal Caribbean completely changed their mind after announcing something

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 — 5 times Royal Caribbean completely changed their mind after announcing something — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

45 ways to save money on a Royal Caribbean cruise

Want to save money on your cruise vacation? Sure, everyone does, and so I have 45 ways to save money on your Royal Caribbean cruise.

From saving money on your cruise fare, spending less on excursions, or maximizing the value from what you buy, there a lot of ways to spend less.

While you might not be able to utilize all 45 tips for one cruise, a great many of these can be combined to help bring down the overall cost.

With the big news that the CDC will lift the No Sail order and conditionally allow cruises to restart, you might be wondering what this means and how soon cruises can actually begin.

Before cruises can fully resume, the CDC has outlined a series of steps that need to occur before cruise ships can begin taking passengers onboard. Even then, there are other restrictions.

The framework for conditional sailing is meant to potentially allow cruise ships to sail again while not putting the public health at risk.

Testing crew members

The first step is for cruise ships to have all ships run tests of the crew onboard, and to add more safeguards for them.

Before anyone else can get onboard the ship, the CDC wants cruise lines to ensure there are adequate health and safety protections for crew members.

This time will also be used to build the laboratory capacity needed to test future passengers.

In fact, the cruise lines need to meet certain testing requirements before they receive permission to conduct a simulated cruise or apply for a Conditional Sailing Certificate.

Test sailing rules

The cruise lines need to test out their policies through a series of test sailings. 

These test cruises are designed to clearly demonstrate that Royal Caribbean can "mitigate the risks of COVID-19 onboard its cruise ship".

A simulated voyage must meet the following requirements:

• Volunteer passengers are to be told in writing of the "inherently risky activity" of their test sailing with untested health and safety protocols.
• All volunteer passengers must be at least eighteen years old or older.
• All volunteer passengers must have a written certification from a healthcare provider that they have no pre-existing medical conditions .
• Royal Caribbean must conduct any simulation on a consensual basis and not as a condition of employment or in exchange for consideration or future reward. 
• Royal Caribbean must embark additional crew members beyond safe minimum manning levels only as determined through CDC technical instructions or orders.
•  The cruise ship operator must design and conduct a simulated voyage insofar as practicable to test the efficacy of the cruise ship operator’s ability to mitigate the risks  of COVID-19 onboard its cruise ship.
• The cruise ship operator must conduct a monitored observation period and laboratory  testing of volunteer passengers, as directed in CDC technical instructions or orders, prior to embarking volunteer passengers on a simulated voyage.

During the test cruise, the following activities must be simulated:

• embarkation and disembarkation procedures, including terminal check-in, 
• on board activities, including at dining and entertainment venues,
• private island shore excursions (if a port is visited)
• evacuation procedures,
• transfer of symptomatic passengers or crew, or those who test positive for SARSCoV-2, from cabins to isolation rooms,
• quarantine of all remaining passengers and non-essential crew, and
• other activities as may be listed in CDC technical instructions and orders.

In addition, Royal Caribbean must meet standards for hand hygiene, face coverings, and social distancing for passengers and crew, as well as ship sanitation, as may be required by CDC technical instructions or orders.

Royal Caribbean must modify meal service and entertainment venues to facilitate social distancing during the simulated voyage.

After each sailing, any issues in the health and safety protocols must be noted in an “after-action” report and address how these intend to address those deficiencies prior to applying for a COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate. 

Applying for permission to cruise

If all goes well with the simulated cruises, the next step is for Royal Caribbean to request a Conditional Sailing Certificate (CSO).

Applying for a CSO entails a lot of paperwork to indicate the responsible officials from the cruise line, as well as shoreside.

Each ship will need to apply and include the ship name, carrying capacity for passengers and crew, itinerary, ports of call, length of voyage, and expected onboard or shoreside activities, for the cruise ship that the cruise ship operator intends to have certified for restricted passenger operations.

Basically, the application ensures the ship has met, and will continue to meet, the rigorous standards for safe cruising.

The CDC may limit passenger or crew capacity, itinerary, ports of call, length of voyage, onboard or shoreside activities.

These materials should be submitted at least 60 calendar days prior to the date on which the cruise ship operator proposes to commence restricted passenger operations.

Initial sailings

Once cruises are able to resume, there will be limitations on what is allowed during the "Restricted Passenger Voyages".

