Royal Caribbean EMEA chief aims to do ‘a lot more’ with UK trade

Royal Caribbean’s EMEA chief says he wants to do “a lot more” to support the UK trade in future, with the line’s next Icon Class ship launching in Europe next year.

The line’s second Icon Class ship, Star of the Seas, hosted nearly 100 agents from the UK and Ireland on board for its shakedown sailing from Port Canaveral from July 13 to 16.

Speaking in a Travel Weekly webcast, Gerard Nolan, vice-president and managing director for EMEA said: “I think there’s a lot more I’d like to do [with the trade], and we’re working hard in the background on where and how we want to showcase [the product] because seeing is believing.”

More: UK agents praise innovation of new Royal Caribbean ship Star of the Seas

He added the line was hoping to get “as many” UK and Irish agents as possible on board the next ship launch, Legend of the Seas, from Barcelona on August 2, 2026, before it relocates to the Caribbean in October.

He called the Legend launch “a brilliant earning opportunity”, adding: “It’s an amazing ship class in Europe and I don’t think there is going to be anything like this in Europe next year.

“We really want the [trade] support, and we want to make sure we have guests who come on to experience that, like they do in the Caribbean, and are wowed, and really want to come back over and over and try more of what we do.”

Nolan said Legend would have “tweaks” from the onboard product on Star, as Star had from Icon of the Seas with its “elevated entertainment” and new venue Lincoln Supper Club.

He also said Royal Caribbean was developing several initiatives for the UK and Ireland trade to make the line “easier to do business with”. 

He highlighted one example as a new month-long bonus commission programme, which is offering an extra £35 or €40 for new bookings made between August 16 and September 19 for all sailings on all ships departing between September 2025 and December 2026.

There will also be a “rework” of Royal Caribbean Group’s booking engine coming next year, starting with Silversea and followed by Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean, which will introduce dynamic packaging capability and have “more intuitive functionality”.

He promised there was “more to come”, using new technologies such as virtual reality and AI, with more details to come in September.

Another initiative for UK agents will be a new training programme on operations in Europe next year, with a particular focus on Legend of the Seas.

Nolan added private destinations and shorter sailings of three to four nights would be “a growing part of our business”, especially in the Caribbean as “a good on-ramp” to bring in new-to-cruise customers.

“What we’ve been more and more moving into is the combination of an amazing cruise experience, but also destination,” he said. “And in the next four years, we’ve got four different amazing land-based pieces coming.”

Paradise Island beach club in Nassau will open in December 2025, Lalepa in the South Pacific for sailings from Brisbane in 2027, Perfect Beach Club in Cozumel in 2026 and “the pinnacle”, Perfect Day Mexico, which will be almost double the size of Perfect Day at Coco Cay, in 2027.

He added there would be more four to five-night sailings from Southampton for the coming season on the refurbished Liberty of the Seas, which will have additions from other classes of ship.

He described the UK market as “really solid” with “good forward-looking business”.

Nolan said: “We are really excited there to be bringing something new, fresh to the UK market, and overall, we’re pleased with where we’re at.

“Overall, we’ve got Legend coming for from August next year and we’re really excited for that, for the UK market and we’re geared [up for it].”