The boss of Royal Caribbean Cruises, which runs the two biggest cruise ships in the world, has delivered an upbeat view of 2011 in the back of a hike in profits last year to $547.5 million.
The parent company of brands such as Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises reported that early ‘Wave season’ bookings have been encouraging and booked load factors are ahead of this time last year.
Revealing a net profit improvement from $162.4 million in 2009, chairman and chief executive Richard Fain said: “These improved results reflect the strong reception our new ships have received along with the solid branding our different cruise brands have enjoyed,
“Wave is off to a solid start and supports our earlier confidence in meaningful pricing recovery and record financial performance in 2011.”
Revenues for 2010 increased 15% to $6.8 billion from $5.9 billion the previous year. Royal Caribbean launched Allure of the Seas in November as a sister ship to the then world’s largest, Oasis of the Seas, introduced a year earlier.
Chief financial officer Brian Rice said: “Our company continues to focus on costs and improving its financial performance.
“This focus, combined with the improving pricing power of our brands should generate significant earnings opportunities as we move into 2011 and beyond.”
The company sees the potential for an increasing role of its tour operations which include Royal Celebrity Tours, Pullmantur’s tour businesses and other operations on its yield and net cruise costs.
Based on current ship orders, projected capital expenditure for 2011, 2012, and 2013 are $1 billion, $1 billion and $350 million, respectively, the company said.
Capacity increases for the same three years are 7.4%, 1.2%, and 2.2%, respectively.