Cruise & Ferry Review - Autumn/Winter 2021

1 3 Silversea marked its return to global operations in June 2021 with the maiden voyage of new flagship Silver Moon from the Piraeus near Athens, Greece “The best way to help people overcome any wariness about sailing on our ships is to prove just how safe and enjoyable our cruises are in reality,” says Fain. “In the initial stages of the pandemic, the media portrayed cruises as one of the riskiest holiday options but we’re in a unique position because we can control the environment onboard our ships to protect everyone in a way that few companies on land could ever dream of. Where else on Earth can you be sure that you’re primarily surrounded by vaccinated people? We set a goal to become the world’s safest travel operator and our brands are certainly achieving that.” While many of Royal Caribbean Group’s ships have successfully returned to service, none are operating at full capacity and they have not yet returned to every core market. Consequently, there are still several hurdles for the company to overcome. “The main challenge is that some countries and cruise markets are still shut and it’s difficult for people to travel internationally,” says Fain. “Air travel restrictions, health and safety guidance and vaccination rules are changing frequently, which is making it difficult for customers to understand what the rules are today or predict what they might be in a few weeks’ time when they want to take their cruise holiday. This confusion is probably the biggest deterrent for people considering a cruise.” To ensure it is well-positioned to overcome these lingering challenges, Royal Caribbean Group has been rethinking various elements of its business to improve operational efficiency. In addition, it has been strengthening partnerships with multiple key industry stakeholders. “Our mantra is continuous improvement and we’ve been working hard to achieve this despite the pandemic,” says Fain. “For example, we are still committed to our aggressive fleet revitalisation programme, which we started pre-pandemic to add new ships to various brands and renovate several of our existing vessels. “Although shipyard closures and global supply chain issues forced us to slow down the newbuild projects by a few months, work has continued apace where possible and we’ve taken delivery of four newbuilds – Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Apex, Royal Caribbean International’s Odyssey of the Seas, and Silversea Cruises’ Silver Moon and Silver Origin – in 2021.” Like many others in the cruise industry, Royal Caribbean Group has also continued to work on minimising the environmental impact of its operations throughout the pandemic. Published in September 2021, the company’s 13th annual Seastainability report indicated that it had met or exceeded all but one of the 2020 sustainability goals it established in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2016. Some of these objectives included supporting the WWF’s global ocean conservation work and introducing more than 2,000 Global Sustainable Tourism-certified tours (surpassing its initial aim of 1,000 by 2020). Now, the company has developed a new set of targets focused on decreasing carbon emissions, driving the sustainable growth and development of its business, sustainable commodity sourcing and tourism, the elimination of single-use plastics, and waste management. And it’s already making good progress towards achieving these objectives. For example, it has removed 60 per cent of single- use plastics from its supply chain and now only sends 0.22 kilograms of waste per passenger to landfill each day – 80 per cent less than the average person onshore in the USA. All vessels have been equipped with systems to ensure they become landfill-free in future. Similarly, every ship has been equipped with an advanced wastewater purification system and produces 90 per cent of its own fresh water onboard, only using an average of 66 gallons of water per person per day – 34 gallons less than the average person in the USA. KEYNOTE “ We aim to have the whole fleet back in service by the end of the first quarter of 2022” Photo: Lucia Griggi