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Royal Caribbean Cruises brands have launched a new suite of training modules on the RCL Cares platform designed to help agents to prepare sales mindsets and maximise their return to service following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ‘Selling Beyond Covid-19’ training comprises six modules, which feature the latest sales tools focusing on science, psychology and change management, alongside up-to-date research of the effects of prior recessions and crises.
They feature videos explaining the process and thinking, and take roughly 90 minutes to complete.
The RCL Cares hub was introduced by the cruise company in April and it offers information ranging from wellbeing support for families to links to UK government and ABTA advice to businesses, trade FAQs and contact details for sales support teams.
The latest corporate messaging from Royal Caribbean Cruises, alongside details of the RCL Cruise with Confidence policy, are also available.
RCL vice president EMEA, Ben Bouldin, comments: “When we launched, we promised we would – over time – update the hub with Group news and additional support measures, in line with the ever-changing economic and political landscape.
“In just eight weeks we’ve already launched two content updates – ‘Selling beyond Covid19’ and a selection of guidance and advice from our partner ‘everywoman’.
“We hope this reinforces our ongoing commitment to our invaluable trade partners as we look forward to introducing even more relevant and timely content to our RCL Cares platform over the next few months.” 
Celebrity Cruises vice president EMEA, Jo Rzymowska, said: “It’s fantastic to see so many of our trade partners already benefiting from RCL Cares.
We’re seeing strong use of the site, and the feedback has been resoundingly positive – especially concerning its ease of use and the breadth of content available – from links to UK government and ABTA advice to our latest corporate messaging, alongside details of the RCL Cruise with Confidence policy.
“There’s something to help everyone navigate this unprecedented time.”
Visit rclcares.co.uk for more information.

40,000 crew still at sea. Some call for change in cruise-Caribbean relationship
BY TAYLOR DOLVEN AND
  JACQUELINE CHARLES
JUNE 14, 2020 06:00 AM Thousands of crew members are still stuck at sea more than two months after the cruise industry shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic. BY MATIAS J. OCNER | TAYLOR DOLVEN
After 80 days at sea, three transfers between ships, four canceled flights and one plane malfunction, Royal Caribbean Cruises music director Bruno Cruells finally touched down in his native Argentina on June 3, accompanied by 251 compatriots. Sitting behind the taxi’s new plexiglass on the way home from the airport with his hometown whizzing by out the window, he felt relief. “I felt like I was finally safe somehow,” said Cruells, 30, “like continuing from where I left before all of this happened.”
As more countries loosen COVID-19 travel restrictions, crew members are slowly making their way home. About 3,000 Carnival Cruise Line workers got off in Croatia earlier this month to catch rides and flights home across Europe. Smiling behind their masks, they posed for a selfie on the pier. 
Meanwhile, MSC has flown more than 1,000 Indian crew members home on charter flights from Europe and South America. Royal Caribbean also flew more than 1,200 Filipino crew members home last week from Greece, Dubai, the United States and Barbados.  Still, at least 42,000 workers remain trapped on cruise ships without paychecks — some still suffering from COVID-19 — three months after the industry shut down. 
The drawn-out crew repatriation process has underscored the complex relationship between the cruise industry and the Caribbean countries its ships most frequently visit, and reignited the debate about whether countries are getting a fair shake from the industry. In February and March, cruise ships spread COVID-19 to islands around the Caribbean, accounting for half of the infections in Trinidad and Tobago. After the industry shut down on March 13, Caribbean countries turned ships suffering outbreaks away when they desperately needed a place to evacuate sick passengers and crew. 
 
