CRUISING ALONG AGAIN
Royal Caribbean Group to restart some cruises in June.
MIAMI — With the cruise industry shut down in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, Royal Caribbean Group is turning to the Caribbean for its North America restart in June.
Its Celebrity Millennium cruise ship will start sevennight cruises from St. Maarten on June 5, and its Adventure of the Seas ship will start seven- night cruises from Nassau, the Bahamas, on June 12. All crew and passengers older than 18 will be required to be vaccinated against COVID19; those under 18 will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of boarding.
“The vaccines are clearly a game-changer for all of us, and with the number of vaccinations and their impact growing rapidly, we believe starting with cruises for vaccinated adult guests and crew is the right choice,” said Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley. “As we move forward, we expect this requirement and other measures will inevitably evolve over time.”
The company is still determining whether it will require crew and passengers to wear masks and how full the ships will be.
“We are not sailing until June and we know much can change between now and then,” said Royal Caribbean spokesperson Lyan Sierra-Caro via email. “We will continue to follow the science and the data.”
The Celebrity Millennium cruises will visit Aruba, Curaçao and Barbados on one itinerary and Tortola, St. Lucia and Barbados on another. The Adventure of the Seas cruises will visit Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas, as well as Grand Bahama Island and Cozumel, Mexico.
This time last year, Caribbean countries shut their ports to cruise ships for fear that infected passengers would overwhelm their health resources. At times, infected cruise passengers and crew made up large portions of islands’ total case counts. Cruise outbreaks led to at least 111 crew and passenger deaths and affected 87 ships, according to a Miami Herald investigation.
After a nearly six-month cruise ban in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October published a “conditional sail order,” its framework for restarting in the U.S.
Phase one of the order requires companies to test crew members for COVID- 19 weekly and report results to the CDC. There are still some companies with ships in U.S. waters that have not complied with phase one of the order, CDC spokesperson Caitlin Shockey said. Once phase one is completed, companies move into phase two: securing agreements with local health authorities and ports.
The CDC’s order, published before COVID-19 vaccination began, includes some requirements that go beyond what Royal Caribbean is planning, including PCR testing for all passengers and crew on embarkation and disembarkation days. It also requires companies to publicize CDC cruise travel warnings in all marketing materials and end cruises immediately in the case of an outbreak.