• Notify prospective passengers prior to accepting a reservation of any CDC travel advisory, warning, or recommendation relating to cruise travel.
• Royal Caribbean cannot sail or offer to sail on an itinerary longer than 7 days.
• Royal Caribbean must screen passengers and crew and deny boarding if anyone tests positive.
• Royal Caribbean must conduct laboratory testing of all passengers and crew on the day of embarkation and the day of disembarkation.
• Conduct laboratory testing of any passengers and crew who report illness consistent with COVID-19 during the voyage with rapid point of care results.
• Report syndromic surveillance and all laboratory test results using CDC’s Enhanced Data Collection form as required by CDC technical instructions or orders.
• Meet standards for hand hygiene, face coverings, and social distancing for passengers and crew, as well as ship sanitation.
• Modify meal service and entertainment venues to facilitate social distancing.

The CDC reserves the right to revoke a Conditional Sailing Certificate if rules are not being followed onboard.

Royal Caribbean: CDC announcement is a positive step

If all of this sounds like a lot of work, well, it is, and Royal Caribbean is ready for it.

In a statement to the media, Royal Caribbean Group reiterated its commitment to doing whatever it takes to be able to sail again.

"While we are eager to welcome our guests back on board, we have a lot to do between now and then, and we’re committed to taking the time to do things right. This includes training our crew in new health and safety protocols and conducting a number of trial sailings to stress-test those protocols in real-world conditions."

Moreover, Royal Caribbean has never been shy about saying they always planned a slow return to service.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain has emphasized a slow and methodical approach to cruises restarting, "We will not rush to return to service until we are confident that we have figured out the changes that we must make to offer our guests and crew strong health and safety protocols with the enjoyable experience that they rightly expect."

Hours after the CDC announced it would end its ban on cruise ships, Royal Caribbean said it is "eager to welcome guests back onboard".

In a statement shared on social media, Royal Caribbean shared a brief message that it is ready to begin working on new protocols and trial sailings in order to be able to sail again.

"Today’s CDC announcement establishes a pathway for our ships to return to service. We’re eager to welcome guests back on board & will continue to work closely with both CDC & the Healthy Sail Panel to protect the health of our guests, our crew, & the communities where we sail."

"While we are eager to welcome our guests back on board, we have a lot to do between now and then, and we're committed to taking the time to do things right. This includes training our crew in new health and safety protocols and conducting a number of trial sailings to stress-test those protocols in real-world conditions."

"We will continue to work closely with both CDC and the Healthy Sail Panel as we make our plans, and we are confident in our ability to mitigate the risks of the pandemic and protect the health of our guests, our crew, and the communities where we sail."

Royal Caribbean has not announced any restart plans yet, nor which ships will sail first.

Work needed before cruises can restart

While the No Sail order may be gone, it will not be a free-for-all to restart sailings.

The CDC has added a great deal of restrictions on when and how cruises can restart, stipulating many new hurdles cruise lines must overcome in order for a cruise ship to be certified to sail again.

The terms of the Conditional Sailing Order are many, and include provisions for testing crew members and rigorous simulated cruises.

Test sailings will require the ship to test the efficacy of Royal Caribbean’s ability to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 onboard its cruise ship.

During the test cruise, the following activities must be simulated:

• embarkation and disembarkation procedures, including terminal check-in, 
• on board activities, including at dining and entertainment venues,
• private island shore excursions (if a port is visited)
• evacuation procedures,
• transfer of symptomatic passengers or crew, or those who test positive for SARSCoV-2, from cabins to isolation rooms,
• quarantine of all remaining passengers and non-essential crew, and
• other activities as may be listed in CDC technical instructions and orders.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced on Friday it will begin allowing cruise ships to restart cruises.

The CDC announced following the expiration of the No Sail order on October 31, the agency will take a "phased approach to resuming cruise ship operations in U.S. waters."

The Conditional Sailing Order for Cruise Ships will encompass a few phases:

1. Testing and additional safeguards for crew members
2. Simulated voyages to test cruise line ability to mitigate virus spread onboard
3. Phased return to cruise ship passenger voyages

These phases are subject to change based on public health considerations and cruise ship operator's demonstrated ability to mitigate COVID-19 risk.

In addition, the Conditional Sailing Order announced new requirements for initial phases relating to crew testing.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces this framework for a phased resumption of cruise ship passenger operations. Considering the continued spread of COVID-19 worldwide and increased risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships, a careful approach is needed to safely resume cruise ship passenger operations. CDC is establishing requirements to mitigate the COVID-19 risk to passengers and crew, prevent the further spread of COVID-19 from cruise ships into U.S. communities, and protect public health and safety. After expiration of CDC’s No Sail Order (NSO) on October 31, 2020, CDC will take a phased approach to resuming cruise ship passenger operations in U.S. waters."

