Royal Caribbean Launches Facebook Page for Test Cruise Volunteers

Royal Caribbean is now inviting the public, and travel advisors, to be part of its return to sailing.

Royal Caribbean this week launched a “Volunteers of the Seas” Facebook page to help gather details on possible volunteers for its mock sailings.

“Can’t wait to cruise? You’re in the right place,” the page reads. “Stay tuned to be the first to know more about how to be one of the first back at sea.”

The page, which can be found here, links to a submission form that travel advisors, and other volunteers, can use to pass along their details to Royal. The submission form ensures that volunteers are over 18-years-old, asks how many people would be traveling in the party, and then gathers contact info so that Royal can reach out.

For right now, there’s not much guidance on the cost of the cruise or dates (Royal has yet to announce either).

However, what’s certain is that there is a high interest in the sailings. Royal said, according to CNN, it has already received more than 5,000 emails about the sailings and even more messages on social media. The “Volunteers of the Seas” page also already has close to 22,000 members.

Mock sailings
Cruise lines were officially given the go-ahead by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late last month and while the news provided some momentum to a return to sailing in 2020, all major cruise lines decided to voluntarily extend their suspensions at least through the end of the year.

CLIA, in response to that news, said that member lines will now take the rest of the year to prepare for a healthy return to sailing in accordance with the CDC’s guidelines.

As part of those guidelines, the CDC is requiring that all cruise lines demonstrate their ability to safely sail through trial sailings before officially welcoming consumers back onboard.

The sailings are expected to “stress-test those protocols in real-world conditions,” Royal said in an earlier update. Even when the mock sailings finish, cruise lines are expected to start sailing with a limited number of ships, with limited capacity, and new rules like universal testing, face mask requirements, and more.