ROYAL Caribbean’s much-anticipated Lelepa destination will be closer in look and feel to its Labadee private resort in Haiti, rather than one of its Beach Clubs.
The upcoming location will be more nature-focused, with less development than Royal Caribbean’s upcoming Paradise Island Beach Club and Cozumel Beach Club, Senior Vice President Sales & Trade Relations Vicki Freed to travelBulletin.
While Lelepa will still feature cabanas and other inclusions to bring a Beach Club-style atmosphere, the destination will be lower-touch and more sympathetic to its surrounds, offering a locally inspired experience with serene beaches, nature trails, water activities, dining, and more.
“I think it’s going to be a beautiful experience, more of a natural experience, where it’s not going to have big slides,” she explained, on board Ovation of the Seas in Ensenada last week.
“It’s going to be a really relaxing, beautiful destination, definitely a more ecotourism, nature-focused destination, in comparison to Perfect Day, which has more of the water slides.”
Lelepa will be the first private cruise destination in the region, and will open in 2027.
The South Pacific destination has been in discussion for years, and was at one stage mooted to be developed as one of Royal Caribbean’s ‘Perfect Day’ islands, however, the project was slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Royal Caribbean is also adding two private developments in Mexico in the coming years: the Perfect Day Mexico island destination, and Royal Beach Club Cozumel, a beach destination on an island in the Caribbean Sea off the country’s coast.
These developments are well-timed, as Mexico prepares to introduce a US$5 per head cruise-in-transit fee.
Freed said she does not believe the peppercorn fee will hurt demand for the destination more broadly.
The fee will start at US$5 per head, and increase gradually to US$21 in Aug 2028.
Royal Caribbean recently repositioned Ovation to Los Angeles, where she will sail a season of cruises to Mexico during the northern summer.
“We don’t think the guests will have a problem with the $5,” Freed said.
“It’s really such a nominal fee at US$5 a person, I don’t think the consumer is going to have an issue with that.
“Mexico is putting a lot of infrastructure in place in their different ports of call, and they’re putting in a lot of investments, so this becomes a win-win for everybody,” she said.
The fee will be charged to cruises sailing from Jul, and will be retroactively applied to previously made bookings through a passenger’s SeaPass, except where local laws prohibit.
Royal Caribbean will also not be quibbling with the United States’ notorious ‘Jones Act’, Freed said.
The law forces foreign-flagged vessels to visit an overseas port of call on all itineraries beginning in the United States.
It was temporarily repealed during the COVID-19 pandemic to stimulate domestic American cruising, but Freed confirmed Royal Caribbean will not be campaigning for it to be repealed.
“We’re not fighting it, we’re really content with the way it is,” Freed said.
The repealing of the ‘Jones Act’ would allow all cruise lines to cruise to Alaska without a stopover in Canada, and to sail Hawaiian voyages.
MEANWHILE, Royal Caribbean’s onboard atmosphere will help attract younger cruisers to the line, Freed believes.
She believes the cruise line’s combination of quality and energy is perfectly suited to attracting younger Millennial and Generation Z passengers.
“There are other quality lines out there, and there are lines that have energy, but nobody else has that combination of quality meets energy,” Freed said.
“That energy piece is what’s catering to the new generation of cruisers, and they’re loving the experience.”
Live music in particular helps Royal Caribbean bring this onboard personality to life, Freed said, with the line’s performers playing a central role developing a program that resonates with younger cruisers.
This includes the new Dueling Pianos show aboard its new ships Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas, and the live 17-member orchestra on Icon.
“All of our entertainment is really geared toward live music…we have a lot of the energy on our ships,” Freed enthused.
“We are going big time on live where a lot of people have gone to tape music or DJs.
“While those ideas can work, for us, it is about having the street parties on the Royal Promenade on the bigger ships, so we’re not having any trouble attracting that [younger] audience.”
A younger client base could be the answer to solving one of the key problems facing travel advisors today.
Freed believes an advisors’ average client base size is the biggest issue facing the trade, despite positive public sentiment toward agents having never been higher.
She said finding repeat clients is among the toughest jobs in the profession, leaving advisors feeling “all dressed up with nowhere to go”.
The problem is particularly daunting for those new to the role and independent consultants, she added.
“People don’t have a big enough net of prospects, they need more clients,” Freed said.
“The travel advisor today can get the education, they can learn the product, they know the product, they have the passion to be in this industry, they just don’t have enough clients.
“That’s the hardest part [for] somebody who just doesn’t have walk-in business.”
Royal Caribbean works to help its advisors develop a sizable prospect pool, Freed said, particularly as more travellers seek out the expertise of an industry professional post-COVID.
“Groups are one of the ways that they can do it, so they can get affinity for groups and get friends and family, and multi-generation families, they can be a specialist in celebrations.
“You want to ask a simple question: is there anyone else that you can think of who might want to travel with you?
“If you ask that question each and every time you close a sale, you will get one new booking out of four times.”
