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ADVENTURE IS BACK - Summer 2021 Cruises
 
ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS SAILING FROM NASSASU,BAHAMAS
 
With a year as trying as the one we’ve just endured, it makes future vacation planning and the long-awaited return of cruising that much more exhilarating. For more than 50 years, Royal Caribbean has delivered unforgettable vacation memories and we can’t wait to welcome your clients back onboard once again. So, after an unprecedented pause, we’re thrilled to announce that cruising is BACK! Beginning in June 2021, departures will resume as we introduce Adventure of the Seas® to her new homeport of Nassau, Bahamas. Offering weeklong getaways, vacationers can enjoy a day in Cozumel, Mexico, as well as an island-hopping sampler of popular Bahamian ports — including Grand Bahama Island and two consecutive days at our very own private destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay.

These exciting new itineraries will set sail June through August 2021, inviting fully vaccinated guests 18 years of age and older, as well as children under the age of 18 with proof of negative COVID-19 test results. Rest-assured, the well-being of our guests and crew remains a top-priority and we look forward to a gradual and safe return to cruising. Details on additional health and safety measures will be announced at a later date.

Consequently, the Adventure of the Seas 2021 Europe season has been cancelled. Disrupting our guests’ vacation plans is never our intention and we understand the disappointment this may cause; therefore, individuals currently confirmed on sailings departing June 5 — October 14, 2021 can elect to: 1) choose a refund of all funds paid or 2) accept a 125% Future Cruise Credit to be redeemed at a later date. All impacted guests and associated travel agencies will soon receive an email notification to outline the compensation options in greater detail.

Little by little, opportunities are surfacing, allowing the travel industry to take steps in the right direction. We hope you are as excited as we are for today’s announcement! Together, we’ll be back stronger than ever.
 
2 DAY AT PERFECT DAY
GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND
COZUMEL, MEXICO
 
As we return to sea, your client's health and safety remains our top priority. We’ve partnered with expert medical and scientific minds to guide us in developing protocols to protect your clients and the ones they love.
 
100% FRESH FILTERED AIR
 
 
MEDICAL GRADE CLEANING STANDARDS
 
100% FRESH,
 FILTERED AIR
 
   MEDICAL GRADE
   CLEANING STANDARDS
UPGRADED MEDICAL                                      FACILITIES & EXPERT CARE
 
 
SAFE, TIMELY RETURN HOME IN ANY SCENARIO
 
UPGRADED MEDICAL
FACILITIES & EXPERT CARE
 
 
SAFE, TIMELY RETURN
HOME IN ANY SCENARIO
 
Times Change, So Do Our Protocols
 
We're continually evaluating these protocols and will make updates as public health standards evolve. Your booked clients will be advised of the latest requirements within 30 days of sailing.
 
 
The Adventure of the Seas NEW summer season
will open for sale beginning Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
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Unlike the similar Celebrity announcement, I'm not seeing anything here about having to book air travel through Air2Sea. You think that'll be a requirement as well as the vaccination requirement?

If I can scrape the cash together for one of the July sailings while my younger one is off in Japan, around the handful of overdue home projects I need to deal with, I may very well book a balcony cabin!

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9 minutes ago, Flopper said:

I just hope the CDC doesn't punish them for not conforming to their rule. 

This is all entirely outside the US, CDC has NO say in it.

If nothing else, they can sail, gather data, give it the CDC and say, "SEE, WE CAN $%#$%#$%# CRUISE SAFELY! NOW LIFT THE BAN!"

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7 minutes ago, Flopper said:

I just hope the CDC doesn't punish them for not conforming to their rule. 

I think this is Royal Caribbean Group raising a big middle finger to the CDC for dragging their feet around issuing documented guidelines and making it possible for test cruises to get underway. They demonstrated with weeks of successful sailings out of Singapore that their protocols work, even with an UN-vaccinated population; CDC still chose not to start moving forward, so Royal took their ball home and is starting a new game of their own with countries / island nations that are open to the protocols.

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9 minutes ago, SPS said:

This is all entirely outside the US, CDC has NO say in it.

If nothing else, they can sail, gather data, give it the CDC and say, "SEE, WE CAN $%#$%#$%# CRUISE SAFELY! NOW LIFT THE BAN!"

I realize that, but I think it can result in the CDC continuing to delay the restart in the U.S. 

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All crew members will be vaccinated for Covid-19 onboard, and fully vaccinated guests 18 years of age and older are able to sail. Children under the age of 18 with proof of negative COVID-19 test results are able to sail as well.

Edited by Baked Alaska
delete redundancy
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Wow! Great news, and sad news. 
Great because this is so wonderful to see a restart, sad cause I will be crying here in my Canadian igloo for a while. No way that I, or the majority of Canadians will be fully vaccinated by July. And then there’s still the pesky border. 
 

Someone better be blogging these adventures! ?

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6 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

Yes, age limit is VACCINATEd 18 and older. 

 

All crew members will be vaccinated for Covid-19 onboard, and fully vaccinated guests 18 years of age and older are able to sail. Children under the age of 18 with proof of negative COVID-19 test results are able to sail as well.

But per your own quote here, your son can still sail -- just needs a negative COVID-19 PCR test 72 hours prior to sailing. Being vaccinated doesn't mean he'll fail a Covid-19 test -- that test is looking for evidence of the virus (the viral RNA) not evidence of antibodies or immune response to the virus (which the vaccine stimulates production of).

