Royal Caribbean Group has been building the infrastructure of a loyalty ecosystem, including status matching across brands and a co-branded credit card.

That appears to be paying off as repeat guests are big spenders, said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, speaking on the company’s earnings call on Thursday, April 30.

“They tend to sell on us more often, that’s not a surprise,” said Liberty, speaking about the company’s repeat guests. “But they also tend to spend about 25% more than new-to-cruise or first to brand.”

Repeat customers now account for roughly 40% of Royal Caribbean’s total bookings, up from a historical share of approximately one-third.

Liberty described that as an effort to move guests from “a vacation of a lifetime to a lifetime of vacations.”

Royal Caribbean’s status match program, launched in 2024, allows guests to carry their loyalty tier across the company’s three brands, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea.

Cross-brand bookings have increased significantly since the program launched, Liberty said.

More recently, the company introduced Royal ONE, a co-branded credit card that allows guests to earn and redeem points across all three brands.

CFO Naftali Holtz talked about the commercial payoff in terms of customer lifetime value.

“We know them better and we make sure that we tailor the vacation they need with all the tools we have,” Holtz said.

The company is also moving to extend the ecosystem into new product categories. Liberty pointed to river cruising as a deliberate effort to keep guests inside the Royal Caribbean umbrella.