Now, as countries struggle with returning cruise ship workers still testing positive for COVID-19, they are also wrestling with how to get the industry back up and running. Jamaica, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize in Central America have all reported positive COVID-19 infections among repatriated workers, in some cases after weeks without registering any new infections. Cruise companies say cruises will resume in August after the U.S. ban expires on July 24.
Alfred Sears, an attorney and former member of the Bahamian Parliament, said the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for Caribbean countries to restructure their relationships with cruise companies to demand more investment in exchange for tax exemptions.
“This pandemic will force us to ask some fundamental questions about how we do business,” he said. “There ought to be a more balanced relationship.”
Only Barbados has allowed for crew repatriation flights from its airports on which thousands have been returned home to countries all over the world, including Cruells. At the start of the pandemic, the Bahamas, which serves as the flag state for many cruise ships, rejected requests to take passengers in and later, cruise ship workers. The country’s maritime authority cited its limited resources and ongoing hurricane recovery as reasons why it could not do more.
According to the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), the Bahamas government collected $54.2 million from cruise lines in 2018, mostly in $18 per-passenger fees. That year, the Bahamas paid cruise companies around $12 million to bring passengers to the country, an incentive Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar ended in October 2018. Carnival Corporation Chairman Micky Arison is the current chairman of the FCCA.
Determining the true financial relationship between the cruise lines and the Bahamas — or any of the Caribbean islands — is difficult. Each nation negotiates its own agreements; some details are difficult for the public to access.
D’Aguilar did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Anita Johnson-Patty, a spokesperson for the Bahamas tourism sector, said D’Aguilar was “unavailable to respond to questions,” citing the country’s upcoming phased reopening on Monday.

