Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2014 Annual Report Download - page 4

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Our Message
2014 LETTER FROM THE Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer
One of the things I admire most about the
employees at Royal Caribbean is their passion
to continue raising the bar. We are not an
organization that declares victory when we
achieve record earnings; we just move the
goal line. That is essentially what we did when
we announced the Double-Double program.
The program’s objectives are to reach double-
digit Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and a
doubling of our 2014 Adjusted EPS by year-
end 2017. This is the first time in our company’s
history that we have publically announced
such specific and tangible long-term financial
objectives. However, we felt the value of provid-
ing all of our employees a clear target justified
the initiative. The reception the program has
received from our employees has been even
more constructive than we expected.
The three pillars of the Double-Double program
have become the lens by which decisions are
made throughout the organization. Growing
revenue yields, maintaining a cost conscious cul-
ture, and moderately growing capacity are the
fundamentals that will help us achieve another
year of record returns for our shareholders.
The biggest driver of our success continues to
be growing our revenue performance. Rev enue
yields grew by 2.4% in 2014 with no new capac-
ity additions. Ticket yields were an important
driver of growth with Europe and China deliv-
ering double-digit yield improvement which
helped offset the highly promotional Caribbean
environment. In addition, Q4 marked the 12th
consecutive quarter of onboard revenue growth,
with internet packaging, specialty restaurants
and beverage packaging fueling earnings in the
Caribbean and Europe, and retail mainly driving
growth in Asia. As we near the end of our
upgrading efforts it is gratifying to see our
invest ments in revitalizations drive transforma-
tional bottom-line results for our legacy vessels.
Another important driver of improved revenues
is our growth in the Asia-Pacific region, spe-
cifically in China. We made an unprecedented
move when we announced we were sending
our newest vessel, Quantum of the SeasSM to
Shanghai, and although she does not arrive
until the middle of 2015, the successful recep-
tion she has received, coupled with the strong
2014 was an exceptional year for our company. Our stock reached an all-time high;
we were welcomed into the S&P 500; and we delivered the most technologically
advanced ship in the world, Quantum of the SeasSM. By all accounts, the year was
a resounding success. However, what makes it even more extraordinary, is that we
accomplished these major milestones while delivering record guest satisfaction,
record employee engagement scores and record earnings.
2 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.