There is now way Royal is going to exclude younger passengers who've been vaccinated from these sailings. Not when families are their bread and butter, and they already know quite well that one of the current vaccines is approved for age 16 and up.

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23 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

Interesting how they're pulling a ship out of Europe instead of using one from "local" waters ..... There Has to be a reason, like, they're going to be using the "local" ships very soon and couldn't spare them. Hmmmm..... #SPECULATION

Adventure is actually in St. Maarten right now, so maybe just canceling it’s Europe season knowing they werent going to bring it over there this year anyway?  I wonder how they decide which ship to start with as they have some other ships in the Bahamas already

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1 hour ago, Baked Alaska said:

 

All crew members will be vaccinated for Covid-19 onboard, and fully vaccinated guests 18 years of age and older are able to sail. Children under the age of 18 with proof of negative COVID-19 test results are able to sail as well.

Everyone needs a Bahamas Health Visa to reach the ship which requires a negative test result, so unless the Bahamas changes their policies, everyone needs a PCR test even if vaccinated. 

So everyone needs to be tested to enter the Bahamas and everyone 18 and older needs the vaccine to board the ship. Those under 18 are covered since they will have a test result (like everyone else) just to enter the Bahamas.  

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2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I would imagine fares will be sky high for these cruises

The Celebrity announcement strikes me as surprisingly reasonable.  "Veranda cabins starting at $1999" per person. It includes taxes (which I assume means port charges) and airfare.  It isn't super clear, but I think it also includes tips, drink package and wifi.

The devil may well be in the details, but it looks like you could be all in for $4K for a balcony.

We can argue whether this is a bargain or not, but it doesn't strike me as sky high.

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23 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

Oh how I remember many on this blog in particular one individual said that Nassau couldn’t handle embarkation and the logistics.  Saying it would not happen.  Well, my grin is from cheek to cheek 

A little less than a year ago, I had said that the lines should sail from some of the islands as well.  I'm sure the challenges and costs make this far less than ideal, but it looks like the lines eventually agreed.  

I wonder when they reached that conclusion? It had to take months to work out the logistics for this.

I also wonder what it means for the future.  Do the Bahamas, St Maartin and Barbados become permanent embarkation ports?

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10 minutes ago, steverk said:

I also wonder what it means for the future.  Do the Bahamas, St Maartin and Barbados become permanent embarkation ports?

The cruise lines will do what they always do...  follow the money.  

If cruising returns to any resemblance of what it used to be like I suspect most guests won't want the cruise to start offshore.  

If the CDC continues to kill American jobs with limits or restrictions for cruising from US ports for a prolonged period, offshore cruising will continue.

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Here's an encouraging story - NOT!  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/travel/coronavirus-cruises.html

 

If you look at the NYT  reported timeline, its going to be 90+ days after the specs are delivered before a US cruise could go.  There's a 30 day notification of desire to sail, then if the test cruise is successful, an 60 period allowed for certificate to sail is granted.  Likely 120 days once the balloon goes up, taking into account 1 month of test cruises (my hypothesis).  So if specs delivered 1 Apr - August start possible if all goes well.

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6 minutes ago, twangster said:

The cruise lines will do what they always do...  follow the money.  

If cruising returns to any resemblance of what it used to be like I suspect most guests won't want the cruise to start offshore.  

If the CDC continues to kill American jobs with limits or restrictions for cruising from US ports for a prolonged period, offshore cruising will continue.

That makes sense.

The big possibility in my mind is the Bahamas.  Royal is purchasing and re-developing a resort there.  I'm probably missing something, but the only way that makes sense to me is if the Bahamas becomes a permanent embarkation port. 

Your point about Americans preferring to depart from American ports is well taken. Does RCI figure that they can make the Bahamas a combo land vacation/cruise port? Are there any countries that can fly to Bahamas, but not to the US (at least not easily)? If so, do they have enough disposable income to be profitable?

I don't know. It's all a mystery to me. 

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10 minutes ago, steverk said:

That makes sense.

The big possibility in my mind is the Bahamas.  Royal is purchasing and re-developing a resort there.  I'm probably missing something, but the only way that makes sense to me is if the Bahamas becomes a permanent embarkation port. 

Your point about Americans preferring to depart from American ports is well taken. Does RCI figure that they can make the Bahamas a combo land vacation/cruise port? Are there any countries that can fly to Bahamas, but not to the US (at least not easily)? If so, do they have enough disposable income to be profitable?

I don't know. It's all a mystery to me. 

Grand Bahamas has the potential to be a game changer for the future of cruising but for reasons unrelated to a pandemic.  

If it were to become a cruise transportation hub it could allow a cruiser in Texas to sail to Grand Bahamas, spend a few nights in a hotel then a board a different ship to New York, or Baltimore, or Miami.  Today the PVSA prevents that but an offshore transportation hub with a large resort changes that.

I don't know if that is how Royal intends to use it, but it opens the door for a lot of possibilities.  Most of the US cruise market will just want to go on a cruise though, so I don't see Miami losing it's lock on being the cruise capital of the world.

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1 hour ago, RBRSKI said:

Oh how I remember many on this blog in particular one individual said that Nassau couldn’t handle embarkation and the logistics.  Saying it would not happen.  Well, my grin is from cheek to cheek 

This is great news for those who want to travel, but man, I am really curious to see how Nassau handles itself as a cruise origin point. That whole port area seems like it will be a headache-and-a-half to deal with as an originating passenger. I would have to pound a few beers at Pirate Republic before dealing with that. 

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