Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2012 Annual Report Download - page 5

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1
Dear Fellow Shareholders:
Although 2012 presented us with a number of
significant challenges, I am proud of the way
our team responded, enabling us to end the
year on a positive note.
  On our ships and in our destination ports
around the world, our 62,000 employees deliv-
ered another 5 million incredible vacation
experiences. In turn, our guests rewarded us
with historically high satisfaction ratings. We
need to achieve higher pricing on our products
for the investment this requires, but with strong
internal focus and tremendous support from
our travel agent partners, we are moving in the
right direction on this score too.
  Behind the scenes, the relentless focus
and ingenuity of our team members enabled
exceptional product delivery and improving
shareholder returns—achievements made more
remarkable for their execution in such a difficult
business environment.
  Taken together, the events of 2012 leave us
optimistic going forward, with a sound strategic
plan that positions Royal Caribbean to take
advantage of an evolving and growing global
cruise marketplace.
FOR OUR GUESTS: HIGHER SATISFACTION
AND GREATER TRANSPARENCY
Over the past year, we have made considerable
progress on a number of fronts:
   •Ourglobalfootprintismorediverse;
   •Ourbrandshavedebutedimpressive
newmarketingprograms;
   •Weareintroducingnewtechnologies
that help us work more closely than ever
before with both our guests and travel
agentpartners;
   •And,becauseweknowthesubjectis
of the utmost importance, we have
also worked with our counterparts in
the industry in improving transparency
regarding our continuously improving
focus on safety.
FOR OUR SHAREHOLDERS: CONSISTENT
IMPROVEMENT DESPITE A CHALLENGING
ENVIRONMENT
Importantly, we have made these strides forward
while simultaneously driving improvements in
our returns and credit metrics, including a 20%
increase in our dividend payments in the third
quarter. Doing so allowed us to advance on
three important goals:
   •Improvingshareholderreturns;
   •
Returning to investment-grade credit
status;and
   •Pursuingmeasuredcapitalexpansion.
  It is a complicated equation, but one that
I believe we are managing effectively.
  Frustratingly, our operating results for 2012
could not be uncoupled from the challenges of
a lackluster global economic environment, as
well as challenges across our industry especially
those associated with the tragedy in Italy.
  Despitethesemajorchallenges,wewere
able to report Net Yields improved 3% before
currency fluctuation.
another 5 million incredible
vacation experiences.
DELIVERED