Keeping up in the Cruise Industry: Why Royal’s Revitalizations Offer an Advantage

Liberty of the Seas recently left the Port of Miami headed for Grand Bahama Island and her significant dry-dock that will underscore what we mean by the Royal Advantage. This is a historic event in the sense that we are going to enhance the offering of a ship that is not even four years old and very much still at the forefront of the industry. Why? Because we created possibilities with our Oasis-class that we can and will bring to Freedom-class beginning with Liberty of the Seas this week.

We have already promoted the new features and Lisa Bauer and others will describe the dry-dock and its aftermath in more detail. I simply want to emphasize that this dry-dock commences a program of revitalization that will keep our fleet preeminent in the cruise industry. Next up after Liberty is a similar body of work on Freedom of the Seas in March. Later in the year we will refresh Radiance of the Seas and then Splendour of the Seas. Although no decisions about further revitalizations have been made as of yet, we certainly hope to enhance the Royal Advantage on other ships in the fleet in the future.

Click here to see photos of Liberty of the Seas in dry-dock: Liberty of the Seas Revitalization Album

Note: Last week we found out that Royal Caribbean International won a Cheers Beverage Excellence 2011 Award for Best Chain Hotel Beverage Program. Our Beverage team, under the direction of Frank Weber, VP Food & Beverage, and Bob Midyette, Director, Fleet Beverage Operations, is justifiably proud to have won this prestigious award. Our competition includes all land based hotel groups in the U.S. and abroad, e.g., Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, InterContinental, MGM, Ritz Carlton, Conrad, etc., plus of course all cruise lines. Well done!

BY:Adam|27th January, 2011 34 Comments

Taylor Swift Shines in Concert onboard Allure - Guest Blog by Betsy O’Rourke

Four-time Grammy Award-winning artist Taylor Swift rocked the Boardwalk on Allure of the Seas with her stellar performance in the outdoor AquaTheater this past Friday, January 21st in Cozumel, Mexico. The concert was the first stop of her world tour featuring her biggest hits along with selections from her new album, Speak Now.

The anticipation on the ship all week long was palpable! Guests onboard participated in Taylor Swift-themed events during the cruise including a Taylor Swift Look - A - Like Contest, Trivia Contest, Taylor Swift Karaoke and other activities- all for the chance to score concert passes! In addition, 12 tickets were auctioned off to raise funds for Make A Wish Foundation, raising $8,750.00. Guests who didn’t get seated in the AquaTheater could watch the live performance in the main theater as well as Studio B, the ice skating theater.

Several guests dressed up for the occasion, wearing beautiful dresses and hair and make up to mimic Taylor Swift’s signature look with long wavy blond hair and bright red lips. The boardwalk balconies were all filled with fans waving signs and wearing branded t-shirts to show their love for Taylor. Literally everywhere you looked, there were guests dancing and singing along with Taylor as she serenaded the excited crowd. Two oversized video screens ensured that everyone had a great view of the event.

She wore a beautiful shimmering silver sheath dress and danced across the stage, even going into the audience to hug some fans and express her gratitude for their devotion. Her lively spirit was contagious, with fans of all ages on their feet cheering wildly with every new song.

Click on the photo to view more pictures of Taylor Swift’s performance onboard Allure!

Her management team was a delight to work with and sailed with us for the whole week, entertaining their biggest corporate partners, many of whom had never cruised before. These executives were with companies including Sony, Comcast, Cover Girl and others. By all accounts, they were blown away by Allure of the Seas and the onboard experience and of course, the concert!

If you’re curious as to how it came about that Taylor Swift started her world tour on our ship, all you need to do is meet our Director of PR Tracy Quan. She was the mastermind behind the idea. Literally every area of the ship’s operations was involved in the flawless execution of this very special event. Watch the performance highlights below and share your thoughts with us here or on Facebook.

BY:Betsy O'Rourke|25th January, 2011 2 Comments

New Benefits Roll Out: Crown & Anchor Society Enhancements

We are ready to announce additional enhancements to the Crown & Anchor Society. We are so enthusiastic about these changes that we wish we could have introduced them last June with the prior wave of enhancements. Many of the new improvements required significant work on our computer systems and as we all know that takes time. But we are ready now and so I am asking Lillian Murphy, our Vice President for One to One Marketing, to introduce the enhancements to you. We love our Crown & Anchor Society members and we are pleased to move our recognition of our members’ loyalty forward again.

Guest Blog by Lillian Murphy, VP One to One Marketing:

Well the day has finally arrived and we’re so excited to be sharing even more news with you today. Adam had noted in a December blog when speaking about the plans for 2011 that we were going to build on the new Crown & Anchor Society benefits we launched in June of 2010.

First let me address why we are making more changes. Our loyalty program is similar to relationships we have with our families, and we do consider our loyalty program members family. As we know the best relationships are built on listening and responding to feedback, and this has led us to the second phase of our enhancements which is about recognition of their value to Royal Caribbean.

There are really three core topics. The first is relative to how our members have an opportunity to achieve their tier level status, the second is about two new tiers of recognition we are introducing, and the third is about personalizing the experience that members have with us and offering choices in preferences, and a much enhanced website experience.

Let me spend a little more time on each of these enhancements.

  1. We are transitioning how a member earns their tier status from ‘cruise credits’ to ‘Cruise Points’. The calculation is very simple - for every night you sail with us you will earn one Cruise Point, and Double the points when you stay in a suite. The more nights you spend onboard, the more points you earn. It’s important to understand that all our existing Crown & Anchor Society members will continue to enjoy all of their current program benefits and status, plus have the opportunity now to advance to the next tier even faster than before. As a one time conversion benefit we have grandfathered everyone’s status in the program.
  2. Continued recognition of our members is important to us so we are introducing two new status levels, Emerald and Pinnacle Club. Emerald tier, which sits between Platinum and Diamond status, will provide all the current Platinum level benefits, in addition to some new benefits as they continue to make their way to the Diamond level. Benefits such as higher member savings on balcony and suite category staterooms and a personalized welcome gift delivered to their stateroom on every cruise vacation. Pinnacle Club members, who will now become our top tier program members, are being honored for their incredible loyalty to Royal Caribbean International and will be further recognized with all the benefits of the entire program plus complimentary cruises at certain Cruise Point milestones. I had the pleasure of meeting so many of these members on Allure’s maiden voyage and know how special these members are to our family.
  3. Members can now enjoy a more personalized experience once they log into their Crown and Anchor Society account. We wanted to simply provide our members information that is relevant to them. Members can now easily keep abreast of the latest news and offers that are available specifically to them and can establish custom settings for items such as upgrades if they become available, and for our Emerald and higher level members they can select their choice of a personalized in-room amenity.

I encourage everyone to click on www.RoyalCaribbean.com/CrownandAnchor to read all about these exciting enhancements and set your preferences.

Finally, to celebrate the incredible loyalty of program members, we are introducing a limited time offer: ‘Bring a Friend’ and receive $25 to spend onboard. Members will now be rewarded for introducing new guests to Royal Caribbean International for new bookings made between January 21st and April 30th, 2011. The promotion will offer a $25 onboard credit per stateroom to Crown & Anchor Society members when sailing with their ‘first to Royal’ friends or family, for up to five staterooms per sailing, depending on the length of their cruise. You can find out all the details about how to register for this promotion by following this link: www.RoyalCaribbean.com/BringaFriend.

I’d like to wish all of our Crown and Anchor members a wonderful New Year and hope to see you enjoying your benefits onboard.

Cheers!

BY:Adam|21st January, 2011 20 Comments
 

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