Outgoing CEO Fain Offers His Thoughts on Vaccine Mandates for Kids

Fain said he thinks there will be protocol changes coming soon.

At a media event last week onboard Odyssey of the Sea, retiring Royal Caribbean Group CEO told a questioner who asked whether there will be room for unvaccinated children since vaccines have been approved "Probably by then we'll still be, if they don't want to vaccinate their children. I would still encourage them to do so. The vaccines are simply so effective and so safe that they owe it to the children and they owe it to their friends and loved ones to do so. But I don't think we're about to implement that requirement because the only just became available."

Fain also said "I think we're moving in the direction where every cruise will have 100 percent of the crew vaccinated and ninety five or more percent of the guests." He also admitted that they have had Covid cases onboard their ships. "We have cases on board just as you have cases everywhere. But the cases are handled easily, efficiently and people are taken care of, and it doesn't spread. So we don't have these big outbreaks onboard."

Unlike Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings ships, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise line will allow unvaccinated guests to cruise but they must follow much stricter protocols than vaccinated guests. NCL Holdings does not allow guests who have not been vaccinated to sail on their ships.

Fain also spoke of the expiring CDC guidelines on January 15th and explained, "I want to make it clear the controlling protocols today in almost every case, not every case, but almost every case is our own standards, not the CDC. We are acting significantly in excess of CDC requirements. And I actually don't expect January 15th when they have said that they would go through a purely voluntary program that will have any noticeable impact on us."