Tag Archives: Symphony of the Seas

Royal Caribbean International Cancels More Calls at Labadee

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Independence of the Seas in Labadee photo credit Spacejunkie2 Flickr

Royal Caribbean International is canceling additional visits to Labadee, its private destination in Haiti.

In different statements, the company has confirmed that its ships will no longer be visiting the port of call over the next few weeks.

After suspending visits to Labadee earlier this month, the company has decided to evaluate the situation in Haiti on a continuous basis, said Royal Caribbean International’s President and CEO Michael Bayley.

“We’ll continue to suspension on a rolling basis with three days advance notification for our guests sailing on itineraries impact and changed as we monitor and evaluate the situation in Haiti,” he explained in a social media post.

Newly affected sailings include Independence of the Seas’ March 21 departure. Instead of going to Labadee, the four-night cruise will now visit Grand Turk on March 23.

The April 6 sailing of the Symphony of the Seas has also been impacted and will now include a visit to Falmouth, Jamaica on April 12.

For its April 7 departure, the Oasis of the Seas will now be visiting St. Maarten instead of Royal Caribbean’s private destination in Haiti.

Other vessels affected by the cancellations include the Adventure of the Seas, the Mariner of the Seas, the Explorer of the Seas, the Grandeur of the Seas and the Odyssey of the Seas.

Serving as a private destination for Royal Caribbean International ships since the 1980s, Labadee is located in Haiti’s Cap-Haïtien region.

After receiving significant upgrades in 2009, the fenced-off resort offers various features, including a flea market, a roller coaster, and a zip-line.

In addition to several beaches, Labadee also has a two-berth pier capable of receiving some of the world’s largest cruise ships.

In addition to Royal Caribbean, the destination is also scheduled to host ships from Celebrity Cruises during the 2024-25 winter season.

Royal Caribbean: More New to Brand Guests

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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.”

Royal Caribbean Group Raising $900 Million to Refinance Debt

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Royal Caribbean Group announced on Monday that it has commenced a private offering of senior convertible notes to be issued by the company due 2025 in an aggregate principal amount of up to $900 million.

In addition, the company intends to grant the initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $135 million principal amount of Convertible Notes.

“The purpose of the offering is to replace some of the existing near-term maturities of convertible bonds with new longer-term convertible bonds in a manner which is non-dilutive to shareholders as described,” said Naftali Holtz, Chief Financial Officer of Royal Caribbean Group.

The cruise company said it intends to use the proceeds from the sale of the Convertible Notes to repurchase a portion of its 2.875% convertible senior notes due November 15, 2023, and 4.25% convertible senior notes due June 15, 2023, through open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, tender offers or otherwise. The Company intends to retire any Existing Convertible Notes so purchased.

“The proposed transaction proactively addresses the near-term maturity of our existing convertible notes,” said Holtz. “With the proceeds of this offering, our intention is to opportunistically repurchase the existing convertible notes, and we have the option to settle the remaining notes in cash to address our convertible debt maturities in a manner that is net neutral to our outstanding shares and share equivalents.”

The Convertible Notes will be convertible at the holder’s option in certain circumstances. Upon conversion, the company may satisfy its conversion obligation by paying or delivering, at its election, as applicable, cash, shares of its common stock or a combination of cash and shares of its common stock.