Tag Archives: RCCL

Royal Caribbean Relaunches Cruise Service in North America This June

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Royal Caribbean International will be the first major contemporary cruise line back in service in North America, relaunching cruises in June from Nassau with the Adventure of the Seas offering weeklong itineraries starting on June 12.

“We’ve been working on the return to service for well over a year for this market,” said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales and trade support and service, Royal Caribbean International. “We’ve been sailing successfully in Singapore and feel very confident about our strong protocols that are in place.”

The weeklong sailings will operate below 100 per cent occupancy to start on the 3,100-guest Adventure, and ramp up occupancy rates over time, said Freed.

All crew will be vaccinated and guests will be required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination. Guests under 18 will need a negative PCR test.

Freed said Nassau was a great jumping-off point for people to cruise from with 24 daily flights from 13 major U.S. airports.

The cruise will call on Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island and its highest-rated port globally, where the ship will spend two days.

Other port stops include Grand Bahama and Cozumel, where the company will only allow guests off the ship on Royal Caribbean-organized shore excursions.

“With our own little bubble, we can really make sure the health and safety protocols are being followed,” Freed told Cruise Industry News via phone.

The Adventure will thus join the Quantum of the Seas, sailing from Singapore, and the Odyssey of the Seas, sailing from Haifa, as the Royal Caribbean ships back in service.

As for why the company decided on the 2001-built Adventure and Freed said the Voyager-class ship was the right ship for the deployment, with all the company’s bells and whistles, having come off a major refurbishment in 2018.

Itineraries are currently scheduled from June through August, and Freed said the next logical steps were getting more ships back in service in North America, as well as increasing occupancy on the Adventure over time.

Among major product changes, Freed pointed to the company’s e-mustering system, allowing guests to attend the muster drill from their stateroom or using a mobile device on an individual basis. She also noted a more digital cruise experience, using mobile phones to access restaurant menus, for example.

Cabezas: ‘Azamara Sale is a Win-Win-Win’

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The Chief Operating Officer of Azamara, Carol Cabezas, has explained the sale of Azamara to a private equity firm, Sycamore Partners, with increasing the value of the cruise line’s product and driving the brand forward.

“Sycamore Partners, which has invested in many upscale consumer brands, is known for identifying great brands that need flexible funding to grow and succeed,” Cabezas said in a video address published on the brand’s official website.

“Sycamore’s strategy is to partner with existing management to nurture companies for growth and invest in upscale companies. The priority is to increase the value of our product. So, it’s a win-win-win,” she added.

This comes a couple of hours since Royal Caribbean Group announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Azamara brand to Sycamore Partners in an all-cash carve-out transaction for $201 million, “subject to certain adjustments and closing conditions.”

The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, Cabezas said, after the cruise line receives all the normal regulatory approvals.

The transition will take a couple of months with the help of the Royal Caribbean Group.

According to Cabezas, nothing is currently expected to change for Azamara’s customers.

“There is no impact on your current bookings, future cruise credits, refunds or the availability of your travel advisor. Also, our website and care centre agents remain open for business, and I encourage you to start planning your next cruise with us,” she said, before adding that that the entire team will stay with Azamara, including customer care staff and crew.

“We commit to keeping the brand elements that make us Azamara, your brand of choice with immersive experiences that elevate vacation to lifestyle and superior service throughout the journey. With Sycamore, we intend to rapidly expand these to offer more destinations and portfolio choices at every step along the way. We’re only going to get better,” Cabezas stated.

Azamara will adopt the same health and safety protocols as the Royal Caribbean Group, Cabezas said in a statement. These were developed by a group of public health experts at the Healthy Sail Panel.

Swift Response to ‘COVID-19’ Onboard Quantum of the Seas

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Thanks to https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/

The Dec. 9 announcement of a positive COVID-19 case onboard the Quantum of the Seas came as a shock to Singapore, where the Royal Caribbean International ship was sailing, and the world. The 1,680 guests on board, along with 1,148 crew, made a beeline back to port and arrived in Singapore within six hours after the guest tested positive.

The Singapore Cruise Society breaks down what happened and how the situation was handled:

Background

The Quantum of the Seas set sail on her third cruise back in service on Dec. 6. The sailing was a four-day itinerary from Singapore’s Marina Bay terminal to nowhere, with no port calls, for Singapore residents only. The ship, which can normally carry 4,100 passengers, was capped at 50 per cent capacity and had 1,608 guests onboard.

Royal Caribbean has put in place many new measures to limit the risk of COVID-19 onboard its ships, such as obligatory mask wearing, restrictions on gatherings of more than five, online check-ins, regular disinfection, the use of updated HVAC systems and tracing technology, and the functioning of an upgraded onboard medical center.

Additionally, all guests underwent PCR tests before embarkation and Antigen Rapid Tests after the sailing (before leaving the terminal).

What Happened?

An 82-yead-old male passenger was reported to the onboard medical centre. He underwent a PCR test, which came back positive on the third day of the sailing.

The passengers on board the Quantum of the Seas were immediately notified of the incident and asked to stay inside their staterooms. For that purpose, meals were brought directly to cabins, and guests were allowed to smoke in their en-suites.

Response

A swift return (taking less than six hours) of the vessel was organized, and the guest was evacuated to a local hospital, where his three subsequent swab tests came back negative.

The Singapore Cruise Society believes that this incident might have been a case of what the health professionals call ‘false-positive.’

However, the situation showed that the system implemented by the Royal Caribbean Group and the Singapore Tourism Board works well.

As much as the Quantum of the Seas guests were disappointed to have their holidays cut short, none that were interviewed by the media mentioned any mishandling of the situation, and said they had “no regrets,” and “will come back again.”

Refunds for a day that the guests missed at sea will be processed accordingly.