Royal Caribbean Could Announce Cruise Restart Next Week

[Host Jazzbeau]

New article on Cruise Critic:

Royal Caribbean Could Announce Cruise Restart Next Week

[crzndeb]

I like that there is still a glimmer of hope that a Royal ship will be coming back to the West Coast.

[HaveWeMetYet]

Nothing to see here.

Royal website says they intend to resume cruise operations on December 1.

The rest of the article is about new routes for 2022-2023.

[yogimax]

I don't believe I saw any start up dates mentioned, so this could be for December 2020 to December 2021.

[island lady]

Yeah, I love the "different day...same crap" new updates...that have been going on for months now.  

 

Always the "our goal is"...  😉  

[Tudy]

Thanks for posting! It does seem a little more hopeful.

 

[greykitty]

Does this mean hard logistics and contracts with medical providers  are in hand and have been provided to the CDC, or is she referring to the rather nebulous 74 step document? 

 

Freed, who made the comments during her weekly Coffee Chat with travel advisors on Wednesday, indicated that the health and safety protocols developed by Royal Caribbean's Healthy Sail Panel were implemented and ready to go but cautioned that the announcement could be further postponed, "If we don't hear back this week from the CDC."

Edited October 14, 2020 by greykitty

[twangster]

Royal could announce a new "Seniors Sail Free" program next week.

 

Equally unlikely that they will make such an announcement.   

[sandebeach]

Always enjoy hearing about updates, thanks. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

34 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

Always enjoy hearing about updates, thanks. 

 

Always enjoying seeing the reactions of the congenital pessimists vs optimists!

[Merion_Mom]

20 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Always enjoying seeing the reactions of the congenital pessimists vs optimists!

And thus dies critical thinking.

[3red7s]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

Yeah, I love the "different day...same crap" new updates...that have been going on for months now.  

 

Always the "our goal is"...  😉  

i know...it is annoying......the dangling of the carrot..

 

[Vera/Lee]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Always enjoying seeing the reactions of the congenital pessimists vs optimists!

Thanks for the update! I'm in the optimist camp and look forward to cruising again. One place I have been watching for signs is on the CDC website for "Status of No Sail Order Response Plans and Commercial Transport". They update it once a week. I was glad to see Mariner's status turn green today since I'm booked on her for December. She has been in the red for at least two weeks. Grandeur changed to red today and Freedom to Yellow. Adventure is still red for the second week.  I'm not sure what causes the change, but I wonder if they have taken on crew that needs to quarantine for two weeks. Does anyone know the reason? Thanks!

[yogimax]

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

And thus dies critical thinking.

Nah, people are always being critical!

[dswallow]

I suspect that RCL has submitted a proposal to the CDC to restart cruises beginning with Navigator doing 3/4 day cruises out of Miami as part of getting experience and testing out the Healthy Sail Panel changes they've created. And has probably privately/verbally been given a tentative OK pending detailed review at the White House meeting. That would correspond with the reports we've seen about Navigator crew being called in.

So, while it the possibility is certainly positive if it occurs, it's also still a long way from restarting cruising in the larger sense.

But in any event, something has to start in the US sometime, somewhere before there's really any chance anything larger restarts in the US.

[The Grumpus]

Has the CDC accepted or even commented on RCI/NCL’s reopening plan yet? If not, then I can’t imagine anything is happening soon. Perhaps the CDC will allow a few of those non-paying test cruises to see how they go, before making a decision to allow paying customers to sail out of US ports. 

[greykitty]

@vera/lee, I thought that site deals only with crew being safe to disembark, not  a ship's readiness to sail with passengers to or from US ports? 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/crew-disembarkations-commercial-travel.html

 

A response plan under the No Sail Order that is complete and accurate

• This does not mean ships are allowed to resume passenger travel, but rather that they have met CDC’s requirements to provide a safe environment for crew members to work and to disembark crew safely by non-commercial travel.
• Cruise company officials must sign an acknowledgment of the completeness and accuracy of their response plan.

....

