Very honored to be here for my very first president's cruise, ladies and gentlemen. So, I'm very excited to be here and this presentation this morning. I'm going to introduce you to man of the hour very shortly. During the presentation, you will have a chance to ask questions. By a show of hands, who thinks they might have a question this morning? A few. Okay, just a few. We have a mic running team who will be here shortly. They'll be running around the theater up on deck five as well. Give us a wave on deck five. You'll have a chance to ask questions too. What I do ask you is that you ask one question. Tell us what your name is, where you are from, then you can ask Michael your question and he will do his best to answer that question for you. But Michael also has his executive leadership team here from Miami in the leadership team. Round of applause here executives. And we have our ship executive team as well. We got Angel here with the team this morning.
So, shall we get this show on the road, everybody? I can't hear you. Shall we get this show on the road? Very exciting. Would you please welcome on stage, ladies and gentlemen, your president and CEO. GIVE IT UP FOR MICHAEL BAILEY.
Thank you. Hello everybody.
Good morning. Morning. Did you enjoy all in? Next year Pinnacles will be dancing all in. So pay attention. You're going to have to get your rehearsals right. Photo after. Okay.
Okay. So, questions and answers now.
Not yet. Oh, what's going to happen first? No, we're doing Q&A, right? Yeah. But I feel a little overwhelmed because there's a lot of people in the audience today. So, are you all in a good mood? Are you all happy? All right, that's pretty much the end of this session. Get up on stage. Get up on stage. Okay. Use the stairs. Can I use the stairs? I'm going to need a chair then because... Okay. All right.
Yeah. Thank you. Okay. So let's start with the first question.
Okay. So a lot of you I know have questions. We have our running team here. Also feel free to pay any compliments to Michael and anything you enjoy. Thank you. Willing to hear that too. Not just questions.
Good things. I appreciate that.
You're welcome. Hello. What's your name?
Hi Andy Cooper and I live in Brooklyn, Georgia.
My question. So, I apologize after reading it. As a stockholder, I appreciate Royal's direction to make this ship the destination. However, as a consumer that has been loyal to Royal and finally retired where I can take longer cruises overseas as well as the Caribbean, I am asking if you can merge the loyalty points with Celebrity. Not just a one time. Hey, great question. Great question. Not just a one-time conversion. It is just a database. Even if it might be a delay in transferring each way, but to be able to earn points both ways.
Great point. I thought we had a few like easy peasy questions. A couple of nice compliments about the crew and we're sailor and that kind of stuff. No, you're going to go straight to the heart of the matter, you know. Um, Connor will announce changes to the loyalty program. And that is exactly what we're trying to avoid. Yeah. So we have a team, we have consultants, we have tech, we have a big project team, we have the entire executive leadership of all Caribbean group, the brands on regular reviews and meetings about the future of the loyalty program. We're well aware of the different requests and desires and etc for all of our loyalty members across different brands. They're very similar. There's also differences between how people perceive the loyalty programs by brand. Um, we hopefully you've seen some positive changes in terms of access to information and you'll see over the coming months and year or two that things will continue to improve in terms of accessibility, simplicity, making it easier to sell between the brands, get offers, this type of thing. So, we're on a journey to get there. Ultimately we have not defined this yet but ultimately we are going to get to a one platform database of our loyalty members for Royal Caribbean Group and as some people use the word ecosystem you know we're adding river cruise now, celebrities adding river cruise, we there's a lot of investment in the destinations and I think you know there's a journey ahead for Royal Caribbean Group and that that ecosystem which I think will be incredibly beneficial to all of our loyalty members regards to brand. So, you know, I think we're going there. I think we're going where everybody's going to be happy. I think we're incredibly sensitive to not tipping over the apple cart. We don't want to make decisions that maybe, you know, are short-term benefits and then upset our loyalty members. There's also a lot of technology that needs to go into place when you merge data between different brands. There's a lot. I don't know how big our database is. It's probably 40 million people for Royal. I'm guessing I can't remember that. I would guess Celebrity is probably 15 million and Silversea's in the millions. There's a lot of hope over that. So we're getting there and I think the answer to your question is yes. You'll get that will come. I don't have the exact timeline and I think we've had this discussion before and we've maybe over the last couple of years we started this journey with loyalty two years ago. Yeah, two years ago and literally we there's teams working on it. So hopefully I mean our aim is to make everybody happy and also benefit the company in terms of the shareholders and etc etc. So, we're going to get there, but just, you know, try and be a little patient. Hopefully, you see some improvements and you feel like we're making some progress. So, we're going to get there.
