Posted on 12/23/2021 10:33:36 AM PST by Capt. Tom
Royal Caribbean pauses new cruise bookings through mid-January 2022 due to limited capacity and to accommodate social distancing.
Royal Caribbean International has decided to voluntarily pause new bookings for all cruises departing through mid-January 2022. This is a proactive effort to limit capacity onboard while still providing safe, enjoyable cruises to already booked passengers.
Royal Caribbean Bookings Paused According to a statement provided to Cruise Hive, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said “Cruises departing through early January 2022 are unavailable to new reservations because our ships will continue sailing with a limited capacity to accommodate physical distancing. These sailings were removed from our website as we’ve done with previous cruises in 2021.”
This indicates that the affected ships will set sail as planned, but no further bookings will be offered for those voyages. Prospective guests first began noticing bookings being removed on Wednesday, December 22, before the entire block of bookings was removed.
Royal Caribbean Bookings This follows Royal Caribbean, as well as several other cruise lines, recently tightening their onboard mask policy, banning smoking in the casinos to promote more mask wearing, adjusting COVID testing protocols, and other changes to increase safety.
Royal Caribbean’s December 23 statement also said “Royal Caribbean International has a set of multilayered health and safety protocols that safeguards the well-being of our guests, our crew members and the communities we visit. Additional layers of our measures include vaccination requirements for our guests and crew, a facemask policy, pre-cruise testing for all guests, and weekly testing for every crew member.”
Cruise Ship Capacities Since cruise ships restarted operations earlier this year, many lines – including Royal Caribbean – have gradually increased capacity as their health and safety measures have proved effective in limiting onboard exposure or reacting to positive cases.
According to a Facebook post from Michael Bayley, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean, the cruise line began sailing with just 20-30 percent capacity when it restarted over the summer and has reached 70-80 percent capacity in December.
During a normal year, December’s capacity would generally be at 110%, which factors in third and fourth berths being filled as more families with children cruise during the holidays. Cruise ship overall capacity is always calculated based only on double occupancy.
Troubled Waters Ahead?
While the proactive step of pausing bookings by Royal Caribbean is intended to keep cruises sailing safely, additional changes may be necessary in the near future. Different cruise ports have already begun denying visits by ships with positive cases reported on board. Odyssey of the Seas, for example, has missed both Curacao and Aruba on its current sailing from Fort Lauderdale due to more than 50 cases on board, primarily crew members.
Other ships, including Carnival Freedom at Bonaire and Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas at St. Lucia, have also been denied ports of call this week.
Different countries choose to deny cruise ships entry in order to safeguard their own populations and minimize the risk of bringing COVID-19 cases into their country, particularly with concerns over the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. Cruise lines are in constant communication with ports of call to stay in sync with health and safety protocols and to keep everyone apprised of this very fluid situation.
It is possible that further changes, including itinerary shifts, stateroom changes to promote better spacing, lowering passenger capacity, and even sailing cancelations may occur in the next few weeks as the cruise industry adapts to the Omicron variant’s spread and the impact it is having on travel and tourism.
Booked passengers should stay in close contact with their travel agent or cruise line and keep alert to any changes that may impact their vacation plans, and stay tuned to Cruise Hive for further updates as they become available.
Some of those spring, 2020 cruises a few ships had people stuck in there, quarantined for weeks with contagious Covid victims like at a Cuomo nursing home. Some fun.
😱
Looks like these folks will just have to settle for staying home and cooking and cleaning ping.
Open declaration, considering all data to date, concessions by Walensky and the fact that all adults on cruise ships must get jabbed:
Any FReeper who continues to use the word “vaccine” without quotes referencing these jabs is a dumbass, a troll, or both.
Expect to see more of this maneuvering as the virus affects the other cruise lines. -Tom
But you don’t have CLOUT! 😂
😂😂😂🤣😂🤣
How can vaccinated crew get covid? 50? I mean the magic jab doesn’t work?
...note the word "voluntarily" suspiciously appears in the statement from Royal Caribbean International. That's bull - the real issue is that too many people canceled on trips that were already well under break-even numbers. Royal Caribbean blames it on O M M O I R C O R N O I N C , will write off the loss, and will re-book passengers on later, fuller cruises.
How does Royal Caribbean know that O M M O I R C O R N O I N C will no longer be an issue in mid-January?
😂😂
Being quarantined for a fake test isn’t enjoyable in my book
Of course, they don't know that, and this is just another year and a half of putting off the recovery.
The cruise lines have to placate the creditors who they owe Billions of dollars too, and they have to keep up a positive profile for their customers.
If you noticed in this article, CRUISE HIVE have reported the facts, and left out the rah rah lets go cruising talk they normally end an article with.-Tom
They lie, their ships are no where near capacity since they implemented the vax requirements. This needs pause simply hides the fact that many are not sailing.
I tend to agree with you.
The cruise lines have a big problem with their changes in omicron protocols. They are also bringing in more ships to what I believe is a declining market. Not to mention the new ships on order. Something has to give since they are in debt Billions of dollars.
CARNIVAL, with a 30 billion dollar debt, has at least tried to cut back on their expenses by getting rid of 19 cruise ships.
I don't know what the other big 3 cruise lines, ROYAL CARIBBEAN and NORWEGIAN are thinking. -Tom
I have zero tolerance for jab mandates, jabs, masks, tests.
Just say no!
I hope my 2 booked cruises on Carnival, one at end of January and another at beginning of February do not get cancelled. We have 2 cabins on each cruise with family members joining in.
I would just follow the advice given in the thread.-Tom
"Booked passengers should stay in close contact with their travel agent or cruise line and keep alert to any changes that may impact their vacation plans, and stay tuned to Cruise Hive for further updates as they become available."
Carnival cruises reminds me every day of my upcoming cruise with these messages LOL
“35 DAYS ‘TILL YOUR CRUISE!
Carnival cruises reminds me every day of my upcoming cruise with these messages LOL”
TONY touches on a possible cruise ship shutdown? -Tom
La Lido Loca
A few months ago, he was gloating over the fact the unjabbed would not be cruising .. he was nasty ...
There was no need for his attitude ...
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