On July 6, 2020 Royal Caribbean International which includes Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara and Norwegian Cruise Line, including their subsidiaries Oceana and Regent Seven Seas, announced their partnership called Healthy Sail Panel. Healthy Sail Panel is a group of experts who will work closely with government agencies and other companies to create policies and protocols to ensure the health and safety of guests and crew when sailing resumes (currently September 16, 2020).

Safety of Guests and Crew Is Priority

What I am asked most often is, “Why aren’t the cruise lines making any announcements about what will be done to ensure the safety of guests and crew?” My answer has been that it isn’t only consumers who are wondering what’s going on; the cruise line executives, customer service reps, and probably every employee is asked this question multiple times a day. Until today most of the cruise lines have been pretty tight lipped about what was happening other than to say, “Our safety protocols will include changes to dining, number of guests, and cleaning processes.”

Related: Norwegian Cruise Line announced some of their safety protocols.

While the answers have been less than informative and more than a little frustrating, I assumed the reason was, at least in part, that they weren’t sure what the immediate future of cruising might look like. How could they with the constant changes to what experts and agencies understand about Covid-19? As of today, there are still more questions than answers about the safety of guests and crew but the formation of a Healthy Sail Panel makes me confident that Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian are going to put appropriate safety protocols in place. Even more importantly, the panel will be sharing their findings and procedures with the rest of the cruise industry as well as the rest of the hospitality industry.

Royal Caribbean Healthy Sail Panel Announcement

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.

Click here to download the official Healthy Sail Panel flier. The flier includes an introduction and short bio for each member of the panel.