Teri West
Royal Caribbean's Icon class grew to three ships when the Legend of the Seas entered service in Europe earlier this summer.
During a preview sailing, I sat down with Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of sales and trade support and service. We chatted about the ship's positioning in the megaship market and Royal Caribbean's strategy as its fleet continues to grow.
Here is an excerpt from our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: What have you been enjoying on the ship?
A: I've enjoyed being with the hand-selected travel partners that we invited, and they are people who are really in the social influencer market. This was a small group in North America, so for me it's exciting to see how the ship looks from their point of view and the things that are important to them.
I'm excited about all of the entertainment that's on this ship. I think when you look at the cruise industry, by and large, really all the cruise lines do a very good job of providing good food, good service. But the one thing that is special to Royal Caribbean is our entertainment.
Q: The Legend of the Seas is the first Icon-class ship to sail Europe. What percentage of guests will be North American compared to Icon-class ships sailing out of Florida and also compared to your smaller ships that sail the Mediterranean?
A: We attract a lot of North Americans on all of our European products, so you can't say one draws more than the other. It just really depends on the itinerary and what's popular this year. When you think about a roundtrip Barcelona, it's a good intro to Europe, but then there are people that want to cruise different parts of the Med, and they want to go to Greece with a different ship, so it really depends on where people are in their life stages and what's appealing to them.
Q: What are the pros and cons of having a ship of this size sailing this region?
A: I think the size actually is one of the pluses and selling points because there's so much to do onboard the ship, and there's so many different dining venues, and there's so many different places to see and entertainment, activities. I think it's a positive. I don't see any negative.
Q: Once you're three ships deep into a class, how does that change strategy when it comes to generating interest from travelers, and also marketing the product?
A: People who did the Icon of the Seas, they wanted to go with the Star of the Seas, people who went on the Star wanted to go on Legend. It attracts the people who went on number one and two who want to go on number three. We're already booking for the Hero of the Seas, which is next August, which is the fourth in the class.
Q: You're seeing more and more multigenerational travel every year. Why do you think that is?
A: It's a combination of a lot of things. We're focused in on it, so a lot of messaging is going out saying, "If you want the best family vacation, Royal Caribbean is the best family vacation, not just in cruise, but in all vacations." We're taking a leadership position in owning the family market. And then I think after the pause that we all had during the pandemic, people put a higher value on vacations in creating memories and experiences.