The Travel Institute, celebrating its 60th anniversary, has partnered with Royal Caribbean to send ten lucky advisors aboard Royal Caribbean’s new ship, Utopia of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean, a long-time supporter of The Travel Institute’s non-profit initiatives to promote education and professional development for agents, has offered up a great opportunity to preview the new ship.

The ten advisors chosen will receive a free, double-occupancy stateroom aboard the preview sailing in July 2024 of Utopia of the Seas. An excellent chance to experience and report back to clients on your travels.

To qualify for this drawing, advisors must:

• Enroll in the CTA® program by March 31
• And, complete the Bachelor of Adventure program through Royal Caribbean University by April 15

“At Royal Caribbean, we value agent success and are committed to supporting them. The Travel Institute’s CTA serves as the foundation for their success and is widely recognized in the industry as the pinnacle of professionalism. Obtaining their CTA, agents demonstrate dedication to the highest standards of excellence in the travel industry, gaining confidence, expertise, a competitive edge, and the potential for higher sales.”

Royal Caribbean VP Vicki Freed offered up enticing details of the entertainment to come on Icon of the Seas in her most recent Coffee Talk webinar, at which her guest was Nick Weir, Royal Caribbean International’s SVP of Entertainment. On tap are redesigned high-action versions of the Aqua Theater show and a live, unique and modern production of The Wizard of Oz on the main stage.

“For 15 years, I’ve been so proud every single day to represent Royal Caribbean, but this takes it to a whole new level,” Weir said. “The theme of ‘Water Water Everywhere’ is exactly what you are going to feel,” from the overlook pods facing the water to the extreme sports above it.

Royal Caribbean “hopes to have many Icon-class ships in the future, but for this first one we thought why not make the venue the star?” he said. The totally redesigned Aquadome will host much of the action, including the main water show, which will feature “extreme sports with all sorts of new elements,” including a skateboarder.

For a creative team like his, the blank slate of the Icon offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Weir noted, and “we’ve been meeting since 2017 to talk about this. Normally you are handed a theater and then you find a way to put your show in the theater. But that’s not the case with the Aqua Theater on Icon. We created the show in 2017 and built the theater around the idea. That’s taking live theater into the movie business.”

The show, he promises, will be “the biggest ‘wow’ anyone has ever seen, not just at sea but in any theater anywhere in the world.”

Freed noted that Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line to offer entertainment across four stages: the theater, the air, the ice, and the aqua.

The new stage show, meanwhile, will be The Wizard of Oz, where Royal Caribbean will “take the best elements from the stage shows and iconic moments from the movie. It will be a version no one has ever imagined. And when that plane flies out over your head? Like in [Royal Caribbean’s current show] Inflight, imagine how you will feel when Dorothy in her bed flies out over the audience with the wicked witch on her tail.”

The onboard water park, meanwhile, has taken its cue from the success of the Thrill Water Park at Perfect Day at Coco Cay, with “jaw-dropping” over-the-water slides, some that accommodate family rafts.

And if you need a little boost, there will be “over-the-top milkshakes—incredible concoctions you can spike with alcohol.”

Would your customers consider swapping their vacation in Europe for a ride on Celebrity Beyond, with a stop in the new luxury section of CocoCay, in 2024?

Royal Caribbean is betting they will—and announced it is repositioning its sparkling new Edge-class ship to the Caribbean for five months, covering the spring, summer and fall of next year. And the new itineraries will feature Royal’s number-one destination, CocoCay, which is adding a new upscale area and amenities to welcome both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity guests.

All Beyond‘s summer European sailings out of Rome and its transatlantic voyages, scheduled for April 22-May 6 and November 1-15, have been canceled. Instead, the ship remains in Fort Lauderdale and offers Caribbean itineraries year-round.

Passengers who are booked on the trips can rebook on a different Celebrity sailing and receive a $100 onboard credit per stateroom ($200 for Retreat rooms), or take a 100% refund. Those booked on the transatlantic cruises can rebook on Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Equinox, or Ascent, which will debut in November. All rebookings must be completed by July 11.

All the new 2024 itineraries will include visits to CocoCay, where construction on the new adults-only Hideaway Beach promises an exclusive added-fee, half-day, all-inclusive experience.

On a recent call with investors, Royal Caribbean Group president Michael Bayley said Hideaway Beach will accommodate approximately 2,500 guests, and noted “the pricing premiums [on CocoCay] continue to be really robust, and the spend on the island continues to be really robust as well.”

Also on tap is an expansion of the Royal Beach Club, on Nassau’s Paradise Island, aimed specifically at the short-cruise market. “We continue to increase our short product and put really great ships into that market,” Bayley said. “So, the combination of Perfect Day on one day and the Beach Club on the second day really is a winning combination.”

“I am truly excited for our sister brand, Celebrity Cruises, to visit Perfect Day at Coco Cay,” Royal Caribbean International SVP of Sales and Trade Support Vicki Freed told TRO. “Many of their guests will experience this special island as a couple and want to return with their children (and perhaps grandchildren) for the ultimate family vacation. Some of the guests will return to Celebrity and many will want to take the family on Royal Caribbean. A ‘win-win’ all the way around—especially for our valued travel partners who will get repeat business.”

