Royal Caribbean chief: Pricing discipline intact

FORT LAUDERDALE — Richard Fain, chairman of Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. said that the company’s 9-month-old price integrity policy had not
been violated by its recent Wave kickoff sale, which offers up to $300 in onboard
credit for cruises departing as soon as Dec. 10.

Fain said the policy evolved to curb “super steep” discounts
on the last 2% of empty cabins that didn’t raise “bupkus” in revenue but
“antagonized the people who were most important to us — our travel agent
partners and our customers.”

The discussion was part of a CruiseWorld QA session
between Fain and Travel Weekly’s editor in chief, Arnie Weissmann, which
touched on several topics.

Fain said the policy varies from banning discounts within 10
days of sailing for a five-day Caribbean cruise to 30 days for certain two-week
European sailings.

The whole idea was to stop passengers from comparing prices
and being penalized for booking early.

“We were creating a great deal of dissatisfaction for a
relatively small group that from our point of view were gaming the system,”
Fain said.

Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean’s vice president of sales,
trade support and services, later said the line’s latest sale is really a
buy-one, get-one promotion, in which buyers of a cruise get discounts of 25% or
50% on fares for second, third and fourth passengers in the cabin. Prices on
the cruises would not be lower than those paid by guests who had booked
earlier, she said.

Fain’s keynote and QA, during the conference’s Day 2
general session, was one of three CEO speeches: Carnival Corp.’s Arnold Donald
spoke on Day 1 of the show, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ Frank Del Rio
was scheduled for Friday. 

On the subject of Internet at sea, Fain said that Royal’s
Voom high-speed service now on Quantum- and Oasis-class ships should be rolled
out to the entire fleet by the end of 2016.

He said interest in Cuba alone is creating new demand for
other Caribbean itineraries.

“All the publicity about Cuba has raised the level of
awareness in the U.S. about cruising to the Caribbean,” Fain said.

He declined to say whether the 1,600-passenger Nordic
Empress returning from the Pullmantur fleet next year would be used to cruise
to Cuba, as some have speculated. “We have plenty of time to reveal those kinds
of things,” he said.

On a lighter note, Fain also declined to say what giant
animal sculpture would be on next year’s Ovation of the Seas. The original ship
in the class, Quantum of the Seas, has a 30-foot pink bear, while the Anthem of
the Seas sports a giraffe wearing an inner tube.

Fain polled the audience on which they preferred, and then
quipped: “It won’t be either of those.”

Pressed for detail, he allowed that the sculpture would be
of another mammal.