When you sail on the larger ships offered by Carnival and Royal Caribbean from various Florida ports, you generally choose the ship over your destinations. It's not that you can't have fun in Nassau, Cozumel, Roatan, Freeport, St. Maarten and the other Caribbean stops those ships make, but they're not the most exotic places.
However, both cruise lines have converted many of the ships leaving Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale and Miami into destinations of their own. Royal Caribbean has the world's largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, sailing the Caribbean from Miami, and its upcoming Oasis-class ship, Utopia of the Seas, will begin its first season sailing 3- to 4-day itineraries from the Port. Reedbed.
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The itineraries of many of Royal Caribbean's ships, including Icon, Utopia and another Oasis-class ship, Allure of the Seas, stop at the cruise line's private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay.
CocoCay is not a traditional private island, just a beach with food and drinks. It's more of a resort destination with a huge pool at no extra charge along with a Beach Club at extra charge and a separate adults-only area at extra cost, both with their own pools.
Perfect Day has been such a success for Royal Caribbean that the cruise line plans to offer private “Beach Club” experiences, one in Nassau and the other in Cozumel. In addition, Disney, Carnival, Norwegian and MSC Cruises have plans to build new private destinations or improve existing ones.
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Royal Caribbean gives the people what they want
Royal Caribbean understands its customers. The brand's CEO, Michael Bayley, explained his strategy during the company's presentation. first quarter results call.
“When we think about the Beach Club portfolio that we are planning to develop, along with Perfect Day, they are incredibly complementary destination experiences and really fit the sweet spot of our demographic and really in terms of what our guests are looking for when they go. on a Caribbean cruise, they really surpass it in terms of meeting that demand, that need, so a very similar type of product, a different vibe,” he said.
The company's private island offers a slightly different experience than the upcoming Beach Clubs will offer.
“Perfect Day is a day full of excitement and relaxation and the Beach Club is, as you can imagine, just an amazing day on the beach, which is what most guests are looking for in the Caribbean. And it is curated by Royal Caribbean “It's an awesome experience. And, of course, it's very authentically connected to the culture, for example, in the Bahamas or Mexico,” he added.
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And it really is a big driver of demand. When we look at the demand we've seen for Perfect Day, we're bringing 3.2 million guests to Perfect Day this year. Last year there were 2.6 million. And it really is a demand driver.
Private islands drive demand
The success of Coco Cay almost certainly influenced Carnival to build Celebration Key in Grand Bahama and Disney to work on Lookout Cay in Lighthouse Point, its new destination in the Bahamas.
Bayley made it clear that Royal Caribbean customers are driving investment in private destinations.
“People want to sail the boats that go to Perfect Day and they want to sail the boats that go to the Beach Club. And I think it's proven to be incredibly successful. When you wrap it up with the type of hardware that we have.” We've introduced, for example, Icon, which has been an incredible success, I mean, beyond our wildest dreams,” she shared.
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Bayley believes success is repeatable.
“And then we add the Utopia, which is a new Oasis class ship, which was going directly to the short market from Port Canaveral. The demand we've seen, for example, for the Utopia sailing to Perfect Day has been extraordinary.” So we think we have the formula figured out. And our plan is to continue to evolve and develop that formula in the coming years,” he added.