Okay, we're going to go to the back of deck four. How we going to rotate it? Everybody on each side will get a chance to ask a question. So, we'll do deck four, then we'll do deck five, then we'll go to starboard side, and then back to port side. So, at the back, hello. Who are you?
I'm Nancy. I'm from Texas. And first I do want to say thank you for this wonderful cruise. Um I know some people are a little disappointed but I for one am glad it gives me a chance to see all my cruise friends. My question to lighten it up a bit is what's the chief dog officer's name for Legend?
Now this really is a critical question. So, as you all know, the chief dog officer position is probably one of the most important positions we've added. You also may have seen from my Facebook page that I am deeply in love with. Yeah. And I got to tell you, Sailor is deeply in love with me. It's very meaningful. Um, so the name for the chief dog officer and Legend that we've got, by the way, we're open to suggestions and I think I'm going to have to figure out I'm going to put something on Facebook in the coming weeks announcing that we need a name for the chief dog officer and Legend. We've got two current contenders, two names that seem to stay well, they stay in my head, so I'll highlight them both. And one of the names was given to me by a guest I think on the last call because I can't remember but I got the name from someone who gave it to me. So one of the names is Papey. The other name is Skipper. Okay. So, we're going to pick Papey. So, clearly you like Skipper. I think we'll probably put it on Facebook and ask everybody to vote. Uh, we need I think we need one more name though, just to make it three names. But uh so if you do have a great name again. Sailor. No, we got Sailor. Who? But no, that would be self-serving. People would think that's a little weird. Bailey would I like that name, though. Uh but anyway, we'll give it we'll put it on Facebook and you can send in names for the chief dog officer. Yeah. So, thank you for that question.
Okay, we're going to go to deck five. Where do we have a question on deck? Deck five. Portside deck five. Hello. What's your name, sir?
Hello. Uh my name is Ray. I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And um uh and I just uh loyal we were now loyal to Royal for maybe a year and a half or so several cruises since then and looking forward to many more. I can't appreciate or show my appreciation for your presence on this cruise. Um I really appreciate it especially how you shot me in the mouth with champagne made my day. Um by uh I've heard rumors maybe rumors of a discovery class and I'm just curious.
So, we did make an announcement a couple of days ago that Royal Caribbean Group has secured the slots in Finland for and confirm the order of Icon 5 with options for Icon 6 and 7 which takes us to 2031 I think I can't remember exactly and then we've also secured slots until 2036. I think that's correct. Yeah. So, in Helsinki, Finland, where we build Icon Oasis ships, we also build Oasis in France, by the way. Uh, we've secured slots, which is a big deal because there's a lot of cruise ship building underway. So, there's only a few yards in the world that capable of building these types of ships. We um we've been working a lot on discovery class. I think you probably heard about a year ago we said we were working on it. I mean it takes a lot of work to design a ship. It just it's a lot of work. So we're getting really close. I'm not sure we've got we can't make any announcements now, but I'm hopeful that in the coming months and that we will be able to make an announcement on that class. I can tell you that we are working on the class and the class will be coming, but there's a lot of things that need to happen before that can be formally announced. We've given it the name Discovery Class because we want the ship to be able to really focus on, you know, you can use different terminology, the more exotic itineraries and sometimes they're called meta regions by our teams. So for example, classically would be the Mediterranean Europe, Northern Europe, Alaska, and Asia-Pacific itineraries. That ship would be, you know, prime the ship that we're creating would be the ship and the class that would come in and start replacing the older hardware that currently operates in many of those itineraries. So, we're trying to, you know, we're excited about the product, what we're creating, and I think we'll be very excited to talk to you about it and for sure this time next year if we're in the president's cruise, we'll have lots of probably lots of information to share with you. But thank you. But I can tell you, we I would say every week now there's teams of us working 20 30 hours a week just on this and so I think it's going to be hopefully you'll find it exciting. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, Michael, we're going five. Stop sign.
