Royal Caribbean stops booking cruises through early January due to capacity limits

Royal Caribbean International announced this week that it will pause bookings for cruises through the beginning of January due to capacity limits.

“Sailings departing through early January 2022 are no longer open to new reservations because they’ve met the limited capacity we’ve set,” Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales and trade support and service at Royal Caribbean, said, according to USA Today.

Several COVID-19 clusters have been reported on Royal Caribbean cruise ships in recent days. On Thursday, Odyssey of the Seas reported 55 cases and Symphony of the Seas reported 48 positive COVID-19 cases after it disembarked last Saturday, the news outlet noted.

Medical staff and crew members on the ships were “overwhelmed” by the surge in cases, passengers told USA Today, though Royal Caribbean denied that characterization.

Royal Caribbean has said that the capacity limits have been implemented as a part of “robust, multilayered protocols,” USA Today reported.

On Friday, the cruise company sent a notice to passengers saying that mask requirements onboard ships would be tightened until Jan. 5.

“With the recent uptick of COVID-19 in the world and added omicron variant concerns, we feel it prudent to temporarily tighten our onboard health protocols to require masks indoors at all times, unless actively eating or drinking,” Freed said, according to USA Today. “This new update also applies to vaccinated areas and venues.”