As Covid cases subside, so too might Royal Caribbean's health protocols.

During a call with investors on Friday, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley answered a question about when protocols might go away.

The investor said since there are likely people who do not want to cruise because of testing or mask mandates, so he wanted to know what would be the impetus for Royal Caribbean to roll back those mandates.

Royal Caribbean currently requires a number of health protocols for passengers on its ships, including wearing of face masks while indoors, pre-cruise testing, social distancing and reduced ship capacity.

Mr. Bayley said that the health protocols provided a lot of reassurance during the height of the pandemic, but as countries begin to roll back restrictions, Royal Caribbean will also move towards a "new normal".

"Certainly, we see now with with Omicron that the decrease in positivity is really significant not only in the U.S. and certain states, but also on board of our ships."

As a result of the lower case counts, Mr. Bayley thinks Royal Caribbean will work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to remove protocols.

"We believe that we're going to move into a much more positive environment. I think what we'll see is as we get into that environment, we'll start working with the CDC.

"We'll start removing many of the protocols that exist today, and it'll become easier and simpler for our customers."

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty said the company's focus remains on keeping guests and crew members safe at all times, "we're following the science, and based off of that, we're making changes to our protocols... to kind of help ensure that our guests and our crew are safe at all times."

Lowering the CDC warning

Mr. Bayley said he felt "quite positive" about the direction of Covid and its impact on cruise ships. In fact, Mr. Bayley indicated he thinks the CDC may change its stance on cruise ships and Covid.

On December 30, 2021, the CDC raised its warning against going on a cruise ship to its highest level, level 4.

The federal agency recommended avoiding cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status.

Mr. Bayley believes that warning will go away in the not too distant future.

"We also believe that in the not too distant future, the CDC Level four will be downgraded to Level three, and I think that will also be another positive step in the right direction."

Royal Caribbean Group posted its fourth quarter earnings on Friday, which includes a business update on how it plans to return to profitability.

As expected, the Omicron variant took a hit on Royal Caribbean Group's bottom line, which the company said impacted bookings.

Despite all the challenges, the company's plan for 2022 to be a "transitional year" to reverse its financial fortunes appears to be the plan.

Omicron impact

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 impacted ship operations and bookings during the fourth quarter.

Bookings in the fourth quarter were sequentially higher than the third quarter. Due to the impact of the Omicron variant, bookings decreased in December and remained lower over the holiday period, but have started to increase with each consecutive week since the beginning of 2022 and are now back to pre-Omicron levels.

"Following a record U.S. black Friday and cyber weekend, the spread of the Omicron variant resulted in a softening in booking volumes and an increase in near-term cancellations," said Naftali Holtz, chief financial officer. 

"Similar to our experience following Delta, we expect bookings to materially increase as we get further beyond the peak of cases. We are already seeing cancellations subside and bookings improve to pre-Omicron levels, and we have adjusted our sales and marketing efforts in anticipation of a delayed and extended WAVE period."

While Omicron caused several sailings to be cancelled, the good news is Royal Caribbean Group still expects to operate approximately 95% of its planned capacity in the first quarter of 2022.

Moreover, Royal Caribbean Group said service disruptions from the Omicron variant have recently become less widespread as Covid cases begin to drop.

Fourth quarter results

Royal Caribbean Group posted a $1.4 billion loss during the fourth quarter of 2021. They also posted an Adjusted Net Loss of $(1.2) billion.

Total revenue per Passenger Cruise Day in the fourth quarter was up 10% versus record 2019 levels driven by strong onboard revenue performance. 

Despite the impact from Omicron, total cash flow from ships in operation turned positive in the fourth quarter.

For the full year of 2021, Royal Caribbean Group reported US GAAP Net Loss of $(5.3) billion or $(20.89) per share compared to US GAAP Net Loss of $(5.8) billion or $(27.05) per share in the prior year. 

Cruise ship capacity in fourth quarter

In the fourth quarter, 12 additional ships returned to service.

Ships that operated the Group's core winter itineraries in the fourth quarter achieved a load factor of 65%, with 59% total load factor for the quarter.

More ships and higher capacities

The plan for Royal Caribbean Group going forward is to bring more ships back into service, and get more passengers onboard.

By the end of the first quarter of 2022, the Group expects that 53 out of 62 ships will have been brought back to service, with the rest of the fleet returning to operations before the summer season.

The delivery of Wonder of the Seas in January means the fleet is now up to 62 ships.

Royal Caribbean Group expects to return the full fleet before the summer season of 2022 and load factors approaching historical levels in the third quarter of 2022. 

Financial future

The Group expects total cash flow from ships in operation in the first quarter to be positive.   

