Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line Announce Partnership to Launch Enhanced Health and Safety Standards Onboard

11 July, 2020

On Monday, two major world-renowned cruise lines Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd announced a joint task force to help develop safety standards for restarting their businesses during the coronavirus pandemic

This unprecedented disease requires us to develop unprecedented standards in health and safety,” said Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group. “Bringing aboard these respected experts to guide us forward demonstrates our commitment to protecting our guests, our crews and the communities we visit.

Raising the bar even higher in health standards, a ‘Healthy Sail Panel’ is introduced consisting of experts, tasked with collaboratively developing recommendations for cruise lines to advance their public health response to COVID-19, improve safety, and achieve readiness for the safe resumption of operations. 

According to an official from Royal Caribbean, operations will be resumed with limited passenger capacity to implement necessary social distancing measures, following the protocols of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

“We compete for the vacationing consumer’s business every day, but we never compete on health and safety standards,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. “While the cruise industry has always had rigorous health standards, the unique challenges posed by COVID-19 provide an opportunity to raise the bar even higher.” 

Fain and Del Rio said the work of the panel will be shared with the entire industry and regulators.

The panel is co-chaired by Governor Leavitt, former Secretary of the U.S. Department Health and Human Services (HHS), and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The panel’s members are globally recognized experts from various disciplines, including public health, infectious disease, biosecurity, hospitality and maritime operations. 

Book a Cruise Online with the Best Cruise Finder and Cruise Booking Website