Royal Caribbean: More New to Brand Guests

Posted on 28 July, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Independence of the Seas in Southampton Photo credit Spacejunkie2 (Flickr)

“In the second quarter, the per cent of guests were either new to the brand or new to cruise surpassed 2019 levels by a wide margin, and we have seen post-cruise repeat booking rates nearly double 2019 levels,” said Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, speaking on the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

“While we have made positive strides in narrowing the gap to land-based vacations over the last several months, cruising remains an exceptional value proposition, allowing us to outperform broader leisure travel as we seek to further close the gap to land-based vacations, drive better revenue and welcome even more happy customers,” he said.

Liberty said that the company had double the web traffic now compared to 2019.

“In addition, our travel partners are now fully back up and running and delivering more bookings than they did in 2019,” he continued. “Our improved commercial capabilities have allowed us to capture this quality demand and expand our share of the guest wallet.”

Part of the new brand strategy has been the company’s investment in the short cruise market, with refurbished ships and Perfect Day at CocoCay. That strategy takes the next step in 2024 with the new Utopia of the Seas, which will be positioned year-round in the short cruise market.

“Utopia will be the first Oasis-class ship that will be entirely focused on short cruises in the Caribbean, supporting our strategy of competing with land-based vacation alternatives and driving new-to-cruise customers into our vacation ecosystem as we seek to close the value gap,” Liberty said.

“Demand and pricing for Utopia have far exceeded our expectations.”

Fun Facts: Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas vs. Utopia of the Seas

Posted on 10 July, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Royal Caribbean International is reaching a significant milestone next year when it debuts its two largest cruise ships in the world in 2024, the Icon of the Seas and the Utopia of the Seas.

Here are some quick facts comparing the cruise line’s two newest ships:

Launch Date:
Icon of the Seas: January 2024
Utopia of the Seas: July 2024

Class:
The Icon of the Seas: Icon Class
The Utopia of the Seas: Oasis Class

Capacity:
Icon of the Seas: 5,610 passengers
Utopia of the Seas: 5,668 passengers

Sailing from:
Icon of the Seas: Miami, Florida
Utopia of the Seas: Port Canaveral, Florida

Itineraries:
Icon of the Seas: Seven-day sailings
Utopia of the Seas: Three-and-four-night weekend getaways

Vacation style:
Icon of the Seas: Dubbed “the world’s best family vacation”
Utopia of the Seas: Dubbed “the world’s biggest weekend”

Inside the Construction of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas

Posted on 11 May, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Northern Europe’s largest gantry crane, nicknamed “Baby” at the Meyer Turku shipyard, lifted a single block of cabins for Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas, weighing more than 900 tons recently, Royal Caribbean Group officials said Tuesday.

The nine-deck, roughly 60-meter-wide block was moved in one day. It was the largest ever lifted in Europe, as far as shipyard officials knew.

Meyer Turku CEO Tim Meyer said there were no nerves in the move. His team had done a detailed study of how the steel would flex while being lifted and knew exactly how it should be handled while being moved into place.

“It’s very easy,” Meyer deadpanned. “It’s like building a Lego ship.”

While hoisting the cross-section of cruise ship cabins was a feat of engineering, it was also an example of Icon’s aggressive build schedule. Putting the blocks together shoreside is much faster than doing so on the ship, so the larger the block moved, the less schedule burden.

In all, the Icon consisted of 201 blocks, with roughly one installed a day. Each block required about 100 meters of welding once in place.

Building the world’s largest cruise ship meant roughly 2,600 workers a day coming to the Turku, Finland shipyard, representing some 20 nationalities from countless subcontractors. The ship will debut in Miami next January.

The Turku shipyard opened in 1737 — 58 years before the Meyer family started building ships.

Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty called the yard the “tip of the spear” of innovation.

In their seventh generation of ownership and 228th year in operation, the Meyer family remains both focused and humble.

Patriarch Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, declined to spend much time looking backwards.

“We have no time to be proud; we have work to do,” he said.