A new homeport and an aggressive pricing strategy from Royal Caribbean International is driving demand as the Grandeur of the Seas’ sailings from Barbados are filling up quickly for the 2021-2022 cruise season.
“It has exceeded our expectations quite significantly,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, speaking on the company’s Monday earnings call.
“I mean we literally sold 25 percent of our load factor within a couple of weeks,” Bayley said. “So back to Jason’s (Jason Liberty, CFO) point, there’s a lot of demand, we think, building up globally for vacations and cruises and for Royal Caribbean. So we’re quite kind of optimistic about where this is heading.”
The ship sails from Barbados starting in November on a mix of seven- and 14-night cruises. Seven-night cruises start at just $399 per person.