Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2014 Annual Report Download - page 20

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. 19
PART I
and mitigate the impact of the winter weather in the
Northern Hemisphere, our brands have focused on
deployment in Australia and Latin America during
that period.
In an effort to secure desirable berthing facilities for
our ships, and to provide new or enhanced cruise des-
tinations for our guests, we actively assist or invest
in the development or enhancement of certain port
facilities and infrastructure, including mixed-use com-
mercial properties, located in strategic ports of call.
Generally, we collaborate with local, private or gov-
ernmental 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 use of technology onboard our ships by both
our guests and crew, we continually need to upgrade
our systems, infrastructure and technologies to facili-
tate this growth. As a result, we have launched several
new initiatives, which include among other improve-
ments, revamped websites, new vacation packaging
capabilities, support of mobile apps and modern high
speed bandwidth capabilities onboard our three larg-
est vessels. We also provided a host of new and inno-
vative guest engaging technologies on our newest
ship, the Quantum of the Seas.
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. As part of this effort, we have
introduced new price optimization tools and continue
to further leverage the pricing and promotion man-
agement capabilities in our reservations system.
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 sales initiatives, we have established
a Consumer Outreach department which allows con-
sumers 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 arrange-
ments 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 approximately 8.4 million members world-
wide. Captain’s Club and Le Club Voyage have 2.9
million members combined worldwide. Members earn
increasing 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 reciprocal
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, complimentary inter-
net, 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 levels of cruise points
or credits, complimentary cruise days. We regularly
work to enhance each of our loyalty programs by
adding new features and amenities in order to reward
our repeat guests.