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CYPRUS WELCOMES ROYAL CARIBBEAN TO THE MEDITERRANEAN THIS SUMMER 21


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MIAMI/LONDON, March 25, 2021 – This summer, Royal Caribbean International guests can soak up the Mediterranean sun and explore the captivating coastlines of Greece and Cyprus on all-new 7-night cruises departing from Limassol, Cyprus. Starting July 10, Jewel of the Seas will call Cyprus home for the first time and sail to the picturesque shores and ancient ruins in Cyprus, Greece and the Greek Isles through October. Travelers can visit a combination of culture-rich cities and idyllic islands, including Limassol, Athens, Greece and the Greek islands of Rhodes, Crete, Mykonos and Santorini.

The new 2021 summer itineraries from Cyprus will open for bookings on April 7. Sailing with vaccinated crew, the cruises – at this time – will be available to adult guests who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and those under the age of 18 with negative test results. These current health and safety measures, like others, may evolve as they are evaluated on an ongoing basis.

“I’m delighted to announce our safe and gradual return to Europe. We know how eager our guests are to enjoy a getaway this summer, and these sailings, which include a mix of fantastic destinations and must-visit islands, make for the perfect getaway,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “Cyprus is a beautiful island, and we are thankful to the Cypriot government for their support and enthusiasm in making these incredible itineraries possible.”

Travelers on board Jewel of the Seas can enjoy the perfect balance of culture and relaxation, exploring destinations seeped in history, relaxing in small peaceful coves and sampling delicious local cuisine. Guests can immerse themselves in Greek and Roman history at preserved ancient sites, such as Kourion in Limassol and the Parthenon temple in Athens, then take in the multihued waters and beaches of Mykonos and the waterfront tavernas of Santorini.

Savvas Perdios, the Deputy Minister of Tourism for Cyprus, said, “We are delighted that Royal Caribbean will call Limassol its homeport for the first time ever. This has been an ambition of ours for many years, and we are thrilled that, finally, this dream has come to fruition. We have every confidence that Royal Caribbean’s presence in Limassol will be beneficial to Cyprus and, similarly, we are very confident that as a homeport and as a country, Cyprus will live up to the expectations of Royal Caribbean and its guests.”

On board Jewel, travelers can cool off in the pools and whirlpools, recharge at the Vitality Spa and Fitness Center and dine at their pick of numerous complimentary and specialty bars and restaurants, including guest-favorites Chops Grille and Izumi. Spanning 13 decks, the ship comes complete with a rock-climbing wall, casino, sports court, nine-hole miniature golf course, an outdoor movie screen and more.

The Minister of Tourism of Greece, Mr. Harry Theoharis, adds, “We warmly welcome the announcement of this new itinerary that will give the opportunity to even more visitors to create unique experiences in the Greek destinations this summer. Our history, culture and famous gastronomy, together with our philoxenia, will make memories to last a lifetime.”

Guests can rest assured their well-being and that of the crew members and communities visited are Royal Caribbean’s top priorities. Details on the health and safety measures to be implemented will be announced at a later date. The comprehensive, multilayered health and safety measures to come will continue to be led by science and leverage expert guidance from the Healthy Sail Panel, Royal Caribbean Group’s Head of Public Health and Chief Medical Officer, and local government and health authorities.

In addition, travelers must meet the travel requirements of their home country and Cyprus. The most up-to-date policies can be found on Cyprus’ tourism website.

Royal Caribbean’s new 7-night sailings from Cyprus continue the cruise line’s measured and safe return to cruising the world once again. It follows months of successful cruises in Singapore, with more than 50,000 guests to date who have sailed aboard Quantum of the Seas, as well as the recently announced plans for the highly anticipated Odyssey of the Seas to cruise from Haifa, Israel, and cruises from The Bahamas with Adventure of the Seas and Bermuda with Vision of the Seas. For more information on Jewel’s new summer cruises, click here.

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BACK TO THE MEDITERRANEAN - Summer 2021 Cruises
 
Our return to the Caribbean this summer is already a hit! But did you really think we were going to stop there? Next up, we’re taking our talents to the Mediterranean. This summer, your clients can soak up the Mediterranean sun and explore the captivating coastlines of Greece and Cyprus on all-new 7-night cruises departing from Limassol, Cyprus onboard Jewel of the Seas®! Beginning July 10, 2021, Jewel will call Cyprus home for the first time and sail to the picturesque shores of Cyprus and Greece through October 23, 2021. Your clients can explore a combination of culture-rich cities and idyllic islands, including Limassol; Athens, Greece and the Greek islands of Rhodes, Crete, Mykonos and Santorini.

