Richard Fain's Latest Message October 22, 2021

Hello to all of our travel advisor friends. Hopefully this is going to be my last video about the pandemic. Not my last video for those of you who may be hopeful, but my last video about the pandemic. That's because I think the time has come to focus on the future rather than the past. And I like the fact that we're now back in the office and I can do this video here at the office rather than in my backyard. Now don't get me wrong, the pandemic is definitely not over and we should not let down our guard. COVID-19 is a pernicious disease and it will continue to wreak havoc, death, and destruction around the world. While the prevalence in much of the industrialized world is falling, it's still out of control in so much of the developing world. Furthermore, it will continue to produce variants that vex us. But now we understand the main drivers. We know how to control the disease as it moves from totally uncontrolled spread with a high level of fatalities to a more ubiquitous ongoing disease that impacts a declining number of people. We all need to think differently. Our future becomes clearer every day. We really need to give a big cheer for the scientists who have found ways to contain this virus. The vaccines are safe and effective, the treatments are working, and they're getting better every day. Soon the FDA is expected to authorize vaccines down to age five and to also authorize a pill to treat mild and medium cases. There are likely to be more variants, but they are not likely to upset our ongoing progress. And all of this progress still isn't going to eliminate COVID, but it should bring it down from being a terrifying pandemic — don't you just hate that word and everything it stands for — to being endemic. It will be just another disease that we will all do our best to avoid. Again, I can't emphasize that we can't let our guard down. We all need to take appropriate precautions, and we at the Royal Caribbean Group will continue to devote stringent protocols to protect against it. But every conversation doesn't need to be about the disease. We don't need to start every chat with how much we miss going to the theater or to a restaurant. We will be able to live our lives more normally without face masking, without panic. And cruising will be in the forefront of all that. I was interested to see this graphic here on the screen from the CDC. It shows community spread of COVID by county across the United States. Red counties have high spread, orange counties have substantial spread, yellow is moderate, and blue is for low spread. You will see that most counties are still red. There is still a lot of COVID out there and we are not having it under control yet. On the chart though, I've added an icon for a ship. The CDC doesn't cover ships on their charts and there is no comparable report for cruise ships. But as I've repeatedly said, cruise ships have some advantages over land-based comparables. On ships, the vast bulk of the people are vaccinated. We can control our sanitation including air filtration, etc., and we can establish strict protocols. As a result, we can make ships safer than shore-based alternatives. Although the CDC doesn't do a comparison, I believe a fair reading of all the data, taking into account all the factors, would color this ship blue, which is the lowest category of risk, certainly better than the bulk of counties in America. And that's why I'm going to stop talking about the disease. The time has come to look forward. The time has come to focus on how we come out of the panic and out of the pandemic rather than how we should live during it. So what should we all do now? What should we as a cruise company and you as travel advisors do now? Well, I think the answer is clear. The simple answer is to do what we've always done for decades: sell cruises. You know, people want to travel. In fact, I would even say that they need to travel. Vacations that were once taken for granted aren't taken for granted anymore. Demand is coming back. We're seeing more visitors to our website and we have more calls and more bookings coming to us. There is no question about it. It's encouraging, but there are some important signs buried in all these numbers, because the surge is coming more from the internet than it is coming from our travel advisors. It's understandable in the near term. People got used to buying things online during the pandemic and they're continuing to do so as the shutdown ends. Also, many travel advisors had to cut back on staff and on marketing during the shutdown. But now we need to rebuild. So travel advisors need to do more of what you all do so well. I know it's a chicken and egg situation. You don't want to rehire a lot of people and don't want to pay for a lot of advertising until you see the dollars coming in. But the dollars won't arrive until you make the necessary commitment to attract those dollars. Online bookings are attractive, but we need you, our travel partners, to reach our full potential. Of course, there still will be many who prefer to buy online, and the internet does make that very easy. But it was the personal contact from travel advisors that built up the knowledge and awareness in the first place. It was the expertise of the travel advisors that gave people the impetus to cruise. It was the information that you travel advisors provided that gave people the confidence to buy a cruise. Simply put, we need you and we need your personal touch. We need you and your knowledge, and the clients need you to help them understand the complexities. Reach out to your clients, especially those holding a future cruise certificate, and inspire them to plan their cruise now. Our teams are here to support the regrowth of your business. We're counting on you, and together we will all move forward to a brighter future. And don't forget to wash your hands, wear your mask, and get your vaccine.