“The introduction of Celebrity River has received an extraordinary response with all initially available deployment selling out almost immediately,” said Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, speaking on the company’s third quarter earnings call.

“The majority of booked guests are Royal Caribbean Group loyalty members without prior river cruise experiences, highlighting a powerful opportunity to attract new guests to this segment and deepen engagement by creating new vacation occasions with our existing ecosystem,” Liberty added.

The first two Celebrity River ships debut in 2027, and are set to be followed by another eight as the company has put in an order for 10 river ships.

“In fact, the majority of guests shared their primary motivation for booking a Celebrity River vacation was the opportunity to experience a new celebrity product, driven by the trust and affinity they have for the Celebrity brand,” Liberty explained.

He said the initial deployment sold out not in hours, but in minutes.

“As I also said when we announced this, this is not a hobby. We do expect to be a substantial vacation player in the river business, and so we will continue to grow that,” Liberty added.