Popular cruiseship line Royal Caribbean announced late Wednesday that its ships are among the safest places on the planet. Robert DeNaples, president of Royal Caribbean Cruises, told the “Wall Street Journal” that the company’s ships are among those that “have the highest levels of safety and security on the planet.”
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines President Michael Bayley recently told The Associated Press that his company’s ships are among the safest on the planet.
Royal Caribbean Cruises has been named as the world’s “safest” cruise line by Cruise Critic readers. On its website, that title is displayed next to the logo for the line’s flagship—the Royal Caribbean International—which was recently named the “No. 1 Cruise Ship” by Cruise Critic readers.. Read more about royal caribbean president’s cruise 2024 and let us know what you think.
Royal Caribbean International president Michael Bayley has documented the company’s “experience through the ups and downs, twists and turns of what seems like the never-ending epidemic” on his Facebook page.
Bayley detailed the company’s relaunch in a recent blog post, stating that half of RCI’s 26-ship fleet would be sailing again by the end of the month. He outlines the measures being taken to deal with the inevitable positive COVID instances that would inevitably be discovered aboard, claiming that these efforts make Royal Caribbean ships “actually one of the safest places on the world.”
The Seas of Adventure (Photo courtesy of Nassau Cruise Port)
Some of Bayley’s main points are as follows:
- “All of our ships are beginning to operate with restricted capacity, either as a result of government mandates, such as Singapore and Southampton, or as a result of voluntary limits we imposed on ourselves, ranging from 30 to 50 percent. We are expanding our capacity ship by ship as we go month by month.”
- “Our whole crew is completely vaccinated, and each ship travels with a vaccinated community aboard ranging from 90 to 97 percent. The children who are not eligible for (vaccination) make up the bulk of the unvaccinated guests.”
- “Because all passengers, regardless of vaccination status, are obliged to be tested before to boarding, we usually have 2 to 10 guests each week (out of thousands of people aboard 12 ships) who do not board because they test positive.”
Despite these measures, Bayley claims that “typically one or two of a thousand or more visitors each week per ship” test positive while on board. Testing “captures status at a moment in time,” he says, and “if the visitor is incubating illness, the test will miss it.” He also mentions that a tiny percentage of vaccinated visitors are testing positive for COVID, despite the fact that they are usually asymptomatic.
The Quantum of the Seas is docked at Singapore’s Marina Bay Cruise Centre (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean)
When Cases Are Found Onboard, What Happens Next?
Bayley believes that what occurs once positive cases are found is key to preventing issues and enabling cruises to continue safely.
“Quarantine for COVID-positive guest(s) and testing of immediate travel party, contact tracing and testing of all contacts, and quarantine if positive,” he explains what occurs aboard when a positive test is reported. In the vast majority of instances, repatriation is via private jet,” Bayley wrote.
READ MORE: Royal Caribbean Cruises Return to the Western Mediterranean
Due to the development of the more transmissible Delta strain, the Royal Caribbean president claims that all crew members have been vaccinated and are being checked weekly rather than every two weeks.
“Do we have any crew [members] that are [COVID] positive?” Bayley penned the piece. “Yes. During quarantine, when they are vaccinated and tested as they board the ship, or during routine testing.” Bayley claims that the number of positive crew members is very minimal – one or two each week out of thousands of crew members.
Guests & Crew Members Are Adapting On The Fly
There’s no denying that Royal Caribbean International, like the rest of the cruise industry, is still dealing with a slew of issues as it prepares to resume operations. Guests and staff members must adjust on the fly to a dynamic scenario as destination protocols continue to change depending on local circumstances.
People who have received a combination of vector-based vaccinations like Astra-Zeneca and an mRna vaccine like Pfizer and Moderna are eligible for cruising, according to Bayley. A large number of Canadians are in the same boat.
“There are still numerous changes or areas of uncertainty, such as Canadian combination vaccinations, which are completely allowed in Canada but not by the CDC, and which authority decides is determined by the home port we travel from,” Bayley says. “However, we continue to collaborate with a number of agencies in order to develop secure solutions.”
“This Is Literally One Of The Safest Places On Earth”
Bayley believes that his openness would assuage the concerns of people who are hesitant to book a trip right now.
He writes, “Perhaps this is too much information.” “However, having a community that is 90 to 97 percent vaccinated with regular testing for everyone is truly one of the safest places on the planet.”
Bayley also mentions his favorite statistic: “Guest satisfaction is very high!”
“Please remember that we, as a business, are doing all we can to safeguard our passengers, workers, and the communities we visit throughout the restart,” he says.
Related Tags
This article broadly covered the following related topics:
- royal caribbean president’s cruise 2024
- cruise net
- cruise network
- cruisedaily
- cruise ship today