And indeed, Christy Scannell of Dream Vacations San Diego said she is “thrilled to see celebrity will have one of their stellar edge class ships in the Caribbean for clients looking to enjoy an upscale summer vacation period; that it will visit CocoCay with dedicated celebrity style beach space is a cherry on top.”

But the travel advisors who had clients booked for Europe are disappointed. Said Michelle Douglas of Douglas World Travel, “I’m very disappointed in this change. They will open the adult-only area and it will end up being packed with guests from both ships. I am disappointed they pulled this ship from Europe—as are the clients who had booked European sailings next year.”

It’s always fun and educational—and sometimes quite rewarding, for prize winners—to listen in to Vicki Freed’s Coffee Talk webinars.

A sort of travel conference in an hour, the webinars were launched by Royal Caribbean senior vice president of Sales, Trade Support and Service as a way to keep in touch with, educate and inspire travel advisors during Covid. And even now that people are back to face-to-face, they have become such an institution that she continues to hold them, albeit just once a month.

Ask cruisers young and old for their number-one complaint about onboard service, and it’s likely to be “slow internet.”

The cruise company this week announced that it will be the first cruise line to outfit all its ships — Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silversea — with SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, beginning with Celebrity Beyond on September 5 and then rolling it out to every ship by the first quarter of 2023. But Royal Caribbean is on the case. Royal Caribbean VOOM, touted as the fastest internet at sea, is now available on every Royal Caribbean ship. The company’s website indicates the service has a six times faster WiFi speed than any other cruise ship.

For now, Starlink Maritime only covers parts of North and South America (including the Caribbean), Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. SpaceX says it plans to make it available to most of the world’s oceans by the time of the RCCL rollout.

The service will cost the cruise company roughly $5,000 monthly and has at least a $10,000 upfront hardware fee, according to TechCrunch.com.  But it will enable what customers are asking for: fast internet, videoconferencing, and video streaming.

Royal Caribbean said Starlink, which has been in testing since June on Freedom of the seas, “received tremendous positive feedback from guests and crew.”

Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) last week reported a first quarter 2022 net loss of $(1.2) billion and loss per share of $(4.58).

The Group continues to make strides in its healthy return to operations in a strong demand environment. Load factors continue to improve sequentially with total revenue per Passenger Cruise Day up versus record 2019 levels. Operating cash flow significantly improved throughout the first quarter and approached breakeven in March. Read the rest of this entry »

Royal Caribbean on Monday announced a new “Flex-Pay” program allowing the passenger to pay in installments. Because travel is typically a larger than average purchase, a number of installment payment programs have cropped up in the industry, such as Uplift.  

In addition, cruise lines have always allowed for an initial deposit, interim payments, and a “final payment.”

Now, however, Royal Caribbean has developed a program, in conjunction with its Espresso booking system, without interest charges and only if the passenger is booking through a travel agent. This apparently means passengers booking directly with the cruise line cannot use the program. Flex-Pay allows the scheduling of up to 10 automatic payments and the payments can be on different credit cards. The Flex-Pay system is available to travel agents using the Espresso program through Royal Caribbean immediately.

The release of this information derived from the “Royal Caribbean Blog” which bills itself as an “unofficial fan blog written for other fans of Royal Caribbean International” but which disclaims affiliation with Royal Caribbean International.

Updated April 12, 2022 at 7:42 am

Looking for extra income or just something to do while business was slow, travel advisors have expanded beyond their usual routines into new avenues—both inside the business and out.

At My Path Unwinding Travel in Waxhaw, NC, for example, Karen Shelton noticed that 11 of the 12 customers in her Disney Wonder group had booked suites—and decided to promote an all-suite group on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas for the first time, so customers can compare the two.

“I’m super excited about this,” says Shelton, whose specialty has traditionally been Disney concierge-level suites. “I booked the Royal Suite for myself and got the ball rolling.”

The numbers are still coming in, she says Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for travel advisors. Everyone seems to be on the move again, checking out destinations and attending conferences, seeing friends after a long, long time. I’ve heard so many interesting comments about what’s going on the industry; here are some thoughts.

Last month’s Global Travel Collection conference featured a panel of Teen Family Influencers talking about what they found most memorable in their families’ jaunts around the world. The biggest takeaway: no two kids are the same, something travel advisors need to keep in mind when planning inter-generational trips. On the panel, Lucas likes “nature-oriented exploring,” such as the “scientific stuff” he heard during a tour of Pompeii; Benjamin likes to go Read the rest of this entry »

Half the cruise ships are sailing, carrying half the passengers they once did. At each port, they are beset by differing and ever-changing protocols, negotiating life-and-death decisions with new players with whom they do not have the usual long-term relationships.

And yet, guest satisfaction is off the charts. The new-to-cruise customers that many expected to be frightened off are instead showing up. New ships and new partnerships, new terminals and new ports are on the horizon—and they promise to share the wealth with local communities and to promote a healthier environment for all.

“We built this industry over more than five decades; we deliver a phenomenal experience that our customers love, and the Caribbean is an unbelievably popular destination for our core markets,” said Royal Caribbean International president and CEO Michael Bayley at the Caribbean Spotlight: A Focus on the Future breakout session. “We need to just stay focused and trust each other and, in another year or so, we’ll be looking back trying not to remember any of this.”

In short, this week’s Seatrade Global conference was unlike any other Read the rest of this entry »