New Royal Caribbean CEO Expresses Commitment To Travel Trade Community

Royal Caribbean Group's new president and CEO Jason Liberty joined Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales, trade support and service, for the first Coffee Talk webinar of the year.

During the conversation, he expressed support for the travel agent community and said that they "help bring forth why cruising is such a good experience."

The virtual chat served as an introduction of Liberty to the travel agent community. The new president and CEO is a veteran of the company, arriving at Royal Caribbean in 2005.

During his Q&A with Freed, he shared details about his family (Liberty is dad to two sets of twins) and about his dedication to Royal Caribbean and to cruising.

"My favorite job was head of strategy for the company," he said. "It was a time when we had huge growth plans and we had to globalize our business plans."

Liberty also reaffirmed his commitment to Royal Caribbean Group's travel agent partners, after replacing former Chairman and CEO Richard Fain, seen as a champion for agents.

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"Without sales nothing else happens," Liberty told Freed.

"I appreciate how hard and difficult [sales] is to do," he added. "We should never wake up any day and not remember that our job is to deliver the best vacations in the world and we can't do that without our wonderful customers and that can't happen without our travel partners."

During his first 100 days, Liberty said he is committed to "listening and learning."

"I'm spending time with travel partners, customers and employees so I know what everybody is looking for," he said.

At the same time, he noted that the return to service is important and a priority.

"We need to make sure as we come out of this we are accelerating," said Liberty.

To this point, both Liberty and Freed noted that Royal Caribbean is still marketing and selling.

When asked when he thinks the industry will rebound, he shared, "I think that there is tremendous momentum...We are at a state where the variant is at a higher level and we appreciate that but long-term, people want to travel and accumulate incredible experiences and there is no better platform than cruising," Liberty noted.

He also pointed out that Royal Caribbean continues to invest in the commercial engine.

"We have not compromised our guest experience," he said. "We have a strong long-term business."

When it came to a question on what silver linings can be taken from the pandemic, Liberty said that we have all learned to appreciate what we have.

"You appreciate your friends and partners and coworkers," he said. "That has brought a huge sense of high-level collaboration and shows that we can accomplish anything. It was a meteor that hit our industry and we have survived."

Coffee Talk also spoke to CLIA's vice president, industry and trade relations Charles Sylvia on how the association is helping travel agents cut through all the mixed messaging about cruising and talk to clients.

"We are not going backwards," said Sylvia. "We have done a lot to figure this out. We need confidence and empathy and for you to speak to your clients in an informed way."

He noted that CLIA sent out a plethora of information, including a number of bite-size statistics that travel agents can easily refer to.

"We got together with our global cruise line members and travel trade members and sent out a ton of information," he said. "When they call and they are looking to cancel. Ask clients to not cancel and explain why. Use two or three really quick statistics."

Freed also offered travel agents words of encouragement, noting that this will not last forever.

"You can't stop the wave but you can learn how to surf," she said. "I think we have all become exceptional surfers over the last couple of years. No wave lasts forever."