The decision to send Quantum of the Seas to China in May 2015 was based on strategic considerations in a changing world, said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, svp operations at Royal Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL).
"The world is changing, this ship appeals to guests from all over the world and we need to take a balanced view where our hardware is based," she said in as conference call. Ship deployments are not always based on prospects regarding revenue, but also strategic objectives of the company in the long term. "The decisions where to sail from are also of strategic, not always financial nature," she stated.
Certain modifications will be required in retail offerings, galleys and menus before the 167,800 gross ton Quantum of the Seas will be introduced on the Chinese market, with Shanghai as its base. The company would unveil its 2015-16 Asia-Pacific programmes at a later stage, said Chris Allen avp of global deployment and itinerary planning, declining to comment on questions regarding whether Quantum of the Seas would operate cruises from other ports than Shanghai.
Allen said that the Chinese market had seen an acceleration on business following the introduction of Voyager of the Seas and then Mariner of the Seas there and that the company has a lot of confidence in this market and its potential.
Royal Caribbean officials that hosted the conference call said that the deployments of the third Oasis class and third Anthem class ships had not been decided yet, but that a balanced view with regards of what the company can offer to its customers in various parts of the world plus what is in the interest of the company itself would determine these deployments.
The decision to base Quantum of the Seas in Shanghai resulted in a number of other changes in ship deployments, the most important of which being the transfer of Anthem of the Seas, the second unit of the Anthem class from Ft Lauderdale in Florida to Cape Liberty in the New York region for the 2015-16 winter season.
