Elizanessie

Despite softness in the Caribbean and Bermuda during the second half of 2006, Alaska and Europe are performing well for Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.
‘Alaska and Europe continue strong. The slowdown is primarily in the Caribbean and Bermuda,’ RCCL chairman and ceo Richard Fain told analysts during today’s earnings call. ‘On-board revenues continue to be very robust, which helps balance some of the potential weakness on the ticket side,’ he added.
2007 bookings are coming closer in, but the same level of inventory is booked now as last year at this time, Fain said.
Despite pricing pressures in the Caribbean, Freedom of the Seas is performing ‘beyond our expectations,’ according to RCI president Adam Goldstein. The company poured $7m into introducing the ship. In service for seven weeks now, Freedom is ‘everything we hoped it would be,’ Goldstein said.
Celebrity president Dan Hanrahan said his brand is showing strong yield performance in the back half of the year. Century, fresh from a $55m upgrade, is being well-received in Europe this summer, and four- and five-night cruises from Miami in the fourth quarter are getting ‘great response from incentive houses.’
Both RCI and Celebrity are operating extended European seasons, which should help boost fourth-quarter performance because of less capacity in the Caribbean.
Also, the two brands are sourcing a sizable number of Europeans for their European deployment, with ships like Barcelona-based Voyager of the Seas carrying near equal numbers of Europeans and Americans. Goldstein said the international component of RCI’s customer mix will continue to grow, especially in Europe where the brand will have seven ships and 14,000 berths in 2007. Celebrity is additionally seeing ‘some strong movement out of Latin America. Our sourcing is becoming more worldwide than in the past,’ Hanrahan said.

Source:Seatrade