Good morning, Michael. Uh, my name is Martha and I'm from Florida. Uh, I do have a question regarding the pens that we get. I'm sure you've had plenty of them. Um, we worked for many years to be able to get to Diamond Plus and we were given virtually something that not only made me come to tears the day we got the Diamond Plus pens, but the fact that they are Dollar Tree quality and not quality. People literally ask me, 'What are those pens for? What do they represent?' They don't know. And I think that as long as we've all worked to be able to get the diamond plus pen, we ought to be given those pens.
Are you saying pin or pen? What you wear on your shirt? Okay. A pen. Yeah. Okay. All the time. Yeah. Did we change the pins? Let's see. By the way, if they're really I'm not sure if I've seen them, but if they're that crappy, we'll change them back. So, I'm sorry if you... Yeah. I mean, if they're... Did you get them from the military? Okay, good question. If they're crappy, we're going to change them back to what they were. I don't know. Sometimes I don't know we do you know it's funny because we get bigger and larger more people and everything and there's always someone who thinks it's a good idea to do something and it happens and then we realize it and we're like that was a really bad idea. So sorry about that. We'll fix it. Thank you. Okay. But now to deck four. Where am I looking? Deck four.
Deck four. Starboard. Hello. Oh, I see you all the way to the left, Michael. On the second balcony. Okay. How are you?
Hello. It's so nice to meet you. I thought I met you the other night, Tuesday, and made a complete fool out of myself. You have a doppelganger. So, we're Dan. We're from the Villages, Florida.
All right. Don't believe everything you hear. So, Oh, yeah. I do believe it. That is disturbing what's going on in the villages.
But actually, we're a couple that believe in gratitude and major sucking up. So, I just wanted to tell you we celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary Tuesday and had the time of our lives. We really, really did. And today is my husband's 73rd birthday.
That's your other husband. I was never good at math. Just like I thought I recognized you. But um anyway, I just want to tell you thank you. I don't understand what all this other stuff is yet because we're new. I don't either. But I just wanted to say thank you and we appreciate you and we can't wait to say hello. Thank you so much. Thank you. Much appreciated I think for everybody in the brand team and all of the employees on shore it's very much appreciated. Thank you very much for those kind words.
My name is Sunshine and I'm from Oklahoma and I must say the absolute worst part of coming on cruises is I have to leave my puppy. And so I'm elated that you have Sailor and you have the rover and Sailor. Yeah. So I was thinking of the dog in charge, but I can't think of the official title. But all that to say is kind of and there's kind of you kind of alluded to it earlier, but I assume that you've seen success with that. And do you plan on doing that eventually to all of the ships or is it only going to be like certain ones? But more so, what benefits have you seen by bringing them on board?
