I've had a few calls from friends telling me about the "free" cruise Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines is offering. It's a training cruise to inform the staff how to handle any "episodes" of COVID-19 that may appear after sailing.
There is a website you can go to and sign up. Am I interested? Absolutely not! But, many people are. Florida residents are signing up in droves. I hope it goes well for them.
If you want to follow this cruise on Facebook, sign into the page: Volunteers of the Seas. It's interesting what people are posting. The last time I checked after two days there are more than 28,000 members!
I thought you may want to know the "real story" behind this giveaway.
“We are going to be doing a series of sailings using our employees and other volunteers to test out the protocols and make modifications," said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales and trade support and service, on a webinar on Wednesday.
Freed said the company will be looking for volunteers, but hasn't quite yet worked on the details.
She said that the first cruises to be offered in 2021 may be short sailings to Coco Cay, which would allow the company to operate in a bubble on its own private island.
Industry sources expect the Mariner and Navigator of the Seas, the company's recently-refurbished "short Caribbean" ships, to be the vessels pressed into service.
“It is going to require a lot of work to restart operations," Freed said. "It is complicated to go through this entire CDC recommendation and we are going to do it.”
The CDC requirements reported thus far are:
- Volunteers must be 18 years or older.
- Volunteers must have written documentation from a healthcare provider certifying that the volunteer has no pre-existing medical conditions that would place them at high-risk for COVID-19.
- Test voyages must be conducted on a consensual basis and not in exchange for consideration or future reward.
- Volunteers must be told they are participating in an unused and unresolved health and safety protocol.
