Independence of the Seas in Southampton, UK. Photo credit Spacejunkie2
Since restarting operations in 2020, Royal Caribbean Group has carried approximately 1.3 million guests, with about 2,500 guests testing positive for COVID-19, for a positivity rate of 0.19 per cent.
Those numbers were shared by President and CEO Jason Liberty on the company’s year-end and fourth-quarter earnings call on Friday.
“This positivity rate is still a small fraction of what it is in society at large, and nearly all cases onboard were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms,” Liberty said.
“Our rigorous health and safety protocols with 100% per cent vaccination rate among our crew and close to 100 per cent vaccination rate among our guests provide a safe environment where we can fulfil our mission of delivering amazing vacations. And our guests are responding by providing record Net Promoter Scores for us, exceeding their expectations,” he added.
Michael Bayley, president and CEO of the Royal Caribbean International brand, also said that while the Omicron variant did impact crew aboard, most crews had no symptoms.
“99 per cent of the crew positivity was asymptomatic and the 1 per cent was extremely mild symptoms. I mean, it really was remarkable in many ways. But the impact on the crew was effectively 0, except to take them out of operation for the period of their quarantine,” Bayley said.
