Royal Caribbean International, which began sailing Quantum of the Seas from Singapore in December 2020, will extend its season through October 2021.
"We have continued to see an overwhelming demand in Singapore to sail on board Quantum of the Seas. With more than 50,000 guests having cruised with us and zero positive COVID-19 cases to date, holidaymakers can rest assured we are focused on delivering safe, memorable cruise holidays," said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International.
Bayley said the Singapore voyages "offer a real-life, validated model of how cruising can be a unique, safe vacation beyond what many other travel options can offer."
Cruising from the U.S. remains at a standstill due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declining to work with cruise lines on lifting the conditional sail order, which remains in effect until Nov. 1, 2021.
The CDC can, however, lift the order when it deems the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer an emergency. Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines have since scheduled cruises entirely outside the U.S. in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Europe.
The Singapore cruises operate with the local government's CruiseSafe Certification, which confirms the sailings meet the comprehensive health and safety requirements developed with the Singapore government. Following a successful run, Royal Caribbean first extended the season for three months, through June 2021, and is doing it again for an additional four months.
The ship operates two-, three- and four-night cruises. The new sailings are open to Singapore residents and will go on sale April 13, 2021.
Quantum will continue to operate with comprehensive health and safety measures in place, such as COVID-19 testing, reduced capacity, physical-distancing measures, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing processes, and contact tracing.
"When we started pilot cruises in Singapore, our aim was to regain the confidence of guests by endorsing cruise operators with rigorous hygiene measures," said Annie Chang, director-cruise for the Singapore Tourism Board. "Singapore's CruiseSafe standards have set a clear benchmark for our cruise partners, who have been diligent in ensuring the measures on board are adhered to. Thus far, we have completed more than 90 sailings with over 120,000 passengers and no reported cases of COVID-19 spreading on board,"
Since July 2020, Royal Caribbean Group has carried more than 100,000 guests on 152 cruises in Asia and Europe. The company recently announced plans for the new Odyssey of the Seas to cruise from Haifa, Israel; Jewel of the Seas from Cyprus; Anthem of the Seas sailing from the U.K.; and cruises from The Bahamas with Adventure of the Seas and Bermuda with Vision of the Seas.
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