  The Nassau Guardian Business reported in March that the Bahamas government had facilitated $1.3 billion-plus in cruise tourism infrastructure and private island development by various cruise companies since 2017, based on data the publication compiled. D’Aguilar told the Guardian the investments were part of the government’s focus on expanding the cruise industry. Cruise companies point to contributions they’ve made to clean up the Bahamas after hurricanes and investments they’ve made on their private islandsthere as proof of their commitment to the local communities.
  Members of the Royal Caribbean GoTeam help download supplies from the Empress of the Seas cruise ship at the Port of Freeport, Bahamas, on Thursday. Tugboats ferried pallets of water bottles, boxes of cereal and 10,000 hot and cold meals from the ship to shore in battered Freeport. Pedro Portal  [email protected] “Cruising is an important aspect of the economy throughout the Caribbean, just as the Caribbean is an important part of the cruise industry,” said Roger Frizzell, spokesperson for Carnival Corp. “Our investment in the Caribbean is significant and continues to be an important priority for our company.”
Carnival Corp. owns a shipyard in Freeport through a joint venture with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
“We have a long history with our partners in the Caribbean, and we are grateful for their collaborative efforts and their partnership throughout the years,” said Royal Caribbean Cruises spokesperson Jonathon Fishman. “We look forward to sailing again in the Caribbean and continuing our productive relationship.”
Still, Frank Comito, CEO of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, said the cruise industry needs to do more to improve Caribbean destinations that have been so critical to its business.
“Governments in the region have been wanting a more constructive dialogue with the cruise industry, with many expressing concerns about what they’ve perceived as strong-arm tactics by the cruise industry to get what they want or threaten to blackball a destination,” said Comito. “This has worked for years, but there appears to be a sea change occurring in the region as some governments have called for new terms of engagement.”
The Bahamas, which has registered 103 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths, plans to reopen its borders by July 1, possibly making available a second airport in the Caribbean for crew repatriation flights. There is no date set for when ports will reopen to cruise ships.
Before cruising resumes, former Bahamas Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe and other industry watchers hope Caribbean countries will take a more critical look at the industry.
“The pandemic created a whole new scenario and has now raised new questions,” said Wilchcombe, who served as tourism minister 2002-2007 and 2012-2017. “Nobody was prepared for this. Moving forward it’s imperative we think of a new approach, a paradigm that’s going to make sense for everybody, to protect your passengers.”
COUNTRIES HOLD THE CARDS
Citing the strained mental health of people still stuck at sea during the pandemic, the United Nations has called on countries around the world to lift their travel restrictions for seafarers. At least three cruise ship workers have died in apparent suicides since the industry shut down cruising on March 13, and many still stuck describe hopelessness. Hundreds of thousands more seafarers are stuck on cargo ships.
“It’s very difficult not knowing any information,” said an MSC crew member who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. He has not been paid since mid-April and is concerned about his family’s well-being while he is gone. He said he prefers the occasional days when the ship comes into port to refuel compared to the days anchored offshore to dump waste. “Even though I can’t get off, it feels safer.”
Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, remains closed to crew members waiting to go home. Gan Sungaralingum, 38, and eight fellow Mauritians remain stuck on Carnival Corp.’s Island Princess ship. After transferring to the ship in the Bahamas in April, the company stopped paying Sungaralingum and his colleagues. They have been trapped on board ever since, traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to drop off crew members in South Africa, bypassing their home country and continuing on to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The government of Mauritius is asking the cruise companies to pay for 15-day quarantine accommodations and testing for returning crew totaling $1,300 per crew member, according to an agreement with the secretary of foreign affairs provided to the Herald. The crew members must fly home on Air Mauritius planes chartered by the company.
“I am very disappointed by the government’s actions toward their own people,” Sungaralingum said. “They have put a price on our head. I feel ashamed of my country.”
Caribbean countries have been equally vigilant. Jamaica is requiring all returning crew members to be tested and quarantined, while Grenada has negotiated testing by the cruise lines as part of its agreement for returning crew.
In April, the U.S. restricted crew repatriation to private transportation. The U.S. Coast Guard, overwhelmed by dozens of medical evacuations for crew with COVID-19, told ships to seek medical help for crew members from their flag states instead. The Bahamas said it couldn’t help.
“We are a small island developing state with a national population in the three hundred thousand,” the Bahamas Maritime Authority said in a statementat the time. “Our system is not designed to deal with a massive influx of new COVID-19 patients from outside our country.”
  Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. debuted its Perfect Day at CocoCay destination in May 2019 after a $250 million renovation. It boasts a water park with a 135-foot-tall water slide, a zip-line and a freshwater lagoon. ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL The flag ship system allows cruise companies to register their ships in tax havens like the Bahamas, Liberia, Panama and Malta — sometimes referred to as “flags of convenience” for their lax enforcement of international environmental and labor rules for the maritime sector. Although headquartered in Miami, cruise companies are incorporated elsewhere: Carnival Corporation in Panama; Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in Liberia; Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in Bermuda.
Fabrizio Barcellona, assistant secretary of the seafarer section of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), told the trade publication FreightWaves that if ships were flagged in countries with more resources, the crew repatriation crisis could have been avoided.
“As a trade union, we are always accused of being critical and cynical about flags of convenience, but the reality of this crisis has highlighted the issue, because if half the world fleet had been under the flag of the USA, something would have happened by now,” he said.
Though the Caribbean is by far the most popular region for cruising, most cruise ships are based in the U.S. instead of Caribbean countries, shorting them of the more lucrative spending by tourists who stay overnight. Cruise companies hire mostly workers from Indonesia, the Philippines and India, though it depends on the line. 
The FCCA estimates that in 2018, the 2.44 million cruise passengers who visited the Bahamas spent around $322.6 million, or around $132 per day. Spending from cruise passengers in the Caribbean amounts to less than one-tenth of what overnight visitors spend, according to the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.
Martha Honey, co-founder of the Center for Responsible Travel, which consults with destinations on how best to protect their local communities while bringing in important tourist dollars, said she hopes the COVID-19 pandemic can provide a clean slate for agreements between Caribbean countries and the industry.
Honey said bargaining for higher per-passenger “head” taxes and other investment as a group would give Caribbean countries more power, an idea that has been floated in the past.
“Countries need to feel emboldened, that they have some chips on their side for a change,” Honey said. “They need to come together and say ‘we want this head tax.’ There needs to be a real public discussion about what tourism really looks like in terms of what the government has had to pay.”
Wilchcombe agrees. More investment could allow the Bahamas and other countries to shore up their infrastructure and better prepare for future cruise ship crises and hurricanes. The 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc, known as CARICOM, should lead those discussions to present a united front, he said.
“What I think should happen is that CARICOM ought to be sitting down with the cruise lines as a CARICOM community, not as individual countries and the Caribbean Tourism Organization as well playing a major role and coming up with a paradigm that all countries of the Caribbean can work together,” he said.
             

Facing racism's hard reality
By Richard Fain  | Jun 02, 2020  
Travel Weekly obtained an internal communication Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. CEO and chairman Richard Fain sent to his employees on June 1. We are reprinting it here, with his permission.
The challenge of controlling the pandemic has been all-consuming the past few months. The virus threatens society, and the world is heavily invested in fighting it -- because, done right, this challenge can last months instead of years.
 
