On the heels of announcing cruises for North Americans from the Bahamas, Royal Caribbean International is also adding sailings from Bermuda beginning on June 26, 2021, and going through August.
Vision of the Seas will embark from the British island territory on weeklong voyages that include an overnight in Bermuda and a visit to the line’s private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, in the Bahamas. The new cruises go on sale March 29.
Like the line’s previously scheduled Adventure of the Seas sailings in the Caribbean, adult passengers and crew onboard Vision will also be required to have been vaccinated for COVID-19. Passengers under 18 years old can still board, provided they test negative for the coronavirus.
During the latest “Coffee Talk with Vicki Freed,” the company’s travel advisor webinar series, Richard Fain, chairman and CEO for Royal Caribbean Group, offered additional insight into the vaccine requirement.
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According to Fain, vaccine requirements to board sailings will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and the decision will be made in conjunction with local destinations.
“As the science continues to progress, we will change and adjust to that,” Fain said.
He also said that the requirement “could change tomorrow” for these upcoming sailings and those in the immediate future.
Additional hygiene and safety measures, as specified by the cruise line’s Healthy Sail Panel (formed in collaboration with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.), will be detailed later. Visitors must also meet the travel requirements of Bermuda, which currently includes receiving a negative PCR test result before traveling, testing upon arrival into the country and filling out health entry forms.
For U.S. citizens returning stateside after their cruise, onboard testing will be made available at no additional cost to guests, according to Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales, trade support and service for the brand.
Furthermore, Royal Caribbean’s air department is blocking out seats on dedicated flights at subsidized rates for clients who book with the line.
Fain also said the existing Conditional Sail Order (CSO) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is out of date, and that it’s time to move on.
He believes that the addition of vaccines and the line’s proven ability to test and contact trace — as the line has done in Singapore, where more than 50,000 guests have successfully sailed on Quantum of the Seas — “ought to be the basis to move forward.”
Still being on phase one of the CSO’s four phases to return to cruising, without any further guidance provided by the government agency on how to move to the next phase, is “pretty unworkable for us, and the CDC,” he said.
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