The president and CEO of Royal Caribbean, Michael Bayley has revealed that 100,000 people have volunteered as passengers for the company’s “mock cruise” programme since it launched last Thursday.

These mock sailings are trial sailings with volunteer guests that will demonstrate the effectiveness of Covid-19 health and safety measures onboard ships while simulating the cruise experience. It’s part of a series of steps mandated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assess the cruise industry’s ability to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19, before formally resuming sailing with reduced capacity.

The programme, named ‘Volunteer of the Seas’ in a nod to the cruise line’s ship names, was announced just last week – and within five days, it was estimated that 100,000 people had already signed up to volunteer.

Writing on his public Facebook page, Mr Bayley said, “And just like that…100,000 people have volunteered. We can’t wait to start this next phase with you all!”

Mr Bayley unveiled the mock cruise programme on 12 November, writing in a public Facebook post, “As many know from reading the CDC conditional sale order we will be operating trial sailings with volunteer guests. It has been so gratifying to receive literally thousands of emails and calls offering to volunteer. To make things easier and keep everyone up to speed, we’ve set up a Volunteers of the Seas group! Here you’ll find out all the next steps and can sign up to learn more.”

In the group’s description, the company explained: “While we review the requirements proposed by the CDC and consider when we can host our simulated trial sailings, we are gathering information from those who have shown interest. Our priority is to ensure that we can exercise our comprehensive set of measures in a safe and healthy manner while making sure we provide a memorable vacation experience.”