Richard Fain The horrifying story of George Floyd, and the heartbreaking images of the social protests that followed, remind us that in America, this problem is not acute -- it won't run its course in a finite period, like a virus, and then be gone. Racism is chronic, a condition of the system that has afflicted us for centuries. And like any chronic condition, we can never stop fighting it, or it will overwhelm us.
The past week teaches us a hard lesson: we have assumed progress in this area, but the actual progress has not evolved as far as we have all assumed or hoped. There hasn't been some sudden spike in racism, just more people recording incidents and showing us in a tangible way what so many feel every day. Or, as Will Smith put it, "Racism is not getting worse, it's getting filmed."
At the end of the day, it is still much harder to be a person of color in America than it is to be white. We can go months trying to tell ourselves otherwise; then there is yet another episode like George Floyd's to remind us of the hard reality.
I think we have advantages here at RCCL to see the world in a broader, more human way. Miami is a crossroads of cultures and nationalities, white, black and brown. In our offices, we work with each other, count on each other, and, I hope, learn from each other. People who live in less diverse communities don't have that opportunity the way we do.
And our headquarters supports a business built on helping people encounter other people, other places and other cultures. Travel is discovery, discovery leads to insights, insights lead to change. Who has better claim to be citizens of the world than the men and women of our crew.
And yet, and yet. It is so easy to step off the ship, to walk out of the office, and say, we have this figured out. It doesn't happen here.
But look at your TV. It does happen. No matter how safe a space we think we have created here, once we step out of our offices, it is still not safe for some of our colleagues or their children, especially young men of color, to go for a run or to visit a store. YES ... in America.  YES ... in 2020.
That is the hard fact that the protests are designed to make us face: that our treatments to date for the chronic condition of racism may make us feel better, but the condition is by no means cured.
So whatever each of us is doing -- it's not enough.
I'm asking our Employee Resource Groups to help us advance this discussion. It will have to be virtual for now, but we hope we can soon do it face to face. These are difficult conversations that need to be had in the workplace to make sure we learn to be the allies we want to be for each other.
We are also evaluating philanthropic partners who are demonstrating an ability to mobilize for change on this subject like our friends at March for Our Lives and WWF are forcing conversations on gun violence and climate change.
And I am asking you to bring these difficult conversations home, as well. Friends and colleagues live with fear they should not have to. What can I change, you change, our families change to make that fear, finally, a thing of the past? 
Richard Fain is the chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article242764461.html

Royal Caribbean to Cut Traditional Buffet Once Cruises Resume
May 15, 2020
By Aaron Saunders   (12:45 p.m. EDT) – The traditional cruise ship buffet is about to go overboard when sailings resume, according to Royal Caribbean executives. 
In a virtual Coffee Chat call with Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of sales and trade support & service, Vicki Freed, president and CEO Michael Bayley conceded that the hygiene changes that will go into effect because of the COVID-19 pandemic line will likely strike down the standard buffet offering, which has been a staple of cruising for decades.
"I think in the beginning, there will not be a buffet…that's how I see it," said Bayley during the session. " We will utilize the space, we will utilize the Windjammer, but in all probability, it won't be a classical buffet. It will be something more akin to a restaurant. with opinions from both buffet loyalist and those who are ready to move on. 
"Will be very disappointed if they do away with the [Windjammer, Royal Caribbean's onboard buffet offering]," writes Ashland. "Why can't they just use servers like they do when there's a Noro outbreak onboard?"
"Oh man... that's the last plastic straw!" says Rocket3D. "What's next...no bars?"
Others, however, say they won't miss the buffet experience. 
"I find the experience of eating at Windjammer restaurants and other buffets somewhat disgusting and only eat there reluctantly if there is absolutely no other choice," says LibertyBella. "Eating becomes a competition and a race instead of an experience to enjoy."
"My thoughts — we will all be so glad to get back to cruising that whatever Royal comes up with will be accepted," writes Lady Hudson. "I am not a big Windjammer person so would not be a big loss for me. Unintended benefit — less noro[virus]?"
While Royal Caribbean has not announced exact plans for the Windjammer buffet aboard its fleet, Bayley stated that any changes to the casual eatery would have to be made with the coronavirus pandemic in mind.
"I think the key focus on dining is making sure that our guests have plenty of choices," said Bayley. "That choice has to be put through the lens of distancing, and safety and health."
Royal Caribbean already had hand sanitizing stations on every vessel outside the Windjammer buffet, and some ships had full-service handwashing stations located at each entrance. During a sailing on Explorer of the Seas in early March, the line had employees stationed outside the Windjammer with large containers of sanitizer, making sure everyone used it before going in. 
These changes, however, are also mandated in part by the "No Sail" order issued in March by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was extended in April to last for a period of no less than 100 days [July 24] as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. 
Other changes to Royal Caribbean's sanitation and hygiene practices have not been revealed yet. 
   

