Royal Caribbean Group - Cruise With Confidence - Extended!

July 27, 2021

Dear Valued Travel Partners,

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises are excited to announce the extension of the Cruise with Confindence program.

Royal Caribbean Announcement

While excitement is building, Royal Caribbean® wants to make planning your clients' vacations simple and stress-free. Therefore, we will continue to provide additional reassurance and flexibility by extending our popular Cruise with Confidence program! This allows cancelations up to 48-hours prior to the sail date in exchange for a 100% Future Cruise Credit when booking on or before August 31, 2021, for sailings departing by April 30, 2022.

Celebrity Cruises Announcement

As we're all beginning to experience the effects of this global phenomenon in our businesses, in our families, and in our daily lives, we want to reassure you that we at Celebrity Cruises are here for you. And we hear you. We're listening intently to all the feedback you've shared with us and have taken swift action to ensure we keep your best interest and the best interests of your business at heart. Here are some actions we've made for our Global Suspended Sailings Future Cruise Credit, with you in mind. Valid on bookings made by 7/31/21, applicable on sailings through 5/4/22 (June 30, 2022 for AUS/NZ).

For individual brand program details, please see the enhaced FAQs below:

Royal Caribbean Group -  Sailing Suspension Update

July 6, 2021

Dear Valued Travel Partner,

We hope that you and your clients continue to remain healthy and safe. As you know, the current environment has been, and still is, quite fluid. Due to ongoing uncertainty with the re-opening of international borders, as well as subsequent changes to our global return to service scope, we’ve made a few adjustments to our upcoming itinerary offerings that we want to make you aware of.

For Royal Caribbean International: Quantum of the Seas will remain in Singapore for an extended season, Voyager of the Seas sailings will be suspended through March 2022, Ovation of the Seas will remain in Alaska for four new sailings, and Serenade of the Seas sailings departing September 26 and October 7, 2021 have been cancelled.

For Celebrity Cruises, global operations are suspended for all sailings through June 30, 2021. This excludes the newly announced return to service sailings on Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Millennium and Celebrity Silhouette. 

For Azamara Cruises, the following have been cancelled: Azamara Journey sailings departing on July 16, 2021 through September 29, 2021 and Azamara Pursuit sailings departing on July 10, 2021 through September 14, 2021. Ships will return to service as follows: Azamara Quest: August 28, 2021, Azamara Journey: October 13, 2021 and Azamara Pursuit: September 28, 2021.  

This will allot additional time to solidify our safety measures as we work to welcome you and your clients back onboard. We are thoughtfully analyzing every aspect of the cruise experience and, as you can imagine, this takes time but we are steadily making progress.

Through our healthy return to service program, we are not only reinforcing current standards, but setting new ones at every turn. This new program will focus on four key aspects of the cruise experience - upgraded screening prior to boarding, enhanced processes onboard, focused approach on the destinations we visit, and heightened procedures for managing any reports of exceptions.

Through it all, we understand the disappointment that comes with interruptions to your clients' travel plans. Those guests currently confirmed on the aforementioned sailings, and not previously canceled under our Cruise with Confidence offer, will have the option to select from several compensation options.

Cancelled Sailings FAQ's

Silversea - Cruise With Confidence - Extended!

July 1, 2021

Dear Travel Partner,

With the pause in operation still in effect, we wanted to keep you up to date wiith the latest information from Silversea.

As a result of the pause, your clients will be able to cancel their cruise up to 30 days prior to departure for all voyages until 30 April 2022, excluding World Cruise, without penalties when selecting a Future Cruise Credit. Applicable for all bookings made prior to 31 August 2021.

Please review the updated policy below.

Introducing the Healthy Sail Panel

A PLAN BACKED BY SCIENCE, VALIDATED BY EXPERTS

We've tapped the best minds and accredited health organizations to develop a science-backed plan for cruising safely.

We’re excited to announce the establishment of Royal Caribbean Group’s Healthy Sail Panel — a team of the best minds and leaders in public health, bio security, epidemiology, hospitality and maritime operations. As we prepare for our return to service, this diverse team has been enlisted to develop recommendations and guide our way forward with unprecedented standards in response to COVID-19. Their combined expertise will help us reinforce our current safety procedures onboard our ships, create new ones and ensure our vacation experience. Our collective efforts will be shared across the cruise industry, as well as other industries that may benefit from our findings — because we’re all in this together.

The well-being of our guests, crew and the communities we visit is our top priority. But beyond that, we believe everyone should benefit from advances in health and safety related matters. That’s why the important work and findings derived from this collaboration will be shared with the entire cruise industry and other industries it may benefit — because we’re all in this together.

