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The Interview: Royal Caribbean’s Aaron Langford

Jan 27, 202608:50 GMTby Ella Sagar

UK and Ireland sales chief tells Ella Sagar how the line plans to support agents in 2026

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Royal Caribbean currently operates the two biggest cruise ships in the world and is gearing up to launch Legend of the Seas this summer in Europe, which will then join its two sister vessels in the Caribbean. The line is not only focusing on its Icon Class hardware but also working on developing its private destinations, with the aim of offering its passengers the “ultimate family holiday”.

Here, Aaron Langford reveals how the family-friendly line aims to host its biggest-ever ship launch for Legend of the Seas and enhance its trade engagement.

Wave bookings

“We had another fabulous year in 2025, particularly in the UK market, but that is firmly in the rear-view mirror now as our focus is fully on wave and further into 2026. We always want to put our best foot forward with our wave promotions and try to make them as simple and consistent as possible since it is a noisy time of year.

“It is also important for us to have strong family offers. Our £99 kids message appeals to those with older and younger children.

“There are a lot of different opportunities for agents to sell to people who want to cruise as a family at different times of year.

“Looking at how 2026 is performing so far, we can see how much our customers and trade partners are continuing to enjoy the great experiences we offer as the ultimate family holiday.”

Legend of the Seas

“In July, we will have our brand-new Icon Class ship, Legend of the Seas, joining us in Barcelona. It is so exciting that we have a best-in-class product in our backyard and a huge opportunity for our agent partners.

“We want to have the largest number of people we have ever brought from the trade community on this ship launch, with hundreds of UK agents on board.

We want to reach far and wide and have frontline sellers, business owners and marketers to join us for the celebration. We will share more details on the date and location soon.

“We are also seeing good success with a teaser competition, running from January 9-27, where we are handing out 14 surprise tickets to agents to get them on board Legend of the Seas.

“We will officially launch our #GetMeOnLegend competition on January 29, and I think it will make a lot of noise as it has already had the highest number of trade sign-ups we have ever seen.

“Agent partners can qualify for the incentive through bookings, quizzes and social engagement to boost their rankings on the leaderboard, and there will also be wildcards and surprises around the country up until March 12. But the fun doesn’t stop there as we will have more chances to get on board in April or May. Stay close to Club Royal for more details.

“My main message to agents is to engage with #GetMeOnLegend because that is going to be your ticket to get on this incredible ship. I cannot wait to see people’s excitement when they get on board!”

Trade engagement

“We have been working diligently to take our trade engagement, experience and support to the next level this year.

“We held our first agent advisory panel focused on accessibility and had such great engagement that we have decided to do another one. We want to turn those discussions into action and put good things in place to help our trade partners confidently sell our brand as it relates to all things accessibility.

“We will have agent panels on different topics every other month, with the next sessions focusing on trade rewards and loyalty, new-to-cruise and marketing excellence and collaboration with the brand.

“The other thing we are working on is our Caribbean ‘Seminar at Sea’ which will be at a bigger level than ever before, with space to take about 40 people out at the end of the year. This is great timing ahead of wave, so agents can bottle up that excitement and knowledge and go into January selling with confidence.

“We will also expand our family ship visit days after successfully trialling that last year. It makes total sense with our brand and gives agents a chance to experience travelling with us, rather than working with us.

“And more big news for us is My Royal Genie 2.0, which goes live on January 26. We are giving this tool a major enhancement, creating a more sales-driven experience through AI. This will be game-changing. Head over to Club Royal for more information next week.

“The last piece of the puzzle is making our presence on the road more impactful, so we are in the process of planning how to do shop and call centre takeovers by request. The main concept is for this to be immersive and localised, so we are excited to make a big impact there.”

Private destinations

“We have lots of other things to celebrate in 2026 as our first Royal Beach Club in Paradise Island is now fully up and running, and our Royal Beach Club in Santorini will follow in the summer.

“Our private destination Perfect Day at CocoCay is our top-rated experience and I think Paradise Island has been a slam dunk since it opened last December in terms of the social posts I’ve seen and feedback from the company.

“We have got lots of happy people doing both Perfect Day at CocoCay and Paradise Island in one cruise now, which I am looking forward to experiencing with our trade partners at our Seminar at Sea.

“It is great we have Santorini coming as it offers a private destination closer to home. The opening only bodes well for the second half of the year and into 2027.”

Our 2026 ambitions

We are on sale until April 2028 now and feeling positive for 2026 as there is exponential demand for cruise. We are very happy with what we have got in front of us with lots to celebrate, including Legend and our new beach clubs.

My aim for this year is to have a flawless Legend delivery, with amazing feedback from our trade community that they’ve experienced a best-in-class experience, and for another fantastic year for the business and successful ex-UK season.

We want to continue the support that we offer across the trade as we spend a lot of time trying to understand how we can improve and be as easy as possible to do business with.

Our biggest opportunity this year is making sure people understand what Icon Class is.

Our commitment to the UK trade this year is making sure we give as many people as we can the opportunity to get on board Legend to see it, feel it, rave about it and sell lots of it.