Adam M. Goldstein
Analyst · Barclays
Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. As you have heard this morning, second quarter business conditions remained solid in the Caribbean and certainly were challenging in Europe. Asia, while still a small share of overall revenue, performed well. Voyager of the Seas' entry into China was well-received, and we are excited about the prospect of offering Voyager class cruising in Asia for the rest of this year and beyond. Yields were positive on most products, but this progress was partially offset by the decline in Europe yields. In general, we find we are able to source late business where needed. While we would prefer not to have to engage in the level of discounting we have had to do in Europe, we continue to demonstrate our ability to fill ships even in difficult market conditions. We are able to attract both first-time and repeat cruisers with tactical efforts, but our percentage of repeat cruisers is slightly elevated in comparison to prior years. It's not surprising that in more challenging times, experienced cruisers, who viscerally comprehend the value of our products, will gain share of our mix. It is premature for us to comment on 2013 bookings. However, I will note a couple of strategic aspects of the upcoming year. First, Royal Caribbean International will decrease in capacity by 4% in 2013. Our growth trajectory will not resume until we take delivery of the first Sunshine ship in late 2014. The overall year-over-year growth for the company in 2013 will be up by just over 1%. Second, since the last earnings call, we announced the redeployment of Mariner of the Seas to China next year. With Mariner's reassignment and other deployment changes, the result will be a large increase in our Asia and Australia capacity, a small increase in our Caribbean capacity and decreased capacity in Europe. Specifically, with respect to Europe, the company, overall, will have 10% less capacity in Europe in 2013. Moving to onboard revenue in the second quarter, the year-over-year spend was slightly up. A number of onboard areas contributed to the positive momentum, offset by a year-over-year decrease in gaming spend. In addition to Americans spending more on a year-over-year basis, we continue to improve our ability to generate higher onboard spend from guests than many of our priority markets. On the other hand, we saw a decreased year-over-year spend from guests from the major Southern European markets. Richard and Brian both noted that we have managed to offset some of the decrease in expected revenues with additional cost savings. We continue to focus on cost control even as we expand globally and generate our highest guest satisfaction ratings in recent years. Given a highly competitive environment, vis-à-vis other cruise competitors and myriad land vacations, we intend to strengthen our product offering even as we manage our cost slightly. Brian?