Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, said in a Feb. 2 video address that every day feels like the popular movie Groundhog Day.

“We are eager to get out of our own time warp,” he said, noting a sharp decline in COVID-19 cases in the United States.

“We need to take the vaccine as soon as it’s available,” Fain continued, as he highlighted various vaccine news and developments.

“The most common question I’m asking is when cruising will resume in strength,” he said. “My answer is consistently, ‘I don’t know,’ but more recently, my answer has been, ‘I don’t know … but,’ and that is the good direction we are going in. Don’t forget we have been operating in Singapore for two months, and before that we had operations in Germany, the Middle East and Canary Islands.”

Fain conceded it will take a while for cruising to resume, and said to be patient.

“These early cruises will give us information that will help inform how we can operate safely, and that will give us all the confidence in an earlier and safer restart.”