- Healthy Sail Panel recommends 74 detailed steps to safeguard the health of 
guests, crew and communities

New recommendations from a panel of globally recognized medical and scientific 
experts say that by relentlessly focusing on prevention and other measures – 
including the testing of guests and crew members – public health risks 
associated with the pandemic can be mitigated in a cruise ship environment. 

Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: 
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8644151-royal-caribbean-group-norwegian-cruise-line-healthy-sail-panel/


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The Healthy Sail Panel submitted its recommendations today to the U.S. Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in response to a CDC request for 
public comment that will be used to inform future public health guidance and 
preventative measures relating to travel on cruise ships. The Panel was formed 
in June by Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings 
Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH).

The Panel comprises globally recognized experts in medical practice and 
research, public health, infectious diseases, biosecurity, hospitality and 
maritime operations that have applied the best available public health, science 
and engineering insights to their recommendations.

The Healthy Sail Panel's 65-plus-page report includes 74 detailed best 
practices to protect the public health and safety of guests, crew and the 
communities where cruise ships call. Recommendations include testing, the use 
of face coverings, and enhanced sanitation procedures on ships and in 
terminals. The Panel is chaired by Governor Mike Leavitt, former U.S. Secretary 
of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of 
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"The Healthy Sail Panel spent the last four months studying how to better 
protect the health and safety of guests and crew aboard cruise ships," said Dr. 
Gottlieb. "Taken as a comprehensive approach, we believe the Panel's robust 
public health recommendations will help inform strategies for a safe resumption 
of sailing." 

Gov. Leavitt said: "This Panel undertook an ambitious, cross-disciplinary, 
public health examination to develop standards and guidelines that create the 
highest level of safety in the complex environment of a cruise ship. We studied 
the industry's experiences combating the pandemic – and we then incorporated 
the many lessons learned and advances made by medicine and science over the 
past six months. The Panel's recommendations are grounded in the best 
scientific and medical information available and are intended to meaningfully 
mitigate public health risks to those who sail."

"We understand our responsibility to act aggressively to protect the health and 
safety of our guests and crew, as well as the communities where we sail, and we 
asked the Panel to help us learn how to best live up to that responsibility," 
said Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. "We were 
inspired by the depth of the Panel's work and their determination to help us 
establish the strongest protocols in the travel industry."

"The Healthy Sail Panel's recommendations are robust and comprehensive, and 
they reflect the intense focus the panelists brought to their work," said Frank 
Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. "We know that 
both authorities around the globe and consumers expect cruise lines to provide 
the safest, healthiest vacations we can, and this work demonstrates our 
commitment to doing just that."

Fain and Del Rio said each company will use the Panel's recommendations to 
inform the development of new, detailed operating protocols, which will be 
submitted to the CDC and other authorities around the globe for review and 
approval– an important milestone in the process of resuming sailing around the 
world. The Panel's work is open sourced for others to incorporate in their 
protocols as well; Governor Leavitt and Dr. Gottlieb expressed appreciation 
that authorities and other cruise companies had already engaged in the Panel's 
work as observers.

The Healthy Sail Panel identified five areas of focus every cruise operator 
should address to improve health and safety for guests and crew, and reduce the 
risk of infection and spread of COVID-19 on cruise ships:

    1.  Testing, Screening and Exposure Reduction 
    2.  Sanitation and Ventilation 
    3.  Response, Contingency Planning and Execution 
    4.  Destination and Excursion Planning 
    5.  Mitigating Risks for Crew Members

In each category, the Healthy Sail Panel created practical and actionable 
recommendations to address specific safety concerns. Among the recommendations 
are key strategies such as:

    -- Taking aggressive measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering a 
       ship through robust education, screening and testing of both crew and 
       guests prior to embarkation 
    -- Reducing transmission via air management strategies and enhanced 
       sanitation practices 
    -- Implementing detailed plans to address positive infection on board, 
       including contingencies for onboard treatment, isolation and rapid 
       evacuation and repatriation 
    -- Closely controlling shore excursions 
    -- Enhanced protection for crew members

The full Healthy Sail Panel report can be found here: Royal Caribbean Group ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2922372-1&h=3867873728&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalcaribbeangroup.com%2Fhealthy-sailing&a=Royal+Caribbean+Group 
) or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. ( 
https://security-us.mimecast.com/ttpwp#/ua?key=bHNpZXJyYWNhcm9AcmNjbC5jb218YzBjODhmNjctOWI4OS0zZThhLTk1NWEtMDA3MjFlMGFlZjRi 
)

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this release are "forward-looking 
statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws intended to 
qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private 
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements 
of historical facts contained in this release, including, without limitation, 
those regarding business strategies, plans, and objectives for future 
operations (including those regarding efforts made by the panel and future 
health and safety protocols and mitigation efforts) are forward-looking 
statements and we cannot guarantee that our protocols and mitigation efforts 
will be successful. Many, but not all, of these statements can be found by 
looking for words like "expect," "plan," "will," "may," and similar words. 
Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and may involve 
risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results, 
performance or achievements to differ materially from the future results, 
performance or achievements expressed or implied in those forward-looking 
statements. Examples of these risks, uncertainties and other factors include, 
but are not limited to the impact of: the spread of epidemics, pandemics and 
viral outbreaks and specifically, the COVID-19 outbreak, including its effect 
on the ability or desire of people to travel (including on cruises); the 
ability to develop strategies to enhance health and safety protocols to adapt 
to the current pandemic environment's unique challenges once operations resume 
and to otherwise safely resume operations when conditions allow; coordination 
and cooperation with the CDC, the federal government and global public health 
authorities to take precautions to protect the health, safety and security of 
guests, crew and the communities visited and the implementation of any such 
precautions; and other factors set forth under "Risk Factors" in each 
respective company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly 
Report on Form 10-Q and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. While we 
believe that the recommendations of the panel will make cruise vacations safer, 
we cannot guarantee or assure that our protocols and mitigation efforts will 
effectively eliminate the risk of contracting COVID-19. There may be additional 
risks that are considered immaterial or which are unknown. The above examples 
are not exhaustive and new risks emerge from time to time. Such forward-looking 
statements are based on current beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates 
and projections regarding present and future business strategies and the 
environment in which we expect to operate in the future. These forward-looking 
statements speak only as of the date made. We expressly disclaim any obligation 
or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any 
forward-looking statement to reflect any change in our expectations with regard 
thereto or any change of events, conditions or circumstances on which any such 
statement was based.

SOURCE  Royal Caribbean Group; Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

CONTACT: Royal Caribbean Group, Rob Zeiger, corporatecommunications@rccl.com OR 
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, Andrea DeMarco, NCLHMedia@nclcorp.com OR 
Healthy Sail Panel, Sara Singleton, Sara.Singleton@LeavittPartners.com