Royal Caribbean believes its strong brand and appeal around the world will make certain that it remains an exciting cruise option despite increased competition from local cruise companies as well as protect it from from any potential over capacity in the Australian cruise market.
Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean announced that it will have five of its ships operating in the Australia/New Zealand region in 2012-2013. The big news was when Royal Caribbean announced Voyager of the Seas was coming to the region, the largest cruise ship ever to regularly operate there.
In total, there will be 12 New Zealand, South Pacific and Australian itineraries from November 2012 and that could lead to a problem of there being too much capacity and not enough customers for the market.
Royal Caribbean Australia commercial manager, Adam Armstrong did admit there is the potential for that problem in the future, but was confident Royal Caribbean could overcome an obstacle like that.
“But the opportunity we’ve highlighted is for a different kind of product,” he said. “We have more international-style product, have an international cuisine and a guest mix that other operators don’t have.”
In addition to Royal Caribbean's brand, Armstrong believes as much as 30-40% of the cruise guests coming to Australia will be international cruisers.
“Of our three Royal Caribbean ships, Voyager has the biggest and broadest range of kids facilities so we will be pushing families on those cruises."
“We’ve had a very successful couple of years since we opened an office here and have lifted average yields on local cruises,” he continued. “There are price pressures but we wouldn’t be putting another ship in the market unless we thought we could sustain a similar level of pricing.”