Royal Caribbean to Cut Traditional Buffet Once Cruises Resume
May 15, 2020
By Aaron Saunders   (12:45 p.m. EDT) – The traditional cruise ship buffet is about to go overboard when sailings resume, according to Royal Caribbean executives. 
In a virtual Coffee Chat call with Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of sales and trade support & service, Vicki Freed, president and CEO Michael Bayley conceded that the hygiene changes that will go into effect because of the COVID-19 pandemic line will likely strike down the standard buffet offering, which has been a staple of cruising for decades.
"I think in the beginning, there will not be a buffet…that's how I see it," said Bayley during the session. " We will utilize the space, we will utilize the Windjammer, but in all probability, it won't be a classical buffet. It will be something more akin to a restaurant. with opinions from both buffet loyalist and those who are ready to move on. 
"Will be very disappointed if they do away with the [Windjammer, Royal Caribbean's onboard buffet offering]," writes Ashland. "Why can't they just use servers like they do when there's a Noro outbreak onboard?"
"Oh man... that's the last plastic straw!" says Rocket3D. "What's next...no bars?"
Others, however, say they won't miss the buffet experience. 
"I find the experience of eating at Windjammer restaurants and other buffets somewhat disgusting and only eat there reluctantly if there is absolutely no other choice," says LibertyBella. "Eating becomes a competition and a race instead of an experience to enjoy."
"My thoughts — we will all be so glad to get back to cruising that whatever Royal comes up with will be accepted," writes Lady Hudson. "I am not a big Windjammer person so would not be a big loss for me. Unintended benefit — less noro[virus]?"
While Royal Caribbean has not announced exact plans for the Windjammer buffet aboard its fleet, Bayley stated that any changes to the casual eatery would have to be made with the coronavirus pandemic in mind.
"I think the key focus on dining is making sure that our guests have plenty of choices," said Bayley. "That choice has to be put through the lens of distancing, and safety and health."
Royal Caribbean already had hand sanitizing stations on every vessel outside the Windjammer buffet, and some ships had full-service handwashing stations located at each entrance. During a sailing on Explorer of the Seas in early March, the line had employees stationed outside the Windjammer with large containers of sanitizer, making sure everyone used it before going in. 
These changes, however, are also mandated in part by the "No Sail" order issued in March by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was extended in April to last for a period of no less than 100 days [July 24] as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. 
Other changes to Royal Caribbean's sanitation and hygiene practices have not been revealed yet. 
   

Two more cruise liners make technical calls, including largest cruise ship ever to dock in Gibraltar 
The cruise liners “Jewel of the Seas and Allure of the Seas” have carried out technical calls at Gibraltar on Thursday.
The Allure of the Seas is the largest cruise ship ever to dock at Gibraltar. It is one of four Oasis-class vessels operated by Royal Caribbean, which include the world's biggest cruise ship, the Harmony of the Seas. 
Another Royal Caribbean ship, the Ovation of the Seas, previously held the title for largest cruise liner to visit Gibraltar, back in 2016. 
However, in line with the Government decision to suspend cruise liner visits during the COVID crisis, the vessels do not have any passengers on board, and they are berthing exclusively to take on bunkers, stores, discharge garbage, and transfer crew between the vessels. 
No crew members are allowed to disembark, with the exception of those transferring from one vessel to the other, and no attendance on board from shore-based staff is permitted during the vessels' short stay in Gibraltar.

