Royal Caribbean prices are set to jump, with the company announcing to shareholders that they are achieving record pricing levels that are set to continue to rise through 2025.
And they are not alone. Norwegian and some Carnival brands are also set to raise prices in 2025 as they correct what is seen as an imbalance between hotels and resorts and cruise holidays.
Jason Liberty, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean shared this information during a conference call with analysts, also mentioning that the company’s second quarter of 2024 had higher earnings than the same period in 2023.
Liberty says he feels confident in price rises due to strong forward bookings and demand.
“The strength in the commentary that we talk about on pricing and pricing increasing, it very much applies to 2025 and beyond.
“We feel very good. We’re in a very strong book position for 2025 – pricing is up and increasing are the trends that we continue to see.”
Total passenger ticket revenue rose by 13% suggesting that prices are on the way up, however, this isn’t affecting onboard spend, with revenue from onboard spending also jumping 13%.
Liberty says: “We have seen an incredibly robust booking and pricing environment across all our key itineraries, which is not only setting us up for success in the future periods, but also contributed to the outperformance in the second quarter.”
There was a question of prices were on the rise when there is apparent evidence that land-based holidays are slowly reducing in price, but Liberty asserted that there is “a 20% value gap to land-based vacation”, meaning that cruises are still getting plenty more value for their money that other forms of holidays.
“You get a lot of bang for the buck when you’re travelling with our with our brands.
“I think that value gap is potentially shielding us from some of that noise that you’re hearing from land-based operators.”
Liberty also stated that Royal Caribbean intend to continue their growth and attempt to capture an even higher percentage of the cruise market.
“Our plan to capitalise on this opportunity is well grounded in a set of underlying strategies.”
Over at Norwegian Cruise Lines, CEO Harry Sommer was equally bullish.
“We don’t take record booked positions to the bank, we take yields to the bank, and we have calibrated our tools such that sometimes it’s OK to slow down bookings in order to raise prices,” he told an investor’s conference on his line’s earnings.
He predicted a 15% increase in pre-booked onboard revenue and said cruise fares alone have been particularly strong.
“We have really seen robust pricing for 2025, up significantly compared to this time last time for 2024,” he said.
Cruise Passenger carried predictions from the boss of Princess Cruises in Australia Stuart Allison that price rises were on the way.
He told us on March: “Cruising is too cheap—I would certainly expect prices to rise on cruises close to home”.
Declining to speculate by how much, Allison said, “I would think that this year prices are probably back to where they were in 2019. And so tell me, anything you can buy in life that is still where it was in 2019.”
He said those thinking of cruising should buy at today’s prices to avoid the rises.
Norwegian Cruise Lines has also reported strong growth in both revenue and profits.
Will Royal Caribbean prices in Australia increase?
Gavin Smith, Vice President and Managing Director Australasia Gavin Smith previously told Cruise Passenger that Australian prices were on the up.
“Royal Caribbean brand booked more passengers than we booked in our 15-year history.
“We operated more cruises than we’ve ever done before. We had 56 cruises. And we’ve got the happiest guests we’ve ever had, with satisfaction survey scores in the sixties and the highest onboard spend.
“We’re commanding the highest Australian dollar cruise prices we’ve ever achieved.”
Therefore, Aussie Royal Caribbean faithfuls may need to brace themselves for another jump in price.
