Royal Caribbean’s Vicki Freed Talks Odyssey of the Seas, Travel Advisors and More
As more and more ships sail with an increasing number of passengers, it’s clear to see the cruise industry is on the rebound.
On November 13, Royal Caribbean celebrated the official naming ceremony for the new Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship.
TravelPulse was on the scene and later spoke with Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean International’s Senior Vice President of Sales, Trade Support and Service on a floating cabana at Royal Caribbean’s private island Perfect Day at Coco Cay.
Read on below for the full interview, or listen here on the latest episode of the TravelPulse Podcast.
TP: How are you doing Vicki, how are things these days?
VF: I’m doing great. You know what’s so exciting is that the industry is back, and our travel partners are back in the business and they’re starting to see momentum, which is all good.
TP: It is the big cruise come back. Congratulations on winning 11 total Travvy Awards for Royal Caribbean, how exciting is that? And how meaningful is that travel advisors the real travel infrastructure to call them are voted you guys the best?
VF: Well, you know, we only want to win the awards if we’ve deserved the awards. And so, when the travel advisors vote for us and they recognize our efforts, it means so much to us. Especially the fact that we won the gold Travvy for the best support in the travel industry for the travel advisor. That’s meaningful to us because we care about the travel advisors, we always have we always will. And, you know, it’s in our DNA to just be there for the travel advisors and help them become very successful.
TP: How do bookings look for this holiday and winter travel season?
VF: We’re seeing the bookings pick up and so that’s great. And consumers are saying, you know, I haven’t vacationed in one or two years. I’m ready to go and travel advisors are recommending Royal Caribbean. So, it’s a win-win for everybody. The consumer, of course, because we’re delivering exceptional vacation experiences, high net promoter scores, meaning the customer is likely to come back and recommend us to their friends and family. Everything’s working out beautifully for us.
TP: How high are guest capacity levels right now – does it vary ship by ship?
VF: You know, when we initially started out, we wanted to be very thoughtful about our occupancy levels, we wanted to make sure the protocols were working and in place. And, the protocols are working, and we’ve increased our capacity, our load factors so that we’re over 50% now and each month, we’re going to keep increasing.
We have 18 ships in the water right now, more to come. So by the spring of next year, we will be fully back will all 26 ships including the brand new Wonder of the Seas.
TP: How has the cruise experience changed since restarting operations?
VF: I think there’s been a lot of silver linings that have happened aboard the ships. The first is the E mustering which is the safety drill. In the past, the guess would all have to congregate together either in a lounge or by the outside lifeboats. And now everybody does it on their phone or they do it through watching the video that’s on their TV in their stateroom. And then they go to the lifeboat station, they check in with a crew member and the crew members says, do you have any questions? This is where you’re gonna come in the event of an emergency.
And once everybody agrees, yes, yes, I’ve watched the video, I agree I understand the details, they’re off to enjoying their vacation. So, there’s no lost time on their vacation by having to congregate in what was the old-fashioned way of doing safety drills.
TP: What are the key features for Odyssey of the Seas – what separates Royal Caribbean from other cruise ships out there?
VF: I think what’s separates Royal Caribbean from other cruise lines and vacation brands is that we have that unique quality of quality and energy combined. So, there are beautiful quality lines, we own a few, there are lines out there that have energy, but nobody has that unique combination of quality and energy combined.
As far as the features go, we have so many different features and, you know, probably the one area that we get guests saying to us, you know, this is my only challenge with being on a ship is beautiful as Odyssey of the Seas is I can’t do it all in seven days or six days or eight days, depending on the length of the cruise.
And so, which means people have to come back because we are one of these companies that just says, it’s all about choice. So, when it comes to entertainment, there’s going to be more entertainment than your clients can partake in and there’s going to be more food options, more specialty restaurants, more complimentary restaurants and on and on and on. You just can’t do it all.
TP: What efforts is Royal Caribbean making as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion?
VF: Well, that’s been a big effort of ours. You know, we’ve always been a very diverse workplace at Royal Caribbean, but now we’re really even more committed to making sure that everybody has opportunities, regardless of background or sexual orientation, or what have you, to be able to grow with a company like ours.
TP: What are Royal Caribbean’s goals for 2022?
VF: Our goal is to be back delivering an exceptional vacation experience on all 26 of our ships. To serve the travel professional, that is a strong goal of ours. When we can help the travel professional become successful then we never have to worry about our own success – it’s a win-win for everybody.
TP: What is your message to all travel advisors right now?
VF: We are committed to serving you, the travel advisor. At Royal Caribbean, if you find a need, or if you don’t even have a need but you just want to just grow your business, we want to be that partner that you can lean on and call on. So. just give us a call, let us serve you, let us help you grow your business because we need you in the future. We’re growing as a company; we need you to be successful so that we can be successful. It’s a win-win for you, for us and of course the consumer.