While the No Sail order expires on October 31, Royal Caribbean has already cancelled all of its sailings through November 30.

Ending the cruise ship ban

The announcement that the CDC will lift the cruise ship ban comes after 7 months of the No Sail order prohibiting cruise lines from operating in U.S. waters.

Royal Caribbean has been shutdown since mid-March, and the No Sail order has been a major obstacle to any restart plan in North America.

Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings teamed up over the summer to come up with a comprehensive and multi-layered approach to allow cruise ships to operate safely, through the efforts of a blue ribbon panel of scientists.

The Healthy Sail Panel has developed its own set of 74 detailed steps to safeguard the health of guests, crew and communities.

Recommendations include testing, the use of face coverings, and enhanced sanitation procedures on ships and in terminals. 

Healthy Panel co-chair Governor Mike Leavitt, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, specified exactly how in-depth their recommendations go.

"This Panel undertook an ambitious, cross-disciplinary, public health examination to develop standards and guidelines that create the highest level of safety in the complex environment of a cruise ship. We studied the industry’s experiences combating the pandemic – and we then incorporated the many lessons learned and advances made by medicine and science over the past six months. The Panel’s recommendations are grounded in the best scientific and medical information available and are intended to meaningfully mitigate public health risks to those who sail."

When will Royal Caribbean restart cruises?

Royal Caribbean has not announced any firm restart plan yet, but it is clear based on comments from executives what to expect.

Just yesterday, Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain shared details of the cruise line's general approach to restarting cruises during a call with investors.

1. Training crew
2. A series of non-revenue sailings to rehearse and validate the new protocols
   1. This process will be carefully evaluated by independent outside observers
3. Restart of cruises with a ship or two at first, the more ships later in a "gradual and methodical way".

The first sailings will be short cruises at first, with limited destinations and controlled shore excursions.

Apart from cruises in the United States, Quantum of the Seas will begin cruises in December from Singapore and offer short cruises with no port stops.

Royal Caribbean Group Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty also gave investors a preview of what it expects for cruises in Spring 2021 that largely mirror what Mr. Fain shared.

Mr. Liberty expects "a very limited initial return and a gradual ramp up during the first half of 2021."

Royal Caribbean anticipates short sailings the be the cornerstone of their return, and to offer these cruises from key drive markets in both the U.S. and Asia-Pacific regions.

Royal Caribbean has changed a rule about how guests can use their future cruise credits (FCC) to make it much easier if you have leftover credit.

If a guest uses their FCC for a sailing and has a leftover balance, they do not have to wait for the first sailing to complete before applying the remainder.

Prior to the change made this week by Royal Caribbean, guests had to wait until the first sailing was over before they could use any remainder credits from that voucher.

With this new change, Royal Caribbean allows guests to redeem a FCC on two active bookings.

Royal Caribbean alerted travel agents to this change this week:

"Enhancements have been made to the existing FCC process where any balance remaining on an FCC no longer has to await the return of the existing cruise vacation before applying the balance to a future/new reservation. That means the same FCC can now be redeemed on 2 active bookings! Once a portion of the FCC is applied to a reservation, the remaining balance FCC will be generated and, in turn, sent to your client for use as they wish. Please note that any FCC with a pending balance from the past few months will now be run through this process, with an anticipated completion date for all by end-of-October."

The old policy for only allowing an FCC to be used on one sailing at a time was a policy that originated well-before the current global cruise shutdown.

In fact, future cruise credits were fairly rare for guests to have before this year, but so many guests now have at least one FCC to use due to all the cancelled cruises in 2020.

Royal Caribbean has slowly changed some of the FCC rules because of all the cancelled cruises, including being able to use a FCC towards a deposit and even allowing guests to combine FCCs.

Future Cruise Credits are an option for guests who either choose to cancel their cruise up to 48 hours before the sail date via the Cruise with Confidence program, or have their cruise cancelled by Royal Caribbean. In either case, a voucher code is provided that can be redeemed for the value of the sailing.

When Royal Caribbean cancels the sailing, the Future Cruise Credit is worth 125% the value of the cruise fare that the guest paid.

Have more questions about a FCC? These stories will help:

• Royal Caribbean Future Cruise Credit: What you need to know
• Top ways you cannot use your Royal Caribbean future cruise credits
• What happens if I want to cancel my Royal Caribbean cruise?