Tag Archives: Royal Caribbean

Perfect Day at CocoCay Driving Revenue at Royal Caribbean

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Royal Caribbean International plans to take 2.5 million guests to Perfect Day at CocoCay in 2023 as the company’s private island in the Bahamas has become a major selling point on itineraries.

“The pricing premiums continue to be really robust, and the spend on the island continues to be really robust as well,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, of Royal Caribbean International, speaking on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Bayley said the company had about 250,000 guests disembark at Perfect Day in March.

Naftali Holtz, CFO, added: “The booking strength has been particularly evident on Caribbean sailings where our superior hardware and Perfect Day at CocoCay continue to be a winning combination.”

Holtz said that these itineraries are driving outsized yield and pricing growth.

“As we’ve increased the volume, we’ve seen no decline in the power of the pricing. And in fact, it continues to accelerate. With Hideaway Beach, that will accommodate approximately 2,500 more guests,” added Bayley.

The new Hideaway Beach area at Perfect Day is slated to open later this year ahead of the debut of the Icon of the Seas, which will call at Perfect Day weekly on its roundtrip Miami cruises.

“We’ve also got Utopia coming online in June (2024),” said Bayley. “We haven’t announced the deployment, but Utopia will also be going to Perfect Day. There’s a lot of demand for that particular product in any of our ships that have Perfect Day on their itinerary demanded, and there’s a strong pricing premium that we see there.”

Icon of the Seas Generating ‘Exceptional Demand’

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When the new Icon of the Seas debuts in 2024 for Royal Caribbean International, she will become the world’s biggest ship and is already breaking sales records.

“Despite being on sale for only five months, Icon is significantly more booked for her inaugural season at materially higher rates than any other Royal Caribbean ship launch,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, speaking on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

“The Icon will join the fleet later this year and debut in the Caribbean in January 2024, with itineraries including Perfect Day at CocoCay and its new expansion, Hideaway Beach.”

Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, added: “Icon is literally the best-performing new product launch we’ve ever had in the history of our business, and we’re delighted with volume and rate, and that really is a full 2024 product … it’s really driving a huge amount of demand and a great rate.”

Following the Icon, the company has another Oasis-class ship coming in 2024, the Utopia of the Seas, plus two more Icon-class vessels, set to debut in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

‘EXCEPTIONAL’ Q1 BOOKINGS HELP RCG UPGRADE 2023 PROFIT PROJECTIONS

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Independence of the Seas in the port of Southampton, photo credit Spacejunkie2 (Flickr).

Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) saw booking volumes in the first quarter of 2023 perform “considerably” better than expected, enabling the company to “significantly” improve its revenue expectations for all three remaining quarters of 2023.

In a recent trading update covering the three months to 31 March, the group, which owns Royal Caribbean, Silversea and Celebrity Cruises, saw an earlier start to an extended wave period generate a record level of bookings.

The strong trends resulted in an acceleration of the group’s booked position in relation to prior years, with the company generating “significantly” more bookings at “meaningfully” higher prices.

This year’s wave resulted in strong close-in demand at higher prices for the first quarter and enabled a significant improvement in revenue expectations for all three remaining quarters.

The increase in yield expectations for the year is predominantly related to higher load factors in the first quarter and higher prices for all four quarters, especially for Caribbean sailings.

Consumer spending onboard, as well as pre-cruise purchases, continue to exceed 2019 levels driven by greater participation at higher prices. The company expects load factors to reach “historical” levels by late spring.

“We knew that demand for our business was strong and strengthening, but we have been pleasantly surprised with how swiftly demand further accelerated well above historical trends and at higher rates,” said Jason Liberty, president and chief executive of RCG.

“Leisure travel continues to strengthen as consumer spending further shifts towards experiences. Demand for our brands is outpacing broader travel due to a strong rebound and an attractive value proposition.”

The company reported a net loss for the first quarter of $47.9 million compared to a net loss of $1.2 billion for the same period in the prior year. 

The group also experienced particularly strong close-in demand for Caribbean itineraries, which accounted for close to 80% of first-quarter capacity. Load factors in the first quarter were 102%.

Adjusted earnings per share for the full year are expected to be in the range of $4.40 to $4.80 per share.