Royal Caribbean leans into shorter cruises, more experiences

With consumers getting more selective on how and where they vacation, cruise lines are fighting for Americans’ tourist budgets. Royal Caribbean thinks shortening trips and packing the days with activities and exclusive opportunities will keep customers hooked.

“I think we are an experience-driven mindset,” Royal Caribbean CEO Jason Liberty told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” this week. “Over half of our guests are actually millennials or younger, and when you survey those guests, about 42% of them say in the next 12 months their plans are to actually go on shorter vacation experiences.”

Onboard Royal’s Utopia of the Seas, the world’s second-largest ship with a maximum capacity of nearly 5,800 passengers, customers are welcomed to 13 pools, 21 dining options, two casinos, and much more. This is the second cruise ship Royal Caribbean is bringing to market in the span of six months. Liberty says the voracious appetite to cruise post-pandemic has not died down.

“We’re not seeing any pullback from the consumer, whether that’s planning their vacation experiences further out … [or] then on the ships, they go out and they continue to spend,” Liberty said. “There is not an area on the ship that we’ve seen a change in their spending behavior.”

To scale its business and widen its appeal, Royal Caribbean is looking at how to better compete with other types of vacations customers opt for, like skiing, casinos or theme parks.

“When we look at what our guests are doing when they’re not with us, they’re going to Orlando, they’re going to Vegas, they’re going to all-inclusive resorts,” Liberty said. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that our experience, whether on the ship or at our private islands, is something that is highly competitive with land-based vacation.”

Morningstar travel and leisure analyst Jamie Katz thinks Liberty’s strategy to get the Disney theme park traveler on board is working.

“The American traveler doesn’t always have time to take a six- to eight-day cruise due to work schedules and kids’ school calendars,” Katz said. “A three-day cruise provides customers with more options.”

One of the benefits of bringing a new ship to market — you’re able to charge more.

“You’re really seeing sizable pricing premiums. Historically, pricing of a new ship is a 20% premium to existing ships across the industry,” said Patrick Scholes, travel and leisure analyst at Truist Securities.

Scholes said the Utopia price bump for Royal Caribbean could be even higher.

Liberty said he expects higher pricing to hold into the second half of the year, pointing to the “value gap” between cruises and land-based vacations.

Rival Carnival, too, has raised prices amid strong demand.

“We haven’t seen that sign of a consumer slowdown, if anything, we are seeing an acceleration,” CEO Josh Weinstein told CNBC after the company’s most recent earnings report in mid-June.

Analysts point out that cruising is one of the few areas within the travel and hospitality sector…