With the Spectrum of the Seas back in Shanghai, China for Royal Caribbean International, the company is ready to double capacity next year with the Ovation of the Seas sailing from Tianjin.

“We are also pleased to return to the high-yielding China market this month with Spectrum of the Seas and to add Ovation of the Seas to Tianjin in 2025 as we rebuild our China business,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group .

“With our return to China, we are now finally back in all of our key markets, which enables us to capture quality global demand and source from new consumer bases. Customer sentiment remains very positive, bolstered by resilient labor markets, wage growth, stabilizing inflation, and record high household net worth,” he said, speaking on the company’s first quarter earnings call.

Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said the company was pleased with the bookings for the Spectrum, which led to the decision to add a second ship in 2025.

“Our comparison, of course, is 2019, which we’ve used a lot over the last couple of years. Overall volume and rate for the China product in ’24 is significantly higher in both volume and rate from ’19, which is a great indicator of the kind of demand that we’re seeing for the product,” Bayley said. “And we feel good about ’24 going into ’25. That’s why we’ve got the second ship. Both quantum class, both have done very well in the China market. They seem to be really well suited for that market.

“And of course, Ovation, both in Alaska and Australia, is perfectly suited for the China market in terms of its geographical positioning. One will be in Tianjin, which we’ve operated out of many years before the pandemic. And of course, Shanghai, which are both great markets for us.”

Of note, Bayley said that onboard spend in China was looking good.

“We have high expectations and I think they’re going to be realized. The other thing that’s changed quite a lot in terms of the market dynamics in China is the change in our direct business versus the traditional trade business. There was quite a transformation during the pandemic in terms of a lot of the retailers that dropped out of business. Fortunately, pre-pandemic, we started to invest significantly in resources, technology and people to develop that direct business. And we continued through the pandemic and we accelerated when we came out of the pandemic. And it’s proving to be very productive for us. So overall, our distribution strategy is proving to be successful. Demand seems very, very strong,” Bayley said.\

“Of course, Korea opened up, which is great. So that gives us a better itinerary product to offer to our guests. And we’re feeling good about how this will play out. Of course, we’ve been in China for a decade before. So we’ve all been through the ups and downs, but currently it’s looking pretty positive.”