Crew Member Found Dead on the Mariner of the Seas
By Jim Walker on May 10, 2020 POSTED IN DISEASE A crew member employed on the Mariner of the Seaswas found dead earlier today by his colleagues. He is the third crew member to have died in just the last two days, and the fourth ship employee to have died in a little over a week.
The crew member is a Chinese national according to several crew members who wish to remain annymous. His fist name is “Wenji.” He apparently is a new hire and worked as a restuarant attendant. It is less than clear why he was still aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship at this late date, almost two months after crusing was suspended.
There is a debate affecting crew members whether the delay in repatriating crew members is due to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the cruise lines in refusing to sign acknowledgents that they will comply with the CDC guidelines, or a combination of the both.
The Miami Herald published an article ten days ago that Royal Caribbean has been lying to its crew members for the past month by claiming that it is the fault of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that crew members are stuck at sea.
The Herald first published an article stating that cruise lines refuse to acknowledge CDC terms to repatriate crew, calling transportation  via air charters to be “‘too expensive.” Later, the Miami Herald explained why crew members were being kept at sea. In an article, titled Royal Caribbean falsely blames CDC for keeping crew trapped on its ships, agency says,  the Miami Herald stated that the actual reason was that the CEO’s refused to sign an acknowledgement that the company will comply with the CDC guidelines. Fearing potential criminal liability, the company decided against having its  CEO’s or the chief compliance officers and chief medical officers sign the acknowledgement. The Miami Herald reported that “in an about face,” Royal Caribbean’s Michael Bayley and Celebrity Cruises’ Lisa Lutoff-Perlo announced they would sign the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s terms for disembarking crew.
Unfortunately, it appears that notwithstanding comments to the Miami Herald, Royal Caribbean is still refusing to sign the CDC acknowledgement.
A crew member who contacted me from a Royal Caribbean ship said: “it’s the saddest thing that endless waiting is taking the lifes of innocent and hard working crew members.”
This death comes on the heels of the death today of a crew member from the Regal Princess. Yesterday, an assistant shore excursion manager died on the Carnival Breeze which is sailing to the U.S. from Bahamian waters. Eight days ago we reported that a Polish electrician on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas went overboard south of Greece.
 
 

Royal Caribbean reveals numbers seeking refunds
by Ian Taylor May 8th 2020, 15:29         Royal Caribbean Cruises has revealed just under half of its customers have requested cash refunds for cancelled cruises, with its operations currently suspended through to June 11.
In a business update, Royal Caribbean revealed it was holding $2.4 billion in customer deposits at the end of March and said, as of April 30, “approximately 45% of guests have requested cash refunds”.
The cruise giant is offering clients with cancelled bookings credits for future cruises worth 125% of the price they paid in lieu of cash refunds.
Royal Caribbean reported it started the year “in a strong booked position and at higher prices” than the previous year, but said: “Booking volumes for the remainder of 2020 are meaningfully lower than the same time last year at prices that are down [in] low-single digits.”
However, the company described booking trends for 2021 and beyond as at “more typical levels”, reporting: “The booked position for 2021 is within historical ranges . . . with 2021 prices up [in] mid-single digits compared to 2020.”
Royal Caribbean confirmed it continues to take future bookings for later this year, 2021 and 2022 and to “receive new customer deposits and final payments on these”.
Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean chairman and chief executive, said: “Travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders have severely impacted our operations.
“We are taking decisive actions to prioritise the safety of our guests and crew while protecting our fleet and bolstering liquidity.”
He reported: “The company’s fleet is now either in port or at anchor and we have developed strict protocols to protect our crew still on board ships.”
Royal Caribbean said it was developing “a comprehensive and multi-faceted programme” to address the public health challenges posed by Covid-19, including “enhanced screening, upgraded cleaning and disinfection protocols and plans for social distancing”.
Chief financial officer Jason Liberty reported the company had also undertaken “significant cost cutting, capital spend reductions and other cash conservation measures” and said: “We continue to evaluate all options available to us to further enhance liquidity.”
The company had $2.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents available to it at the end of April and increased its secured credit facility on May 4.
Royal Caribbean’s ships “are currently transitioning into various levels of layup, with several ships transitioning into cold layup, further reducing operating expenses”, he said.
The company has laid-off about one quarter of its 5,000 US onshore employees, and identified $4.4 billion in savings on capital expenditure this year and next.
This will see the deferral and delay of planned ship deliveries.
However, these measures have still left Royal Caribbean with operating expenses of $150 million to $170 million a month and total monthly expenses, including interest and debt payments, of up to $275 million.
 
