Bookings for 2024 cruises in Europe are running ahead of this time last year for Royal Caribbean Group, according to President and CEO Jason Liberty, speaking on the company’s fourth quarter and year-end earnings call.
In addition has been minimal impact due to the unrest in the Middle East.
“Regarding demand for Europe product more broadly, bookings were softer for the impacted itineraries for a few weeks last October, but rebounded relatively quickly and are now significantly higher than same time last year,” said Liberty.
“As a result, our European sailings are booked nicely ahead of last year.”
Of note, Liberty said Europe accounts for around 15 percent of capacity following a 7 percent reduction year-over-year.
“At the time of our last earnings call, we were in the process of altering itineraries for European Mediterranean sailings that were previously expected to visit Israel, and we have since redeployed all ships with calls to Israel,” he added.
“Regarding the situation in the Red Sea, the safety of our guests and crew is of top priority and we are constantly monitoring the situation. We only have a handful of repositioning cruises scheduled in the region this year and have already rerouted one of our Silversea ships and have contingency plans for a couple others in the spring.”