It seems that the cruise-going community has been suffering some very serious withdrawal pains over the past eight months, which cannot be alleviated quickly enough. As a testament, a mystifying number of people are ready to sign up for simulated sailings intended to test onboard COVID-19 protocols.
Royal Caribbean's CEO Michael Bayley revealed that the number of folks who have volunteered to take the cruise line's "mock cruises" has now reached a whopping 100,000, according to the Mirror.
The program, called 'Volunteers of the Seas', was announced last week when Royal Caribbean sent out the call for mock-cruise passengers to populate the trial cruises. In the first 24 hours alone, over 20,000 had volunteered.
These faux sailings, designed to test Royal Caribbean's COVID-19 health and safety measures prior to restarting real cruise operations, will occur as part of the process required for cruise lines to obtain approval to restart cruising from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The test voyages will be free for participants, although the company has yet to determine a start date and hasn't indicated which ship it will use for the program. Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean International's VP of Sales and Trade Support & Service, said during an earlier webinar, "I do believe they will take place next month, but I'm not confirming that to be absolutely certain because, again, we're working through all the details."
"While we review the requirements proposed by the CDC and consider when we can host our simulated trial sailings, we are gathering information from those who have shown interest. Our priority is to ensure that we can exercise our comprehensive set of measures in a safe and healthy manner while making sure we provide a memorable vacation experience," Royal Caribbean wrote as part of the 'Volunteers of the Seas' dedicated Facebook group's description.
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