In the last few weeks I was in Washington DC for meetings with elected officials and their staff and also in New York to do media interviews. There are a lot of differences between those two environments but one thing they have in common is a constant stream of new people in responsible positions. The result is that I spend a lot of time giving a “Cruise 101” seminar. It’s remarkable how little understanding there is of our industry that has a documented impact of $35 billion on the U.S. economy (and directly or indirectly supports several hundred thousand jobs). It’s a glamorous business with a number of well-known consumer brands and still there are so many relevant people who lack the most basic understanding of the magnitude of the industry, the breadth of the offerings, the level of customer satisfaction and the measures we take to maximize safety, security and environmental stewardship. The consequence is I often have a hamster wheel sensation. But there is no substitute for telling Royal Caribbean’s and cruising’s story and so I will continue to work at it.
People often ask how frequently I cruise. Putting aside new ship introductions, the answer is about every other year. I have committed to my family that we will cruise next year. Everyone is happy about that. Meanwhile, I will be in Maine as much as my limited vacation time permits this year. What a wonderful place Maine is. There are two species of humans up there: ocean people and lake people. I am of the lake people species. On July 4th we were on a friend’s pontoon boat to eat strawberry shortcake (don’t tell my coach) and watched two summer camps stage a fireworks duel. Over the din of the fireworks it was just possible to hear 250 screaming girls from one of the camps.
I guess because we have now finalized our deployment for next year, this is the time of the year when many loyal customers ask why we are not basing ships in one place or another or for one season or another. We try to cover as much of the globe as we can with 22 ships. It’s our responsibility to put them in the 22 best places we can to deliver maximum value to our shareholders. The best way to do that is to put ships in places our customers value the highest. This of course requires us to make tough choices. As I have written in the past, we spend enormous time and energy vetting alternatives to what we eventually select. If you don’t see what you would like to see in our 2013/2014 roster of itineraries, hopefully you will in an upcoming year. In the mean time, there are many exciting itineraries in our portfolio and I hope you will book your next cruise as soon as possible to secure the stateroom of your choice and get a head start on booking all of the elements of the cruise that are now available online prior to the start of a cruise.
First, love the stories, 2nd date for the release of the new ship in 2014 and where possible, looking to trip out in 2014 time , cabanas for suite/diamond members in labadi?when can we prebook? Left out last trip there….
Hello John, we’re glad you enjoyed the blog. For the latest on Project Sunshine, please click here.
I am a bit surprised to hear that you only cruise once every 2 years. As a repeat Royal Carribean cruiser, I would love the opportunity to go in your place, anytime you wonder what is going on on your ships. I understand that your staff might behave differently if they know you are onboard, so I will volunteer to go “incognito” for you and report back to you on all the wonderful aspects of RCCL cruising. After my report (reports–I’m not opposed to mulitple cruise adventures), I am sure you’ll want to cruise more often.
By the way, on our most recent RCCL trip (Feb. ’12) my extended family spent a wonderful afternoon on the shuffleboard court. It was not crowded, and we had a serious tournament going. You should promote shuffle board more. It’s grossly undervalued in your promotions!
Sincerely,
Sharmi Lagge–check your records. You’ll find me in there.
We’ll be sure to keep both of your ideas in mind for the future, Sharmi. Thank you and we hope to have you onboard again soon.
I have cruised several times on RCI, in fact we won’t even consider a different cruise line at this point. Everytime we cruise we purchase the soda package and are therefore accumulating a vast collection of Cups. I was wondering if RCL had ever considered giving cruisers the option of getting a new cup or bringing the old one from home. Surely there should be a way to reprogram the chip so that the cups could be reused for the current cruise. I love the soda package but am running out of room in my cupboards.
Thank You
Hi Stephanie, thanks for your question. Unfortunately we will not be able to accommodate your request. We have a high number of repeat guests on all of our ships and it would be nearly impossible for us to manage this process. It may also lead to a less than ideal guest experience which of course is our primary focus for someone’s vacation and the main driver for bringing the Freestyle experience onboard.
I live in the Carolina’s and heard the Charlestown port was expanding. Does rccl have any plans to make the drive or flight shorter for what would be most of the Eastern US by setting up a port more centralized on the east coast rather than either far north or far south? Thanks
Hi Dan, as for now we have no plans to move any ships to a more centralized Eastern US. Thank you.
Will RCCL consider not allowing smoking on balconies? We always cruise with a balcony, but we can’t always enjoy it because of our neighbor’s smoke.
Consider, Royal’s sister line, Celebrity Cruise Lines, they don’t allow for smoking on any part of the ship, if I got it correctly.
It makes absolute sense for RCL and any other cruise line company to put ships where they get maximum business.There are stakeholders (including my 7 yr old son who now owns RCL stock
) and those are people that have invested wholly in companies that stockholders have faith and trust to make sound financial decisions. ANd it is true that there are very few people on “The Hill” who know this industry (assumably they dont cruise). But they need to understand it is a unique business that is a virtuak non-stop floating city taking people from one destination to the next yet maintaining a feel of land while at sea, and at the same time must ensure safety to its clients as well as doing so in a manner that doesn polute Mother Nature. I’m no sailor, but I am an RCL cruiser and I appreciate the magnitude of what it takes to make people happy and fuflill all of their needs and dreams for howeve long they cruise. I think RCL is unique in that they are more movers and shakers (or is that making waves?) than any other cruiseline company. I will stay loyal to Royal for all of their innovations, reliability, ingenuity, hard work, care for its staff, and care to lend a helping hand to struggling countries (Haiti for example) when they needed it most. There is a difference between greed and making a profit I am glad that RCL has chosen to make a profit over greed and give back. Thanks Adam for “steering the ship” in the right direction.
Thank you, Lisa, for your wonderful and thought out comment. We will certainly continue to steer Royal Caribbean down the right direction.
We cruised on the Oasis of the Seas this year and what an experience. We previously cruised on 4 other of the world’s largest ships but the Oasis is incomparable. I did not expcect such a dramatic difference from other large ships. Apart from the many “streets”, the fabulous shows were by far the best I’ve ever seen on a ship as good or better even than Las Vegas. I even preferred the experience aboard ship to the tours of the islands we took. I would recommend that anyone who like to cruise to experience the Oasis at least once.
The one thing I did miss were the beautiful fruit, vegetable and ice sculptures; these added tremendously to our dining enjoyment and most were so impressed with these. I wish they would bring them back.
Also disappointing now are the formal evenings and meeting the captain and crew. In the past there was always a champagne pyramid, free delicacies, streamers, etc… It made the evening so special.
I am anxious to see what new ship comes out next; the Oasis will be hard to beat.
We certainly have our work cut out for us, Lucille. We are happy to hear that you were impressed by Oasis of the Seas and thank you for your comment.
Hi, We cruise alot with friends and family. My husband won’t fly. Is there any chance you’ll be bringing more ships and sailings out of the northeast. We love the Explorer but wish you had more options and really miss the 12 day cruises. Thanks, Eva
Hello Eva, at this time we have no plans to bring any more ships to the Northeast. Thank you for reading.