Well, we have a chief dog officer is the official title, and the chief dog officer has a dedicated chief of staff. I mean, why wouldn't she? Personal vet trainer, you know, whatever she wants, she gets. Reports directly to the captain. Has her own private little house and bed on the bridge, just in case the captain needs any navigational support. Has her own dedicated junior suite with the chief of staff with her own little cubby hole for her own bedroom. So, as you can imagine, it's a dog's life being a chief dog officer. So, we have our plan is to have a chief dog officer on every one of the Icon class. I mean, funnily enough, we've had a lot of requests from actually captains and management teams on different ships asking us when are they getting their chief dog officer. So, we're going to have to think about that. Um, the benefits have been amazing. I think there was a lot of skeptics about the idea of putting a family dog on a... Yeah. Like everyone in my team thought it was a really stupid idea. As soon as you're laughing, I will confirm that you know they're all gone next year. So, but I mean it's I tell you one thing that we did do in the beginning which I think the product team, marketing team, they someone had a golden retriever, they put a GoPro on the back of the golden retriever and on Oasis class on a couple of our Oasis class ships in the morning of turnaround day when there's no guests on board, they let the goldens run around all around the ship without somebody holding on to them and it was quite touching to see the response of the crew. Wow. So I think when we did that we thought this is a great idea. I mean clearly the crew really like it. It's a really touching thing and then we've seen also same thing with the guests. I mean it's kind of it's a really nice thing and it's good to have a family dog for a family and I think we believe it's been a great success, you know. So, I think you'll continue to do it. The only thing is that I'm technically the owner of each dog because under the human, you can't get a dog and you know, a corporation can't really get a dog. I mean, maybe you could, I don't know, but we decided we couldn't. So, I have to sign all the adoption papers for the dog. So, I'm just concerned that if we get 30 golden retrievers and I've retired and then, you know, the next dude in my job says, 'Get rid of these dogs.' Who owns them? Michael Bayley, call him up. Sending him 30 golden retrievers to the villages. But it's great. It's really heartwarming and I think it's been wonderful. So, thank you for your question.
Okay, Michael. Right. Next question. Nichol.
How you doing? Um, my name is Stey Castelli. I'm from New York traveling with my wife and my four-year-old son. Um, before I ask my question, I just wanted to say thank you to you. Um, recently my four-year-old was diagnosed with slight autism. um and he's been having a really hard time at school and everything and um he's been just really down and his last two experiences on cruises, especially this one has made his like life and for some reason his um his teachers sometimes have a hard time with him, but somehow your Adventure Ocean crew has always had a positive experience with him. And yesterday we saw you at CocoCay and he gave you gave him a big hug and got down to talk to him and that video you posted yesterday on your social media. He was featured on there when you talked about your loyalty guest and that means the world to us as um people who only cruise on Royal and love Royal Caribbean. So I just want to say thank you for um providing such a great cruise experience. This president's cruise has been more than about just gifts and monetary things that we can buy anywhere. You've given us something that we will have forever and we can never lose. So, first thing, sorry for being so long. Um, uh, my question was, me and my wife, we have ideas every time we're walking back to Coco and it's that long walk and we're thinking about ways to like work for Royal so we never have to leave and try. So, yes. So, we're applying. So, just so you might see my... Um, but my question was, we always think about what it's like to be on different ships because we've only done like Oasis class ships because it's so great for my son, but sometimes we see Celebrity there or we see smaller ships there. And we were wondering, would you ever consider an excursion that allows guests from both ships to visit each other on the ships while parked at CocoCay? Because I feel like it would allow people who only do big ships to see that the smaller ships have so much to offer still and they're not just older ships. And it also offers people who like to stay on the smaller ships an opportunity to see a bigger ship or people who can never see Celebrity to see a Celebrity ship or vice versa Celebrity to see and I think it happened while parked at CocoCay since we're all on island together.
That's a great idea. Thank you to take that on board. I think if we could find out a way to manage that it's a great idea. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you so much for those comments about your son and family. It's very touching. Thank you. We'll pass that on to Adventure Ocean. And yeah, and Adventure Ocean. Thank you. Okay, let's go. Anyone else on deck four or side? Hello. Portside on the right hand side. Michael behind the pillow.
Hi there. I'm Mark from Pittsburgh. And enough with the easy questions. I will love Baltimore because that's our closest.
