RCI-Royal Caribbean announced it is extending the season for one of Asia’s biggest cruise ships, because of the “overwhelming demand” for its cruises to nowhere among Singapore residents.
Quantum of the Seas will continue sailing from Singapore through October 2021, after first extending her season through June, the company revealed in a statement. In a nod to the ongoing pandemic, the liner operates with reduced guest capacity, a mask mandate outside accommodations, and other social distancing measures.
50,000+ people have sailed from Singapore with RCI since the program began. Royal Caribbean’s 30-plus voyages in Singapore offer “a real-life, validated model of how cruising can be a unique, safe vacation beyond what many other travel options can offer,” according to Michael Bayley, president & CEO of RCI.
Travel curbs aimed at keeping the Coronavirus at bay in Singapore have pushed its 5.7M residents to seek other options from local tours to staycations. The country is currently in talks with places such as Hong Kong to re-open borders for travel, as well as looking to establish quarantine-free travel with sites that have successfully controlled the crisis.
With few alternatives outside the borders of Singapore, the so-called cruises to nowhere, which commenced in November 2020 with Genting Cruise Lines/GHK and Royal Caribbean, have proved popular and ~120,000 people have traveled across 90+ sailings with no reported virus cases spreading onboard, the Singapore Tourism Board announced.