Royal: “strong demand environment”
ROYAL Caribbean Group is now seeing its booking levels exceed pre-pandemic 2019 records, with Chief Executive Jason Liberty ( pictured) saying the company is encouraged by ongoing strong demand for cruising and a steady acceleration in booking volumes - despite the impact of Omicron earlier in the year and “the horrific conflict in Ukraine”.
Speaking during a quarterly financial update late last week, Liberty said, “it is gratifying to see our ships and crew returning to our mission of delivering the best vacation experiences in a safe and responsible way”.
Figures confirmed the huge turnaround experienced by Royal Caribbean Group, which recorded USD$651,858 in passenger ticket revenues for the three months to 31 Mar across its five brands Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, TUI Cruises and HapagLloyd Cruises.
That was more than 32 times the USD$20.8 million in bookings experienced across the group for the first three months of 2021.
Liberty noted that during the quarter the Group had returned 54 out of 62 ships to operation across the five brands, representing almost 90% of global fleet capacity.
About 800,000 guests were carried over the three month period, with record satisfaction scores and record total revenue per passenger cruise day.
“The group continues to make progress towards profitability, with operating cash flow only slightly negative in Mar and turning positive in Apr,” Liberty noted, while reporting a USD$1.2 billion quarterly loss.
The group expects a return to net profit for the second half of this year, he said.
Ships that operated “core itineraries” in the first quarter achieved a 59% load factor.
“The group is now offering cruises in almost all of its destinations,” Liberty said.
“Australia, one of the last countries to reopen, announced the resumption of cruising effective Apr 2022...the Group expects to return to Australia for the local summer season in the fourth quarter of 2022,” he added.
China also remains closed due to ongoing lockdowns, but the Group “remains optimistic to capture long-term growth opportunities in that market”.