Shore leave in US homeports is again allowed for the RCI-Royal Caribbean crew.
The cruise company announced the resumption of the crew shore-leave program in United States' homeports starting February 12, 2022.
The shore leave tours start with 100 crew members per cruise ship on week I, 150 on week II, and on week III onward the crew will just have to sign up to the respective division to sign a shore leave waiver.
A crew member who wishes to go out needs to sign up at the HR office and wear KN95 masks when going out.
In November 2021, RCI started the free flow pilot program allowing independent shore leave for employees on 5 ships stopping at ports in the USA. Back then the pilot program commenced with 50 crew, from each vessel, being granted shore leave. Due to the surge of COVID cases caused by the Omicron variant the program was put on hold.