Royal Caribbean International will be offering 71 sailings on three ships out of Singapore in 2019 – the Voyager, Quantum and Spectrum of the Seas, according to Angie Stephen, managing director, Asia-Pacific for Royal Caribbean Cruises. “2018 is a banner year for us,” she said. “It is our biggest year ever with 78 sailings.
“While we have fewer sailings next year our guest volume will be more or less the same because we will have larger ships. And there is a good reason why we have fewer sailings, with the Voyager and Quantum undergoing a month-long drydock each here in Singapore. They will come back to us shiny, refurbished and amplified.”
Coming to Singapore in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Quantum will also sail 26 cruises in 2020, staying in Singapore through April.
“When the Spectrum comes here next May, we will have some more exciting news to share about the rest of 2020 and 2021,” Stephen said.
“Business is going very well and we are pleased with the demand we are getting, especially the demand coming from outside the Singapore market,” she continued.
Stephen said the increase in demand is coming from other Southeast Asia countries, even North Asia countries, as well as China. “The Chinese see Singapore as a destination and like to do a pre- or post-cruise stay with our three- and four-night itineraries.
“Malaysia and Indonesia are also large markets for us. In addition, we are seeing growth from India around their peak holiday seasons.”
Partnering with the Singapore Tourism Board, Stephen said that Royal Caribbean has been able to package cruises around special events, like the F1 race, which attracts strong support from the UK market.
Eighty percent of the itineraries are three to four nights, including for the incoming market, which tends to package the cruise into a five-day vacation with a pre- or post-stay. The balance of the cruises is mostly five nights with a few seven-day sailings for the international long-haul markets from Australia, the UK and the United States.
“As we are bringing in bigger ships, guests really need to spend more time aboard to experience all that the ships have to offer,” Stephen said. “We slowly hope to extend our sailings, but it is not happening in the immediate future, as we also have to find new ports. Longer itineraries will depend on port infrastructure readiness. We are working with government tourism boards to convince them to invest in improving the port and destination experience.”
Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Fall 2018
