Royal Caribbean Execs Feel ‘Pretty Good’ About Key Caribbean Market
Photo Credit: Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas is pictured in St. Maarten. Parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises said it has a bright outlook for 2018 in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Flickr / David Alexander Elder
Skift Take
Royal Caribbean Cruises has new ships coming into the crowded Caribbean market this year, so it's no surprise the company has a positive outlook for the year. But we still wonder how eager cruise passengers will be to sail in the region this hurricane season given the disruption caused by storms in 2017.
A year ago, Royal Caribbean Cruises CEO Richard Fain made a prediction as he announced financial results for 2016 and an all-time high for bookings going into the new year.
"This year sets yet another record, but this process doesn't and won't continue forever," he said at the time. "It’s going to depend on a large number of factors, but I don't expect to announce another record level of bookings a year from today."
On Wednesday, Fain made reference to that forecast — and admitted he was wrong.
"I wasn’t terribly accurate," he said during a call to discuss 2017 results. "Here we are a year later and we're announcing another record level of bookings."
Royal Caribbean closed the year with nearly $8.8 billion in revenue, up from nearly $8.5 billion a year earlier, and a profit of $1.63 billion, up from $1.28 billion in 2016. For the fourth quarter, the company repo
