Royal Caribbean Prepares for Restart of Cruising in Asia

(8:10 a.m. EST) -- Almost nine months after worldwide cruising was paused, Royal Caribbean is preparing to restart -- in Singapore on December 1 on Quantum of the Seas.The line's head of entertainment, Nick Weir, posted a series of

images on Twitter

of entertainment staff in rehearsal -- complete with feathers and masks -- which Weir joked was a "showbiz first".Quantum's return to the seas has been trailled for some time -- back in October Alaska resident Riley Tench, who works as a lighting technician for the line, posted a video on YouTube revealing he was preparing to make the long journey to Singapore and getting set for two weeks quarantine.Nick wrote on Twitter: "Rehearsals in Singapore are on! Theater tech is now de-mothballed and is at 100%. Casts out of #Quarantine, deep in the rehearsal process. Feathers plus masks, a showbiz first. Proud to be helping to lead the way back to live shows on #PlanetEarth."Offering short (three to four-day) cruises to nowhere for Singaporeans only, Quantum will be the first ship in the fleet to resume sailing since March.The 4,180-passenger ship will be sailing half full in line with Singapore's health protocols and will have a raft of new health measures including pre-boarding COVID-19 tests, improved ventilation systems, deep cleaning and social distancing.We're onboard: Follow our Singapore correspondent Heidi Sarna, co-founder and editor of

QuirkyCruise.com

as she samples one of Quantum of the Seas' first sailings on December 7th.