Royal Caribbean Group CEO Richard Fain said that the company's brands will rely more on Covid-19 vaccines, and less on ship protocols, for their return to service.
Citing this week's distribution of the vaccines, and their high levels of efficacy, Fain told travel advisors in his latest YouTube video that the vaccines are "a game-changer -- yippee!"
"I've repeatedly referred to vaccines as the ultimate weapon and now they are here," he said. "Now, we don't have to rely solely on testing and health protocols to enable society to open up. Now, finally, we have vaccines to lead the battles against Covid."
That arrival, he said, changes Royal Caribbean Group's return to service strategy.
"Previously, we expected cruising to resume based on creating a virtual bubble of safety on a ship, even if the rest of the country was experiencing significant spread," Fain said. "Vaccines changed all that. Today we envision that the key but not the exclusive factor will be the vaccines rather than purely the protocols. Not to say that the protocols are irrelevant."
In fact, he said the recent example of a false positive test on Royal Caribbean International's Quantum of the Seas sailing out of Singapore enabled the line to test its protocols, which Fain said resulted in "swift containment of any potential threat."
"As we all gain experiences with such logistics, even this kind of thing won't be necessary," he said. "The guest didn't have Covid, but the false positive gave us a real-world chance to test our procedures and they performed well. Such experiences really allow us to test our processes and prepare better for a full operation. They enable us to refine our preparation and give confidence to your clients."