MEET OUR PANELISTS

PANEL CO-CHAIRS

Governor Michael Leavitt - Leavitt Partners, Founder, Former Governor of Utah and Secretary Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb - Resident Fellow at AEI, Partner at NEA, Contributor at CNBC and Former Commissioner of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration

PANEL MEMBERS

Helene Gayle MD, MPH –Dr. Gayle is CEO of the Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation’s leading community foundations. Prior to this role, and for almost a decade, she was president and CEO of CARE, a leading international humanitarian organization. An expert on global development, humanitarian and health issues, Dr. Gayle spent 20 years with the CDC, working primarily on HIV/AIDS. She worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, directing programs on HIV/AIDS and other global health issues. She also launched the McKinsey Social Initiative (now McKinsey.org), a nonprofit that builds partnerships for social impact. Dr. Gayle serves on public company and nonprofit boards, including The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, New America, the ONE Campaign, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago.

Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH –Dr. Julie L. Gerberding is Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer for Merck, leading all aspects of strategic communications, global public policy, population health and patient engagement. A former head of the CDC and a world-renowned public health expert, Dr. Gerberding is deeply committed to achieving sustainable global health impact and tackling some of the most challenging health priorities of our time. This includes addressing critical issues such as affordable access to important therapies, advocating for health policies that promote and sustain innovation of new medicines and vaccines, and improving maternal mortality through the Merck for Mothers program — a public-private partnership helping to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality. Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Gerberding served as the Director of the CDC from 2002-2009 and was the first female to hold that position. While at the agency, she led more than 40 emergency responses against crises such as anthrax, SARS, bird flu, food-borne outbreaks and natural disasters.

Steven Hinrichs, MD –Dr. Steven Hinrichs is Professor and Chair in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and the Director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), and Director of the University of Nebraska Center for Biosecurity. In his position as laboratory director he has been responsible for the development of a statewide program for the rapid identification of biological agents of mass destruction. He is principal investigator of multiple national awards from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the CDC and the Department of Defense for the development of an outreach program to extend training and expertise in the early recognition of biological warfare agents.

Michael Osterholm, MD, PhD –Michael Osterholm is one of the nation’s foremost experts in public health, infectious disease and biosecurity. As the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, he is an international leader on the world’s preparedness for pandemics. He has led numerous investigations into internationally important disease outbreaks, including foodborne diseases, hepatitis B in health care settings, and HIV infection in healthcare workers, and he is a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Defense and the CDC. From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Osterholm served as a special advisor to the secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues related to bioterrorism and public health preparedness. From June 2018 through May 2019, he served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. He has also been appointed to the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity and the World Economic Forum’s Working Group on Pandemics, among other prominent advisory positions.

Stephen Ostroff, MD –Dr. Ostroff brings years of experience in public health, having served at high level positions at the Food and Drug Administration and CDC. He was the Acting Commissioner of the FDA from 2015-16, and before that served as the FDA’s chief scientist. Ostroff joined the FDA in 2013 as chief medical officer in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and senior public health advisor to FDA’s Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine. Prior to that he served as deputy director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the CDC, where he was also acting director of CDC’s Select Agent Program. While at CDC he focused on emerging infectious diseases, food safety, and coordination of complex outbreak response. He retired from the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service at the rank of Rear Admiral (Assistant Surgeon General). Ostroff was also the director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and acting physician general for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and has consulted internationally on public health projects in South Asia and Latin America.

William Rutala, PhD, MS, MPH –Dr. Rutala has experience medically managing a variety of diseases and extensive experience studying epidemiology and virology, particularly managing outbreaks and emerging pathogens. Dr. Rutala’s research interests are the etiology and prevention of healthcare-associated infections with a special focus on disinfection and sterilization of reusable medical and surgical devices. Other areas of active research include contribution of the hospital environment to disease transmission, hand hygiene, preventing transmission of infectious agents including multiply-drug resistant organisms, prevention of healthcare-associated Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, investigation of healthcare-associated outbreaks, and new and emerging pathogens in healthcare.

Kate Walsh, PhD –Kate Walsh is the Dean at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and E.M. Statler Professor. A professor of management, she is a leader in education for the global hospitality industry; and a renowned expert in organizational service design, leadership and career development, as well as the impact of strategic human capital investments. In addition, Dean Walsh holds extensive industry knowledge from serving as the former director of training and development for Nikko Hotels International, corporate training manager for the former Bristol Hotels, and senior auditor for Loews Corporation. She is also a former New York State Certified Public Accountant. Since the beginning of her administration as dean, Dean Walsh has focused on positioning the school for the future of education. This includes undertaking a comprehensive renewal of the graduate and undergraduate curricula, developing the school’s online global presence, identifying international partners for master-level program development, and providing thought-leadership for the hospitality industry, most notably through the creation of industry research partnerships for faculty, fostering new initiatives through the school’s six centers and institutes, and providing faculty-developed resources to guide the industry.