Meeting these criteria does not mean cruise ships can resume passenger operations. We don’t have enough information at this time to say when it will be safe to resume sailing with passengers. Cruise lines may need to establish additional safety measures before sailing with passengers is permitted to resume. CDC will continue to evaluate and update its recommendations as the situation evolves

[2chiefs]

4 hours ago, yogimax said:

I don't believe I saw any start up dates mentioned, so this could be for December 2020 to December 2021.

A nice narrow window......

[Vera/Lee]

Just now, greykitty said:

@vera/lee, I thought that site deals only with crew being safe to disembark, not  a ship's readiness to sail with passengers to or from US ports? 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/crew-disembarkations-commercial-travel.html

 

A response plan under the No Sail Order that is complete and accurate

• This does not mean ships are allowed to resume passenger travel, but rather that they have met CDC’s requirements to provide a safe environment for crew members to work and to disembark crew safely by non-commercial travel.
• Cruise company officials must sign an acknowledgment of the completeness and accuracy of their response plan.

....

Meeting these criteria does not mean cruise ships can resume passenger operations. We don’t have enough information at this time to say when it will be safe to resume sailing with passengers. Cruise lines may need to establish additional safety measures before sailing with passengers is permitted to resume. CDC will continue to evaluate and update its recommendations as the situation evolves

Yes, I realize that it doesn't mean the ship is allowed to sail with passengers at this point. But, it's one step at a time. I've heard that the crew will have to quarantine for a time after returning to the ship. Is that true and if so, could that be the reason for the status changes? Wasn't Grandeur and Freedom in Port last week? (Sorry if I'm totally off base on this.)

[greykitty]

@vera/lee, hopefully someone who knows for sure will weigh in soon, but I really thought the color coded charts and such dealt only with repatriation of crew.  I would guess that getting crew onto ships in preparation for passenger sailings would be one of the items mentioned in the 74 point document submitted to the CDC, and hopefully all the lines have figured out the logistics and are ready to present the detailed plans to the CDC on request?  But I thought the color coding for allowance of crew to transit the US was really a separate program - but could well be wrong  

 

But, you're right I think that the cruise lines are taking baby steps toward what will be allowed regarding US ports with the safe sailing suggestions.  Be interesting to see what the actual implementation measures are on the various ships, wouldn't it?

 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/cdc-posts-color-coded-status-allowing-cruise-ship-crew-transit-us

[whitshel]

I was thinking about this a few days ago, I know they are saying Royal and the west coast but I am thinking more of Celebrity.  They still have the Eclipse and the Millennium sitting of the coast of San Diego and with the 2021 Australia  season out I wonder if they will put either one of those ships in SD or LA doing MR until Alaska starts up in May?

[Ken at the beach]

10 minutes ago, whitshel said:

I was thinking about this a few days ago, I know they are saying Royal and the west coast but I am thinking more of Celebrity.  They still have the Eclipse and the Millennium sitting of the coast of San Diego and with the 2021 Australia  season out I wonder if they will put either one of those ships in SD or LA doing MR until Alaska starts up in May?

It was mentioned in a webinar dealing with Royal.  They never mix the brands on these calls. 

[Ashland]

10 hours ago, crzndeb said:

I like that there is still a glimmer of hope that a Royal ship will be coming back to the West Coast.

We've been hoping for this for years. The Mexican Riviera (and some Baja itineraries) from San Pedro is where our addiction to cruising with RCI started to become serious 

 

I would prefer RCI but I would take X in a heartbeat from San Pedro.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Ashland

[ipeeinthepool]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Always enjoying seeing the reactions of the congenital pessimists vs optimists!

 

Many of us are just realists reacting to the facts.

[Junkhouse]

7 hours ago, The Grumpus said:

Has the CDC accepted or even commented on RCI/NCL’s reopening plan yet? If not, then I can’t imagine anything is happening soon. Perhaps the CDC will allow a few of those non-paying test cruises to see how they go, before making a decision to allow paying customers to sail out of US ports. 

You trust the CDC and scientists?  They have gone from masks don’t work to masks provide better protection then a vaccine.  Then they come up with a statement that says we never told anyone that masks protect the wearer after the CDC director said the mask will protect him more than the vaccine.