As always, the safety of your clients, our crew and the communities we visit is at the forefront of our decision-making process. For Jewel itineraries from Cyrus, we look forward to welcoming 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. These current health and safety measures, like others, may evolve as they are evaluated on an ongoing basis. Details on additional health and safety measures will be announced at a later date.

With opportunity comes responsibility — so we have come to the tough decision to cancel the scheduled Jewel of the Seas summer sailings departing June 7 - October 31, 2021. Your impacted clients can choose from one of the following compensation options:
  1. A refund of all funds paid
  2. An elevated 125% Future Cruise Credit to sail with Royal Caribbean® at a later date 
  3. An opportunity to Lift & Shift your client’s reservation to a similar cruise next year

Soon, all impacted guests and associated travel agencies will receive an email notification with additional details pertaining to these compensation options.

Safe and healthy cruising IS possible — and we’re witnessing just how much pent-up demand there truly is. With our valued partners and friends by our side, we can conquer it all.
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8 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

Just crossed my mind that U.S. citizens are not allowed into Europe. Has that changed???

I'm not sure that's Royal's problem.  

Royal didn't limit guest nationality in Nassau.  If the Bahamas won't allow a citizen of some foreign country to enter the country that isn't for Royal to determine, that is up to each guest to validate any visas or other documentation required.     

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29 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

Just crossed my mind that U.S. citizens are not allowed into Europe. Has that changed???

The simple answer is no. It might but only if Greece bucks the rest of the EU's current stand on open boarders. The article below thinks that's unlikely by May but may be by "late summer." July isn't exactly late summer but that RCL is planning on Jewel porting out of Cyprus with sailings from there starting in July indicates that contacts between RCL and Greek officials are probably on-going and positive.

Bottom line

Greece claims it plans to open to tourists from around the world as of mid-May, including those who are vaccinated, those with antibodies, and those with negative coronavirus tests.

While I’d love for this to be true, I just don’t see this happening in the next couple of months. Not only does the European Union not have plans to open its borders, but then there’s the whole question of how proof of vaccination would even work.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Americans allowed in the European Union towards the end of summer, but personally I think May is highly optimistic.

https://onemileatatime.com/visit-greece-summer-2021/

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........I've said this before, the EUC has to improve it's vaccination rate among member states before we're going to see Europe open up to tourism. There are steps being taken now to do that although there does not appear to be unity among the member states on the central action - halting the export of the AZ vaccines outside of the EU block to improve numbers within it. Obviously, the UK would be affected by that and reports this morning indicated that Boris Johnson has been on the phone with various EU country leaders urging them to veto that action and with some success. 

I have read that the EUC's vaccine procurement and distribution problems are complex and there is less incompetence involved than there is logistical problems that continue to be hard to overcome. So, it's unfair to compare vaccine rates between the EU and other countries and be critical of the EUC.

I think it is fair to say that vaccination rates are going to be a major determinant of the date upon which cruising will return to some level of normalcy globally. I also think it is fair to say the RCL, anyway, and I'm sure other lines are doing the same, are making plans to expand cruising based on separate agreements with various governments who are willing to open their ports. The US is going to take a back seat as those plans evolve more successfully in foreign ports unless the CDC updates it's current position (the CSO) to reflect what's happening on the ground. 

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Excited cruising is coming back - great news! However, as @JeffBhas said out-with UK and Israel, Europe as a whole is having a disaster when it comes to vaccinating, due to various issues, behind the scenes politics being a big one. Worried Greece/Cyprus and Turkey (the main countries I have seen specifically targeting UK tourists) will end up with their own variants of the virus and further infection of UK and US citizens if either are allowed to travel to Greece and surrounding countries. Worried that on the US mainland side the CDC are watching with bated breath to see how things go in countries like Greece and Bahamas where vaccination isn't as good as UK/US and when it goes the wrong way they can point to their November 1st deadline and say told you all so... Hope I'm wrong, but you can't blame my pessimistic attitude after the last 12 months!

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8 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Exciting news.

Hopefully we should know quite soon what they're planning for Harmony. I really hope you're not going to need a Plan B for your wedding @J_Keeble... fingers, legs and eyes crossed!

Ah me too its a nightmare to plan. me and my partner have a back up plan in allure of the seas next year. and to be honest i think we are moving it to that date in 2022 as there are too many variables this year which could go wrong!

 

however if it sails in september this year i will still be going!

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1 hour ago, J_Keeble said:

Ah me too its a nightmare to plan. me and my partner have a back up plan in allure of the seas next year. and to be honest i think we are moving it to that date in 2022 as there are too many variables this year which could go wrong!

