Helen Beck: Royal Caribbean invests in EMEA region

Ms. Helen Beck, Regional Sales Director International Representatives Europe, Middle East & Africa for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines talks to TravelDailyNews about RCCL’s targets in EMEA region for this season and for the trends in the cruise industry.

TravelDailyNews: What trends are going to drive the cruise market in the Mediterranean and Middle East for this season?

Helen Beck: Royal Caribbean offers four- and five-night short cruises for travellers to sample cruising without having to commit a full week. There are up to 15 percent more first-time cruisers aboard our short sailings and their feedback tells us that Royal Caribbean has consistently and significantly exceeded their expectations.

Whether for the first time or the fifteenth, guests will find Royal Caribbean short cruises to be a great opportunity to escape for a rejuvenating and exciting getaway.

One major trend recently has been the growth of multi-generational travel. With our breadth of onboard amenities, Royal Caribbean is in the most comfortable position to capture the lion’s share of that trend. Independence of the Seas, just like Freedom and Liberty of the Seas, is ideally designed to cater to families and the diverse preferences of every member of the family.

Freedom-class staterooms have families in mind. For instance, at 113-square metres, the Presidential Family Suite sleeps 14 people and features an 75-square metre outdoor living area with a Jacuzzi and private bar. The 55-square metreRoyal Family Suites include two bathrooms, a living area, and a 22-square metre balcony.

TDN: What are your expectations for the Independence of the Seas upcoming debut in Europe?

H. B.: Deploying the world’s newest, largest and most innovative cruise ship to Europe clearly confirms the success of our European sales strategy and Royal Caribbean is delighted to showcase one of our flagships to this important market.

TDN: Can you give us a forecast for RCI’s passenger traffic and revenues in EMEA for 2008?

H. B.: Whilst understanding that 2008 is potentially going to be a challenging year economically around the world, as always, Royal Caribbean is very positive and feels optimistic about continued growth within the cruise market.

The cruise line expectsto continue growing its guest volume and revenues by over 20% globally and increasing by over 30% with the European deployed ships.

TDN: 2008 will see RCI with increased capacity in Europe as seven ships offer cruises in the continent. Why did the company take the decision to deploy all these ships in the region?

H. B.: We have experienced an excellent response from our travel partners and guests globally by deploying more ships to European waters and offering our guests an increased choice of itineraries and destinations.

TDN: What are RCI’s plans for EMEA region during the next years? Are you going to introduce new ports of call?

H. B.: Itinerary planning is a continual process and Royal Caribbean is always looking for new and attractive destinations.

TDN: Which destinations are going to top the list in EMEA this year and why?

H. B.: The Western Mediterranean itineraries sailing are always a popular draw for our guests and Royal Caribbean offers a variety of cruises ranging from 4, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 14 night durations departing from Barcelona, Venice, Rome (Civitavecchia) and Southampton and calling in at such appealing destinations as Villefranche (Nice), Livorno (Florence) and Dubrovnik. Equally the launch of our winter sun cruises to the Canary Islands on Brilliance of the Seas from Barcelona is already proving to be a success.

TDN: The cruise industry is paying more attention to advanced technology features on board. What are your innovations in this area especially in the Freedom class of ships?

H. B.: Royal Caribbean International is the industry leader known for our innovative ships. Our onboard amenities aboard our Freedom-class ships, such as the FlowRider surf simulator, H2O Zone water park, ice-skating rinks and rock-climbing walls, paired with compelling itineraries, offer guests endless options to create their own cruise adventure.

The cruise line also prides itself on providing exemplary cruise experiences to our guests, so much so that Royal Caribbean enjoys one of the highest repeat passenger percentages in our market segment. Through Royal Caribbean’s signature Gold Anchor Service, all guests receive friendly, engaging and personal service with one goal in mind: to Deliver the WOW.

TDN: What do your clients look for when they book a cruise and what booking channels do they use?

H. B.:Our guests look for an excellent holiday experience offering plenty of activities and choice. Royal Caribbean works closely with the travel partner community to help educate travellers about the great holiday value that our cruises offer and encourages guests to book through their preferred travel partner.

TDN: The tourism industry adopts green policies as climate changes. What is Royal Caribbean’s policy for the environment and what have you done so far?

H. B.: The foundation of our onboard environmental activities is our Save The Waves programme. It focuses on three key principles: reducing the creation or generation of waste materials; recycling as much as possible; and ensuring proper disposal of remaining waste.

The Save The Waves programme, started in 1992, formalised what was then 24-years of environmentally oriented activities within the company. Since its creation, the Save The Waves programme has grown in size and complexity, and today is integrated into the daily operations onboard all our ships. This includes environmental officers onboard each ship; a waste-management programme that completely addresses each waste stream; environmental training for every crew member; and the creation of the Safety and Environment Department within the company’s corporate offices.

Our Environmental Management System meets ISO 14001 environmental standards, stressing continual improvement.

We are improving every year with some of the latest proven environmental technology. In recent years, we have introduced to the industry cleaner bilge-water-purification systems, as well as reduced-emission, gas turbine engines. The former has improved bilge-water purity by 5 to 7 times and the latter has reduced smokestack emissions of sulphur oxide (SOX) and nitrous oxide (NOX) by more than 80 and 90 percent respectively. Also, greater energy efficiencies are built into our new ships – related to propulsion, air conditioning, lighting, hull shapes and hull paints. We are proud of these advances and are determined to maintain our policy of Continuous Improvement.

All aspects of reducing our impact on the environment are important to Royal Caribbean International. One example of this is our work to reduce fuel consumption. Examples of our efforts include:

• Continuing to build more fuel-efficient ships. Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Independence of the Seas, for example are 15% larger than the next largest ship, but are actually more fuel efficient per guest berth. (Our Freedom-class ships use the same number of engines, same propulsion pods and same bow thrusters as our Voyager-class ships. Our Freedom-class ships do have a new and more efficient hull design.)
• We are giving even greater attention to itinerary planning – both now and for the future – in terms of timing, speeds and distances, etc.
• We are tweaking the arrival and departure times at some ports of call so our ships can save fuel while sailing to the next port.
• We are altering the speed of our ships while at sea – to gain the greatest fuel efficiency.
• We are installing new generators on some ships, which will produce electricity much more efficiently.
• We are turning off air conditioning in areas that are not being used.
• We are using special window tinting on our ships to keep them cooler and reduce the load placed upon our air conditioning systems.
• We are even using fewer lights and using different types of bulbs (LEDs rather than halogens).
• We are using some renewable fuels (bio-diesel) in eight of our ships (Radiance class and Millennium class), which reduce the CO2 emissions from those ships by 78 percent.

These efforts have reduced our total fuel consumption from 2005 to 2006 by 10 percent for Royal Caribbean International and by 15 percent for Celebrity Cruises – on a per-passenger cruise day basis.