Royal Caribbean Group Chairman Sees Smooth Sailing Ahead

The “winds of change are in the air,” said Richard Fain, chairman of the Royal Caribbean Group, in his latest address to travel advisors.

Fain discussed progress to the resumption of cruising and noted that science will lead the way.

He didn’t shy away from discussing the turbulent times in which the United States currently finds itself. In fact, Fain began the address acknowledging the rapid-fire news of the week saying “you can’t make this stuff up” and sending well wishes to President Trump, the First Lady and all of those affected by the virus.

But the message focused on the positive and signs that, as a nation, we are finding ways to mitigate the pandemic.

“Even though we are not through this yet, we are close enough to get wonderful glimpses of the other side,” he said. “I am certainly not going to minimize the trauma that the coronavirus has caused and is causing all of us but progress is being made and we shouldn’t minimize that progress either.”

Fain highlighted some of the positive happenings and said that “the key is science.”

“Understanding the problem is a massive step to solving it,” said Fain.

He touted the developments of new treatments that make the virus less threatening and advances in testing that have made detecting it easier.

“I think we will see more benefit from testing than we will from a vaccine in the near term,” Fain said. “Faster cheaper and widespread testing will be much more impactful much sooner…It’s the one-two punch of testing and contact tracing that is so effective in limiting the community spread of the disease.”

He notes that this will bring “COVID to its knees.”

Fain couldn’t resist a pun in his address, saying testing and tracing will be like “a shot in the arm for our economies.”

Fain went on to discuss the Healthy Sail panel’s expertise and findings and its two main goals: reduce the risk of COVID and ensure that ships can handle a case onboard.

Travel advisors are encouraged to read the full report on royalcaribbean.com/hspreport.

“As we have met with government officials our confidence has grown,” Fain said.

He illustrated the resumption of cruising, which will begin slowly with non-revenue test sailings. Royal Caribbean will then proceed with short cruise and limited shore excursions.

“We understand the importance of getting this right and we won’t cut corners,” Fain promised. “Together we have persevered and we will continue to do so together.”