Travel agents will be hosted at Royal Caribbean’s new destination, Perfect Day Mexico, when it opens in 2027.
Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean International’s senior vice-president, sales, trade support and service, told Travel Weekly: “When Perfect Day Mexico opens up, we will be hosting many travel advisors.”
She said the resort will be available on cruises from Florida as well as from Galveston in Texas – and more ships are in the pipeline too.
“Royal Caribbean continues to build brand new ships,” she noted, highlighting Star of the Seas from summer 2025 and its third Icon ship due to launch in 2026.
“As we bring in these new ships, we always do our best to host a travel advisor trade event,” she said.
“Our travel partners love the destinations. For the consumer, the destination rates as a high priority on why they pick a particular cruise line or a particular product…so we will make sure that we show it off to everybody.”
Perfect Day Mexico will cover a 200-acre site on the Caribbean coast in Mahahual. It will follow the planned opening of a Royal Beach Club in the Mexican resort of Cozumel in 2026.
The cruise line group opened Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas in 2019 and plans the first Royal Beach Club on Paradise Island next year.
More: Royal Caribbean to open new resort in Mexico
Freed noted how Perfect Day CocoCay is the cruise line’s top-rated destination.
“When we talk to guests, they love it. We have almost 400 ports of call. And when we look at the ratings, this is by far number one,” she added.
“Perfect Day Mexico will build upon what Perfect Day CocoCay has.”
The site will be larger, enabling four ships to dock at the Mexican resort, compared to two at Perfect Day CocoCay.
About 1,000 people will work on the construction of the resort, which will have a staff of about 2,000 once it opens.
About half of the 200 acres will be environmentally protected.
“We don’t want to do anything that would destroy the authentic destination. We want to enhance the destination,” she said.
The resort will offer “many water parks, lots of thrill, lots of chill, an adults-only area and lots of restaurants”, added Freed.
“We have some other surprises in store for Perfect Day Mexico that we don’t have on Perfect Day CocoCay and there’s more to come on that.”
Cruises featuring the new destination will be in the next deployment season from Royal Caribbean, which has just started releasing 2026-2027 sailings in Alaska and Europe.
Freed said the initial response from agents was “they love it”.
“The only challenge is they’re anxious to have it open before 2027,” she said.
“The exciting thing for travel advisors right now is that we are in a growth industry, and people need vacations.
“Advisors really appreciate the fact that we keep building more and more ships, more and more destinations, and so it’s a win-win for everybody.
“We as a cruise line, as a corporation, lean on travel advisors to sell a great majority of our business; we want them to be excited about every new ship, every new destination.
“We are seeing the trade are busier than ever…and feel very positive about the role that the trade is playing.”
Commenting on the UK market, she highlighted how Brits love to visit theme parks in Orlando on holiday, which can be combined with sailings from Florida that include Perfect Day visits.
“The selling proposition is that no other cruise line, other than our sister brand Celebrity, can call at Perfect Day at CocoCay,” she said.
“That makes us a very unique and very special brand to sell.”
She noted how consumers can book holidays online or with a call centre – but a travel agent can add more to the consumer’s experience.
“You have to guarantee that the vacation is going to give the best return on their vacation dollar,” she explained.
“It is not the cheapest, it’s what gives them the most bang for their vacation dollars.
“It is always important to be the ‘value interpreter’ to help guide the consumer into making the right buying decision.
“It’s not about booking a vacation, it’s about explaining the experience.”