Cruise Lines, CDC Discussing Caribbean Relaunch

Cruise lines operating in Caribbean waters are in discussions with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials to re-launch voyages to the region from U.S. ports, said Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean International’s president and CEO.

“We have entered into constructive conversations with the CDC and the United States [government], which is a very important health authority for us,” said Bayley in an online Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) briefing Wednesday. “A vast amount of our operations come from ports in the U.S.,” he said.

Bayley sought to discourage speculation that cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, are launching operations from ports outside of the U.S. to avoid the CDC’s practical embargo on sailings from U.S. ports.

“We’re not trying to circumvent the ‘No Sail’ order from the CDC,” Bayley said. “I believe [the discussions] are going well and are on a very positive path, primarily because of the progress made with vaccines.

“That constructive dialogue gives us a lot of hope for the future,” said Bayley, who cited encouraging results from client surveys conducted since the pandemic’s beginning. “In the last few months those surveys have turned incredibly positive,” he said.

“People do believe the worst is behind us [and] this is coming to an end. People are positive about traveling in the future,” said Bayley. “We see that in our bookings into 2022, particularly for the Caribbean.” The strong future bookings “tell you the [enthusiasm] is real.”

Cruise lines will be prepared to safely resume operations in the region, said Bayley. The cruise industry task force comprised of Caribbean destinations and major lines operating in the region have worked for months to establish evolving, science-driven protocols for in-port cruise operations based on the latest pandemic developments, he said.

“There will be testing and protocols for crew and guests and those will largely be guided by the CDC,” Bayley said. “One of the things the industry is committed to is vaccinating all crewmembers.”

“We know that will take some time and we know that currently there is a vaccine shortage in many parts of the world,” he said. “But we’ve been assured in the coming months there will be a lot of vaccine that’s available globally.”

Bayley added that “Since January, over 80 percent of our bookings for cruises in 2021 and 2022 are from guests who have been vaccinated. With the availability of COVAX, in the coming months, I think we are going to move into an environment where the destination population is not completely but largely vaccinated, the crew members on our ships are vaccinated and the vast majority of our guests are vaccinated.”

“I’m pretty convinced that 2022 could be one of the biggest travel years in our history. Not just for cruise, but for the [entire] Caribbean.”