Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2011 Annual Report Download - page 21

PART I
ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD. 17
In October 2012, Celebrity Cruises will introduce
Celebrity Reflection, the fifth Solstice-class ship, which
will offer sailings in Europe and the Caribbean. With
this added capacity, Celebrity Cruises will continue
to grow in Europe and broaden its mix of itineraries
during the winter.
The completion of all five Solstice-class ships will
enable the brand to further expand and diversify its
winter product offerings, reducing its concentration
in the Caribbean from 82% to 58% of capacity when
comparing the winter season of 2010 to the winter
season of 2013. During the winter season, Celebrity
Cruises will have ships in Australia and New Zealand,
Hawaii, the Panama Canal and, for the first time in
the brand’s history, Asia with longer cruises calling in
ports in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China and Japan.
In 2012, Azamara Club Cruises’ voyages will be sailing
to 181 ports in 55 countries around the globe with
nearly 50% of its ports of call featuring late night
stays or overnights, allowing guests to experience the
destination by day and by night. The Azamara Club
Cruises 2012 deployment features South America,
including Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Antarctica,
the West Indies, British Isles and Western Europe,
Scandinavia and the Baltics, Eastern and Western
Mediterranean, as well as the Indian Ocean and Asia.
Also, Pullmantur and CDF Croisières de France will
continue to offer itineraries in the Caribbean, Europe
and South America with particular emphasis in Brazil.
In an effort to secure desirable berthing facilities for
our ships, and to provide new or enhanced cruise
destinations for our guests, we actively assist or invest
in the development or enhancement of certain port
facilities and infrastructure, including mixed-use
commercial properties, located in strategic ports of
call. Generally, we collaborate with local, private or
governmental entities by providing management and/
or financial assistance and often enter into long-term
port usage arrangements. In exchange for our involve-
ment, we generally secure preferential berthing rights
for our ships. During 2011, the new pier and port
facilities which we invested in at the Port of Falmouth,
Jamaica became operational. In addition to establish-
ing a new port and shoreside facility to improve guest
experience, Falmouth allows for the simultaneous
berthing of one Oasis-class and one Freedom-class ship.
Enhance Technological Capabilities to Support
Ongoing Operations and Initiatives
The need to develop and use technology continues to
be increasingly important, even as we manage through
difficult economic times. Technology is a pervasive
part of virtually every business process we use and
must perform well on a consistent basis in order to
support our strategic focus and provide a quality
experience to guests before, during and after their
cruise. Moreover, as the use of our various websites
and social media platforms continue to increase along
with the increasing use of technology onboard our
ships by both our guests and crew, we continually
need to upgrade our systems, infrastructure and
technologies to facilitate this growth. To further our
customer-centricity, in 2011, we continued to improve
our customer experiences online with significant
enhancements to brand websites and the launch of
mobile-friendly platforms. Active engagement in
social media channels is also an integral part of
our marketing strategy and a part of our broader
consumer engagement strategy and relationship
man agement platform.
To support our strategic focus on improving revenue
yields, during 2011, we launched a number of new
capabilities to improve our revenue management
analytics and decision support processes. We also
finalized the shipboard rollout of our beverage and
spa pre-cruise sales program with all ships now par-
ticipating which allows guests to purchase beverage
packages and spa programs online prior to their
sailing. Finally, we continued the execution of our
international growth strategy with the launch of our
consumer websites tailored to the Australian and
Latin American markets and trade tools in multiple
languages.
As part of Royal Caribbean International’s revitalization
program, we are incorporating many of the techno-
logical innovations from the Oasis-class ships, including
digital signage, enhanced WiFi and e-Mustering. In
addition, Splendour of the Seas will be the first ship
to introduce iPad® mobile devices in every stateroom,
allowing guests to access daily events and activities,
personal itineraries, monitor their onboard spend
account, access the internet and watch movies. We
anticipate that the iPad® mobile devices will be rolled
out to other ships. Similarly, Solstice-class technologi-
cal innovations, including iLounge and Qsine will be
incorporated on the Millennium-class ships as part of
the Celebrity Cruises vessel revitalization program.
To position ourselves for the future, we have embarked
on several multi-year information technology strategic
initiatives to ensure that we can continue to innovate
and respond to the ever increasing expectations of
our guests, in a scalable and cost effective manner.
Travel Agency Support and Direct Business
Travel agencies continue to be the primary source of
ticket sales for our ships. We believe in the value of
this distribution channel and invest heavily in main-
taining strong relationships with our travel agents.
To accomplish this goal, we seek to ensure that our
commission rates and incentive structures remain
competitive with those of other cruise lines. In addi-
tion, our sales teams focus on the unique qualities of