Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2002 Annual Report Download - page 8

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6
ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD.
from Royal Caribbean International and
two from Celebrity. Sailings in Europe
account for 8 percent of our annual capaci-
ty. Island Cruises, our joint venture with
United Kingdom tour operator First Choice
Holidays, experienced some startup diffi-
culties in 2002 with Island Escape, but by sum-
mer, the ship was earning much higher
customer-satisfaction ratings.
Of course, the dominant segment of our
cruise offerings remains the seven-night
Caribbean sailing (42 percent of capacity).
In November, we will deploy the fifth
of our five magnificent Voyager-class ships
when Mariner of the Seas becomes our first new-
build to sail from Port Canaveral.
CREATING VALUE
When reciting shipbuilding statistics and
enumerating the recent newbuilds, it is
worth noting that these are not assembly-
line clones with a different name painted on
the hull. Every succeeding ship is the result
of a decade of continuous innovation and
creative enhancements. We believe that by
offering the widest array of amenities in an
affordable, nearly all-inclusive package, we
are creating value and winning customers
for Royal Caribbean International and
Celebrity Cruises. For example, each of our
13 ships built from 1999 to 2004 features
575 to 760 balcony staterooms, whereas with
rare exceptions, the cruise industry’s new
ships in the 1990s were designed with no
more than 280 balcony staterooms.
Navigator of the Seas, our fourth Voyager-class
ship, entered service in December 2002 and
exemplified this evolution (and innovation)
in amenities. There are still the trendsetting
recreational features – the rock-climbing
wall, ice-skating rink, and inline skating
track – and, of course, the spectacular Royal
Promenade. But the look, inside and out, is
somewhat new. Viewed from dockside,
Navigator of the Seas casts a distinctively brighter
glow with more of a glass-sheathed appear-
ance. That is because her balconies are no
longer recessed into the structure for load-
bearing, which proved unnecessary. On the
inside, new concepts on Navigator of the Seas