Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2004 Annual Report Download - page 7

Celebrity Cruises Cellarmaster Selection™.The
first two varietals, a 2002 Russian River Valley
Chardonnay and a 2001 Sonoma County
Cabernet Sauvignon, earned Gold and Silver
medals, respectively, at the recent American
Wine Society Commercial Wine Competition.
Increasing Our Presence
We continue to identify new opportunities for
growth both at home and abroad. Royal Caribbean
recently unveiled four land packages to pair with
the brand’sEuropean cruises: one to London and
Paris, two to Spain and one to the historic English
cities of London and York. Strong demand also has
led us to redeploy
Legend of the Seas to Europe in
May 2005. Legend will sail from Southampton,
England, through the end of September to destina-
tions in the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean,
before a transatlantic voyage to Tampa to begin
cruises in the Western Caribbean this winter.
We announced in December that
Horizon will leave
the Celebrity fleet this fall under a six-year lease
agreement with Island Cruises, our joint venture
with British tour operator First Choice Holidays
PLC. After being turned over to Island Cruises in
October, Horizon will enter drydock for an exten-
sive refurbishment, including the addition of two
restaurants, 59 staterooms and 50 balconies. The
ship, to be renamed Island Star ,will enter service
in December, sailing from Brazil during winters and
in the Mediterranean in the summer months.
Delineating the Brands
In December, we created two distinct sales
teams for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity to bet-
ter communicate each brand’s distinctive quali-
ties to our trade partners and guests. We also
are increasing the level of local sales support for
our travel partners. In December, we rolled out a
new home-based portal on the CruisingPower.com
web site specifically designed for the home-based
agency community. And, the new Royal Caribbean
Partners@Home and Celebrity Connect@Home
offer local sales support from each brand’s ded-
icated sales force.
Safeguarding Our Oceans
On the environmental front, 2004 was a year of
major achievements. Our pursuit of advanced
technologies that protect the oceans earned Royal
Caribbean an Excellence in Environmental
Engineering Award from the American Academy of
Environmental Engineers.
Jewel of the Seas also
received an Environmental Life Buoy Certificate
ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD. 5
For the third consecutive year, Celebrity swept
Condé Nast Traveler’s
reader survey ranking “The Best Cruise Ships in the World.”