Royal Caribbean’s first cruise in almost nine months set sail on Tuesday, marking the first steps towards normalcy following a global pause of the cruise industry.

The cruise line has scheduled short ‘ocean getaway’ cruises aboard Quantum of the Seas through to March 2021. The roundtrips from and to Singapore will accept only residents from the city-state.

While the ship can accommodate more than 4,000 guests, Royal Caribbean has reduced guest capacity to less than 50% occupancy as part of precautions put in place due to the pandemic.

Every passenger and crew member aboard must test negative for COVID-19 before boarding, and the ship has introduced extensive cleaning standards in response to the pandemic.

Royal Caribbean is to hold mock cruises with volunteer passengers in 2021, as it looks to show the CDC that necessary precautions are being met ahead of a full restart. More than 100,000 people have volunteered to participate so far.

Share this on: