Serenade of the Seas is said to be the first cruise ship sailing from Seattle, Washington when she set sail on July 19th. Currently, Ovation of the Seas is due to set sail from Seattle, Washington on August 13th. Now, given these timelines, that, has us speculating whether Odysseus of the Seas will be required to complete a test cruise or will that ship sail fully vaccinated for a portion of her inaugural season.

There is some speculation online that, that ship will be doing a test cruise starting June 21st. However, Royal Caribbean has not made any announcements about test cruises on that ship so far. Following the special three-day 4th of July weekend cruise, Freedom of the Seas will alternate with three and four-night Bahamas and perfect day sailings from Miami.

Other restart dates include Allure of the Seas doing seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries from Port Canaveral starting on August 8th. Symphony of the Seas will also do seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings from Miami, Florida starting on August 14th. Independence of the Seas will offer seven-night Western cruising sailings from Galveston, Texas starting on August 15th. Mariner of the Seas will be offering three and four night Bahamas and perfect day at CocoCay, sailings from Port Canaveral starting on August 23rd.

Now, some of these sailings are actually replacing existing itineraries. The sailings on Freedom of the Seas, Odyssey of the Seas and Independence of the Seas are replacement itineraries for existing sailings that were scheduled on the Navigator of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas. Royal Caribbean will automatically transfer guests to the new ships for these sailings.

In this update, Royal Caribbean also indicated that Harmony of the Seas will return to cruising in Europe starting August 15th. The ship will sail seven-night itineraries to the Western Mediterranean and visit iconic destinations in Spain, Italy and France.

These newly announced cruises are in addition to the previously announced itineraries outside of North America including UK sailings on the Anthem of the Seas and Cyprus and Greece sailings on Jewel of the Seas.

The cruise line did confirm that all crew members will be vaccinated on all Royal Caribbean ships. Now the cruise line is strongly encouraging individuals that set sail to be fully vaccinated if they’re eligible based on current health procedures. Those without a vaccination will have to undergo testing, as well, as follow other protocols which the cruise line will announce closer to the sailing dates. Further, if departing from an international port, guests must meet the travel requirements of their home country and the country of departure.

Now, this does seem like a little bit of backtracking on Royal Caribbean, whose parent company Royal Caribbean Groups Chairman and CEO Richard Fain, has been pretty vocal about the power of vaccinations and that Royal Caribbean would be requiring vaccinations for their cruises.

Now, vaccinations are required for cruisers 16 years of age or older on Adventure of the Seas cruises that started last week from Nassau, Bahamas. Because those sailings originate outside the U.S., they’re not bound by the CDC conditional sailing order. In fact, Royal Caribbean, just revealed the Adventure of the Seas protocols for these initial sailings and the cruise line is not requiring vaccinated guests to wear a mask at any point on the vessel. While unvaccinated guests, which in this case will most likely be children, 16 years of age or younger, will be required to wear a mask while indoors.

A few weeks ago, the CDC updated its guidance and recommendations for health and safety measures on cruise ships indicating that cruise ships sailing with 95 per cent of passengers fully vaccinated do not need to require mass or social distancing while indoors or outdoors.

However, unvaccinated guests do still need to comply with health and safety measures including social distancing and wearing face masks. Of course, these health and safety measures are evolving and it is possible, given the later start dates for some of these cruises, that those procedures and protocols could be different from what’s currently recommended by the CDC.

Royal Caribbean and Origin Cruise Line partnered early this year with several health experts for the healthy sale panel. That panel proposed a number of health and safety measures that should be employed on cruise ships to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases.

Given what we know about the adventurous seas protocols as well as Royal Caribbean’s vague language about the health and safety protocols on these newly announced sailings, it’s likely that some of the recommendations from the healthy sail panel will not be implemented on these cruises. Royal Caribbean did indicate that it will update guests with the health and safety measures for their specific sailings prior to the departure dates.

Now, with these 12 cruise ships, we still don’t know the restart plans for about the other half of Royal Caribbean’s fleet. However, the cruise line did say that they plan to have all ships sailing by the end of the year with these restart plans.

Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean did confirm cancellations for all other cruises in July. In August cruises, outside of those that were announced, the other day will be cancelled through the end of August.

There you have it. That’s a detailed look at Royal Caribbean’s cruise restart plans for the U.S.