Royal Caribbean Group, the Miami based company that is the world’s second largest cruise shipping group, expects to have 80% of its capacity back in service at the year end. Although bookings are developing well, the company said it has noticed an impact of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The group is currently operating 29 ships across its five brands, representing 42% of capacity. By the end of this month, it expects to be operating 36 ships, representing over 60% of its capacity. “The Company anticipates having 80% of its capacity in service by end of year 2021,” it said in a statement.
“Overall, the booking activity for 2021 sailings is consistent with the Company's expected capacity and occupancy ramp up, at prices that are higher than 2019. While it's too early to make any definitive conclusions of the impact of the Delta variant on bookings, the company has seen a modest impact on closer-in bookings,” Royal Caribbean Group said, adding that bookings for 2022 remained strong.
Overall booking volumes have improved, and pricing remains strong. “During the second quarter the Company received about 50% more new bookings compared to the first quarter with trends improving from one month to the next,” the company said.
By June, it was receiving about 90% more bookings each week when compared to the first quarter with improvements of a similar magnitude for both 2021 and 2022 sailings.
"The surge in bookings has been extremely encouraging especially for 2022 and beyond," said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO. "The return of cruising has been faster than anyone expected, and we are excited to gradually restart our presence in our key markets. We are watching the impact of the Delta variant and other likely variants, but overall, we remain optimistic in our mounting trajectory going forward. People also book their cruises long in advance, so we are concentrating on maintaining our price levels while growing our load factors," he stated
At the end of June, the company had approximately $2.4 billion in customer deposits, which has increased by $530 million from March 31, 2021. Approximately 40% of the customer deposit balance is related to FCCs, this has dropped from 45% in the prior quarter, which is a positive trend, indicating net new demand, Royal Caribbean Group said.
