Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings have announced a collaboration to develop enhanced cruise health and safety standards.
A press release said the two had convened a group of experts called the ‘Healthy Sail Panel’, tasked with 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.
The panel has been working on the recommendations for nearly a month and will offer its initial recommendations by the end of August. The work will be ‘open source’, and can be adopted by any company or industry that would benefit from the insights. The panel’s members are experts from various disciplines, including public health, infectious diseases, biosecurity, hospitality and maritime operations.
Richard D Fain, chairman and ceo of Royal Caribbean Group, said: “Bringing aboard these respected experts to guide us forward demonstrates our commitment to protecting our guests, our crews and the communities we visit.”
“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 of 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.”
The two companies initiated the panel to ensure the plans they submit to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other regulators will contain the best available public health, science and engineering insights.