 

however if it sails in september this year i will still be going!

I can't help thinking moving it to 2022 might be a very wise decision. ?

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Another day another Royal cruise ship begins to sail outside of the US! Woot! I am seeing a trend. Basically "Dear CDC, if you don't let us sail out of the US, we will sail from other places where the government believes in the science and the health protocols we have in place and noticed that we have successfully already conducted with over 400,000 passengers": 

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5 hours ago, JeffB said:

I think May is highly optimistic.

Nope, Cyprus is open to Brits from 1st May (if vacinnated).  If you want to keep an eye on Europe and what will open up...all eyes will be on the travel review in the UK on or before 5th April...as countries with big tourism industries in Europe have a huge British contingent they want back this summer (Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus to name a few)... they want tourists back, what they do with uk tourists is likely to apply to other nations (especially ?? as your vaccine programme is also going really well)

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I hope you're right. I didn't say that though, the author of the article I linked to did.

You may have a better feel for this than I but I see boarder crossings among EU member states as being incredibly complex. The politics of the EUC is going to cause the same kinds of delays that the politics (and organizational friction within the US Health and Human Services Department) are causing with modification of the CSO.

Right now, there is no globally integrated system that will allow for proof of vaccination - lot of entities working on them but will these all be interoperable?  I think it is nearly certain that vaccination is going to be a prerequisite for international and cross boarder travel. Long way from agreement on how that is going to work.

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7 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

Just crossed my mind that U.S. citizens are not allowed into Europe. Has that changed???

https://travel.usnews.com/features/where-can-americans-travel-right-now

 

Heres a link for numerous counties including ones in Europe that US Citizens can travel to.

Obviously for any American who wants to travel they would have to make sure the country they flew into wasnt on Cyprus blacklist.

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49 minutes ago, Ray said:

https://travel.usnews.com/features/where-can-americans-travel-right-now

 

Heres a link for numerous counties including ones in Europe that US Citizens can travel to.

Obviously for any American who wants to travel they would have to make sure the country they flew into wasnt on Cyprus blacklist.

Thank you!  Gotta do some planning.

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19 hours ago, DTMCD said:

Excited cruising is coming back - great news! However, as @JeffBhas said out-with UK and Israel, Europe as a whole is having a disaster when it comes to vaccinating, due to various issues, behind the scenes politics being a big one. Worried Greece/Cyprus and Turkey (the main countries I have seen specifically targeting UK tourists) will end up with their own variants of the virus and further infection of UK and US citizens if either are allowed to travel to Greece and surrounding countries. Worried that on the US mainland side the CDC are watching with bated breath to see how things go in countries like Greece and Bahamas where vaccination isn't as good as UK/US and when it goes the wrong way they can point to their November 1st deadline and say told you all so... Hope I'm wrong, but you can't blame my pessimistic attitude after the last 12 months!

The Q2 April - June period should see 50% of EU citizens vaccinated as the numbers really ramp up.  Q3 July-September predictions show that the EU will have supply to fully vaccinate all citizens by end of September. I have a feeling this date will be lower as the US will eventually stop it's export ban and allow pharma companies to fulfill their legal contracts with other countries. So I wouldn't be so concerned about EU vaccines. 

If 50% of EU citizens are vaccinated by end June that is a HUGE  number of people to sell cruises to roughly 223 MILLION adults . RC would be completely insane not to tap into that market.  Let's say they don't meet their target and only 40% are done. that is still  180 MILLION adult customers. 

 

19 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Exciting news.

Hopefully we should know quite soon what they're planning for Harmony. I really hope you're not going to need a Plan B for your wedding @J_Keeble... fingers, legs and eyes crossed!

Yes I hope Harmony sails from Italy or Spain this summer. 

Cyprus is a lovely place to start a cruise from I will be following this with interest. 

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@J_KeebleAlso tempted but I need to wait to see what kind of vaccine I get.

I'm due to be vaccinated mid-june if I get one of the 3 week ones Moderna or Pfizerm or the one shot J&J I will be ok for August. If I am unlucky and get AZ it will take another 3 months for me to be fully vaccinated. So I cannot book anything at the moment which sucks. 

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1 hour ago, Ray said:

Very tempted! 

Checked flights to get an idea of cost yesterday. 

Main issue is waiting for cyprus to update their Visitor policy so i can see whats to be done or is required before making final decision.

And keep your fingers crossed that the Governments of the UK will allow us to travel overseas.

I'm with you on being very tempted, the thought of a cruise in warm weather that's only a relatively short flight away is very appealing.

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