In an interview with Travel Weekly during the CruiseWorld virtual conference, Royal Caribbean Group CEO Richard Fain said the cruise line is hoping to expand its restart to all Caribbean islands as soon as possible.
Despite the talk about cruise lines primarily using their private destinations when they first resume service, Fain has more ambitious plans.
"There's an economic impact on the Caribbean nations that we've partnered with for so many years, so we want to get back to all of those places," he said at the conference, acknowledging that cruise lines will start out by allowing what he calls "curated experiences," or controlled shore excursions organized by the cruise line that maintain the safety bubble of the ship. "We think by working with local governments and businesses we can make curated experiences throughout the Caribbean."
Whether that restart even comes remains to be seen. Just on Friday, two Democratic senators wrote a letter to the Centers for Disease Control asking the agency to reinstate its 'no sail order' that would prohibit cruises from sailing in U.S. waters during a current surge in COVID-19.
If all stays the same, Royal Caribbean's first sailings will be to its private destinations, Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas and Labadee, Haiti, with Fain calling it Royal's "good fortune" to have invested so much in those private destinations before the pandemic.
Then it's on to other destinations.
"There is a desire to help these countries and these islands where tourism is so important to their economy," Fain said. "We really have to find ways to be helpful to the communities we serve, as well."
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