Speaking to TTG onboard Royal Caribbean International’s new ship, Icon of the Seas, in Miami, Jason Liberty said customers appreciated it when they could identify clear differences between Royal, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises.
It comes after Celebrity Cruises president Laura Hodges Bethge confirmed the line wasn’t positioning itself as a “modern luxury” brand any more at Celebrity Ascent’s naming ceremony last month.
The move frames Celebrity as a “premium aspirational brand”; Royal, meanwhile, will continue to target the multi-generational market; with Silversea occupying the ultra-luxury and expedition spaces, Liberty said.
"I think brands need to be very distinct for the markets they address," Liberty said. "We’re really well-positioned with our brands.
“When you’re really distinct as a brand you know who your customer is and you’ve tuned the experience for them – that’s how you win. Customers appreciate that.
"There’s a fight for quality when customers see you do that in a consistent way. This is the power of the group.”
Liberty added that Royal brands wanted to offer both “a vacation of a lifetime” and “a lifetime of vacations”.
“People graduate through life,” he said. “Sometimes they’re travelling with their kids and grandkids or other times they might be travelling with their neighbours or some friends they went to university with.
“Everybody is looking for different experiences. It’s OK for our guests to go through different brands based on the experiences they want to achieve in that moment.
“Our job is to make sure that we’ve got experiences for them so they stay within our collective family.”
When asked whether the ongoing conflicts on Europe’s doorstep were affecting demand across the Royal brands, Liberty said: “There’s no issue at all with the Eastern Med or the Baltic.
“When the incredible, unfortunate circumstances happened in Israel, we saw a bit of a slowdown for a week or two, but that has rebounded very quickly.
“Demand is very strong both for Europeans going on European sailings but also for North Americans going to Europe this summer.
"If a UK passenger wants to go to Europe that inventory is available to them. We don’t hold inventory for a certain market, per se.”
