Addressing trade partners at the launch of the brand’s new Royal Flush package sales programme on Monday (27 September), Bouldin said the line had aims to “absolutely get back on track” in 2022.

He said Royal’s target was to sail with more guests than it carried in 2019 – which he admitted “feels like a stiff challenge considering everything we’ve been through”.

“To get there, we can’t wait for 2022. We’re going to have to make Q4 of 2021 work,” said Bouldin. “The decision we [Royal] have taken worldwide is to force the issue and try and stimulate the demand and push the agenda. We’re going to try and encourage people to book holidays now for 2022 and 2023.

“We will spend more money in 2021 Q4 than we have ever spent in Wave – and then we’ll continue spending through wave. That budget is in place. We’re buying TV at the moment and I expect it to break late October/early November and it will be heavy – everyone will see it and it will be on prime time shows and digital. 

Outlining where Royal would be focusing its efforts, UK head of sales Torey Kings-Hodkin said “sports, soaps and family favourites like The Great British Bake Off” would carry the line’s advertising, while sites including Spotify and YouTube would see “significant investments” and Tripadvisor would receive “a massive blast of branding”.

Bouldin said the current market felt “more optimistic than it has done for a while” as he shared company expectations the US would open its borders to UK and EU travellers “in early November”, although he cautioned that timeframe could be delayed until after Thanksgiving depending on infection rates caused by the Delta variant. 

He added further optimism could be seen in Royal’s future hardware investment – with 10 ships on order and no cancellations despite the pressures of Covid.  

“We’ve also just announced we’re going to recruit another 22 people in my team alone, so there are lots of reasons to be optimistic.”

Bouldin called on agents to back Royal’s plans for Q4 and give things “a real push”.

“We need to bring the fire and we need to bring it now," he said. "Our efforts now could well end up paying back in Wave – but we need to start. Either we’ll look foolish and a bit gung-ho, or it’ll pay off.”