More onboard purchases for the Royal Caribbean Group are happening on the company’s mobile apps and ahead of the cruise, said Jason Liberty, CEO, speaking on the  company’s second quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts.

“Nearly 50 percent of onboard purchases are now coming through the mobile app compared to one-third at the end of 2023,” he said.

“As a reminder, customers who purchase onboard experiences before their cruise spend about 2.5x more than those who do not buy pre-cruise,” he continued.

“We are investing in a modern digital travel platform, infusing AI into almost everything we do and investing in enriched data to make it easier than ever for guests to book and design their dream vacations while allowing us to expand wallet share.”

Liberty said the company’s apps have been downloaded more than 30 million times.

“In addition, onboard spend and pre-cruise purchases continue to exceed prior years. These trends are supported by the exceptional strength in our digital channels in terms of both cruise bookings and pre-cruise purchases,” Liberty added.

Naftali Holtz, CFO, said that approximately half of the company’s onboard spend was booked before the sailing with three out of four guests making pre-cruise purchases to reserve onboard experiences