 
 
 

Royal Caribbean reveals numbers seeking refunds
by Ian Taylor May 8th 2020, 15:29         Royal Caribbean Cruises has revealed just under half of its customers have requested cash refunds for cancelled cruises, with its operations currently suspended through to June 11.
In a business update, Royal Caribbean revealed it was holding $2.4 billion in customer deposits at the end of March and said, as of April 30, “approximately 45% of guests have requested cash refunds”.
The cruise giant is offering clients with cancelled bookings credits for future cruises worth 125% of the price they paid in lieu of cash refunds.
Royal Caribbean reported it started the year “in a strong booked position and at higher prices” than the previous year, but said: “Booking volumes for the remainder of 2020 are meaningfully lower than the same time last year at prices that are down [in] low-single digits.”
However, the company described booking trends for 2021 and beyond as at “more typical levels”, reporting: “The booked position for 2021 is within historical ranges . . . with 2021 prices up [in] mid-single digits compared to 2020.”
Royal Caribbean confirmed it continues to take future bookings for later this year, 2021 and 2022 and to “receive new customer deposits and final payments on these”.
Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean chairman and chief executive, said: “Travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders have severely impacted our operations.
“We are taking decisive actions to prioritise the safety of our guests and crew while protecting our fleet and bolstering liquidity.”
He reported: “The company’s fleet is now either in port or at anchor and we have developed strict protocols to protect our crew still on board ships.”
Royal Caribbean said it was developing “a comprehensive and multi-faceted programme” to address the public health challenges posed by Covid-19, including “enhanced screening, upgraded cleaning and disinfection protocols and plans for social distancing”.
Chief financial officer Jason Liberty reported the company had also undertaken “significant cost cutting, capital spend reductions and other cash conservation measures” and said: “We continue to evaluate all options available to us to further enhance liquidity.”
The company had $2.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents available to it at the end of April and increased its secured credit facility on May 4.
Royal Caribbean’s ships “are currently transitioning into various levels of layup, with several ships transitioning into cold layup, further reducing operating expenses”, he said.
The company has laid-off about one quarter of its 5,000 US onshore employees, and identified $4.4 billion in savings on capital expenditure this year and next.
This will see the deferral and delay of planned ship deliveries.
However, these measures have still left Royal Caribbean with operating expenses of $150 million to $170 million a month and total monthly expenses, including interest and debt payments, of up to $275 million.
 
 
 
 

Royal Caribbean crew go on hunger strike until company proves it is sending them home
BY TAYLOR DOLVEN
MAY 08, 2020 07:28 PM, UPDATED 6 HOURS 37 MINUTES AGO 
Crew members on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas ship look out at the Oasis of the Seas ship as crew members transfer between the ships at the company’s private islands in the Bahamas on May 8, 2020.ROYAL CARIBBEAN CREW
Fifteen crew members on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas cruise ship say they are on a hunger strike until the company agrees to send them home.
After nearly two months stranded at sea since the industry halted operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic on March 13, the crew members, who have not eaten since Thursday afternoon, told the Miami Herald they are desperate. The group of 15 from Romania does not want their names used for fear of retaliation from the company, which they say has threatened to punish workers if they talk to journalists.
“My mental health is degrading,” one said. “We do not have any more hope.”
A spokesperson for the company, Jonathon Fishman, said the company had fixed the situation. “The situation was resolved this morning after an amicable discussion between our captain and our crew members,” he said via email on Friday.
Local news has never been more important

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article242595896.html#storylink=cpy