Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2013 Annual Report Download - page 21
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PART I
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. Our participation in these
efforts is generally accomplished via investments with
the relevant government authority and/or various
other strategic partnerships established to develop
and/or operate the port facilities, by providing direct
development and management expertise or in certain
limited circumstances, by providing direct or indirect
financial support. In exchange for our involvement,
we generally secure preferential berthing rights for
our ships.
Technological Capabilities
The need to develop and use innovative technology is
increasingly important. Technology is a pervasive part
of virtually every business process we use to support
our strategic focus and provide a quality experience
to our customers 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. As a result, we have launched
several new initiatives, which included among other
improvements, revamped websites, new vacation
packaging capabilities, support of mobile apps and
increased bandwidth onboard our ships helping our
guests remain well-connected while at sea.
To support our strategic focus on improving revenue
yields, we began to implement new capabilities to
improve our revenue management systems and deci-
sion support processes in advance of our WAVE season
(traditionally the first two months of the year where
cruise lines experience disproportionately higher vol-
ume cruise sales). As part of this effort, we have intro-
duced new price optimization tools and pricing and
promotion management capabilities in our reservations
system. We also provided our sales force with new
tools to better support our travel agents.
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 partners.
To accomplish this goal, we seek to ensure that our
commission rates and incentive structures remain
competitive with the marketplace. We provide brand
dedicated sales representatives who serve as advisors
to our travel partners. We also provide trained cus-
tomer service representatives, call centers and online
training tools.
To support our direct sales initiatives, we have estab-
lished a Consumer Outreach department which allows
consumers 24-hour access to our vacation planners,
group vacation planners and customer service agents
in our call centers. In addition, we maintain and invest
in our websites, including mobile applications and
mobile websites, which allow guests to directly plan,
book and customize their cruise, as well as encourage
guests to book their next cruise vacations onboard
our ships.
GUEST SERVICES
We offer to handle virtually all travel aspects related
to guest reservations and transportation, including
arranging guest pre- and post-hotel stay arrangements
and air transportation.
Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and
Azamara Club Cruises offer rewards to their guests
through their loyalty programs, Crown & Anchor
Society, Captain’s Club and Le Club Voyage, respec-
tively, to encourage repeat business. Crown & Anchor
Society has over 7.8 million members worldwide.
Captain’s Club and Le Club Voyage have 2.5 million
members combined worldwide. Members earn increas-
ing membership status by accumulating cruise points
or credits, depending on the brand, which may be
redeemed on future sailings. Members are awarded
points or credits in proportion to the number of cruise
days and stateroom category. The loyalty programs
provide certain tiers of membership benefits which
can be redeemed by guests after accumulating the
number of cruise points or credits specified for each
tier. In addition, upon achieving a certain level of
cruise points or credits, members benefit from recip-
rocal membership benefits across all of our loyalty
programs. Examples of the rewards available under
our loyalty programs include, but are not limited to,
priority ship embarkation, priority waitlist for shore
excursions, complimentary laundry service, compli-
mentary internet, booklets with onboard discount
offers, upgraded bathroom amenities, private seating
on the pool deck, ship tours and, in the case of our
most loyal guests who have achieved the highest lev-
els of cruise points or credits, complimentary cruises.
We regularly work to enhance each of our loyalty pro-
grams by adding new features and amenities in order
to reward our repeat guests.