Royal Caribbean announces dates for its free cruises to firefighters

Royal Caribbean has announced dates for two free cruises open to those who battled the recent devastating bushfires. 

The ship Spectrum of the Seas, which is available after staying away from Asian ports due to the coronavirus, is coming to Sydney to conduct the cruises.

The first four-night cruise will leave Sydney on February 29 and travel along the country’s east coast before returning to the city.

Royal Carribean’s second cruise will leave on March 7, and return on March 11 following the same route. 

Around 7,000 first responders and their families will be eligible to take part in the two cruises.

Volunteers can make applications through a website and indicate how many family members they will bring.    

‘We are in a fortunate position to give back to the brave and dedicated members of our community and their families by presenting them with the chance to join us for a few days to relax, unwind and enjoy our hospitality,’ said the Managing Director for Royal Caribbean International Australia and New Zealand Gavin Smith. 

The billion dollar cruise ship can house up to 5,622 passengers and includes 20 restaurants.

Entertainment options include a swimming pool, surfing in the wave pool and a skydiving simulator. 

Firefighters can choose between swimming in the pool to dining in one of the ship’s 20 restaurants

The ship has not been in Asian waters for two weeks so as to avoid the coronavirus infections that have struck other cruise vessels.

Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said the trips were a way for the ‘brave and selfless’ firefighters to relax.

Mr Bayley also said that when it was deemed safe, Royal Caribbean would be offering a complementary cruise to China to support first responders and medical personnel who were affected by the deadly coronavirus.

The mostly volunteer firefighters were severely stretched over December and January, when bushfires destroyed a record amount of acreage and rural towns.

Firefighters are seen hosing down trees as they battle against an inferno in Nowra in New South Wales on New Year’s Eve

Many volunteers were forced to quit their jobs to help out while some firefighters lost their lives.

Firefighters Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, and Geoffrey Keaton, 32, died on December 19 after a tree fell on their truck while they were travelling through Buxton, south of Sydney. 

A volunteer firefighter, Samuel McPaul, 28, died when he was battling a blaze in Jingellic, in Green Valley, about 70km east of Albury on the border of NSW and Victoria, on December 30.

A ‘fire tornado’ caused his 10-tonne firetruck to roll before he was killed. 

Fires tore through more than 11 million hectares across the country, killing 33 people.

First responders can apply for the cruise here.

For months thousands of firefighters were working day and night to tackle the raging bushfires that tore through Australia