Notwithstanding the impact from Omicron, the expectation is to be operating cash flow positive in late spring. They expect a Net Loss for the first half of 2022 and a return to profitability in the second half of 2022.

As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately $3.2 billion in customer deposits. This represents an improvement of about $400 million over the previous quarter despite the significant quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue recognition and near-term cancellations due to Omicron, both of which reduce the customer deposits balance.

The customer deposit balance at year-end for Q2 2022 forward sailings was higher than the balance held at the end of 2019 for Q2 2022 forward sailings. 

Approximately 32% of the customer deposit balance is related to FCCs compared to 35% in the prior quarter, a positive trend indicating new demand. 

Royal Caribbean has made those future cruise credits you have accrued over the last two years easier to use.

Future cruise credits (FCCs) have been given out to guests by the cruise line for cancelled cruises, and up until today there was a date a customer had to redeem it by before they expired.

Travel agents were advised today that Royal Caribbean has removed the "book/redeem by" deadline, and FCCs can now be redeemed anytime up until the expiration date listed on the certificate.

A FCC can now be redeemed on any Royal Caribbean International sailing departing on or before the expiration date. For example, if their credit expires on December 31, 2022, they can redeem their certificate on any sailing departing on or before the same date.

Royal Caribbean said the decision was made due to limited options for guests in light of the current global situation.

Royal Caribbean hopes this change will give guests more choice and more time to plan a cruise that can be booked with the FCCs.

Some other important notes about FCCs:

Multiple FCCs can be combined for one sailing.

If you are cruising with other guests on the same booking (reservation number), you can equally share the value of a FCC across all guests on that booking.

In addition, FCCs can be used with any promotion by the cruise line.

A welcome change

Sharla Manglass, a travel agent with MEI Travel, thinks this change will offer more flexibility for her clients, "This will give people more time to use them."

"And more time to sail, since a lot of people don't feel comfortable cruising right now."

Royal Caribbean has steadily pushed back expiration dates for FCCs given out during the pandemic.

While widespread cruise cancellations have stopped, the Cruise with Confidence program has been a popular option for Royal Caribbean customers who need to cancel a cruise close to the sail date for many possible reasons.

The program allows customers to get their money back in the form of future cruise credit if they choose to cancel for any reason, up until 48 hours prior to sailing.

Cruise with Confidence has been popular because of customers like knowing that they can cancel them due to Covid, or any reason.

The result has been a great deal of future cruise credits sitting idle as customers make a decision to sail again, or wait for the pandemic and its policies to change.

Read more: Top ways you cannot use your Royal Caribbean future cruise credits

Lots of credits out there

Prior to Covid, a future cruise credit was fairly rare, since cancelled cruises were few and far between.  But since then, many cruisers of all levels have dealt with them in one way or another.

During the height of pandemic when the cruise industry was shutdown, Royal Caribbean and other lines offered bonus FCC if a guest took the credit instead of a cash refund.

This strategy allowed the cruise lines to stay afloat, but it also has left lots of FCCs out there.

While cruise ships are back in service, there are still plenty of people who have a FCC and cannot use it yet for a variety of reasons.

Hopefully today's change will give these folks more time to find the right way to redeem it for them.

Planning a cruise? Check out these articles:

• What are the different types of cabins on a cruise ship?
• What to expect on your first cruise
• The unwritten rules of going on a cruise
• Is it worth it to book a short 3-night cruise?
• Which is the best Royal Caribbean cruise ship?
• Why you shouldn't book the cheapest cruise you can find
• How do I pick the perfect first cruise?

Royal Caribbean has updated its app so kids that are fully vaccinated can upload photos of their vaccination card.

Up until now, the app did not give parents the option of uploading a photo of their child's vaccine card in the app because there was legacy logic that did not ask for children's vaccine cards due to the Covid-19 vaccine being only available for kids 12 and up.

In the months since the vaccine has been approved for kids as young as 5, the app did not open up the option for kids vaccine cards to be uploaded, which meant an extra step of verification in the cruise terminal on embarkation day.

Now, the Royal Caribbean app allows the option for kids under the age of 12 to upload a photo of their vaccine card.

Thanks to RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader smokeybandit for noticing the 1.31.2 update added the function in Royal Caribbean's app.

Royal Caribbean's app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Why you should submit a photo of your vaccine cards

By submitting your vaccine card via the app, you can speed up the check-in process.

Just like taking a selfie, it's necessary to take a photo of the vaccine card so that Royal Caribbean can verify a passenger's vaccination status. Those that do not upload a photo via the app, will have to wait for the port agent to take a photo.

Guests will still need to bring their vaccine card with them, but taking the photo at home will allow the embarkation process to move just a little bit faster since the terminal staff will not have to take time to take photos of everyone's card.

How to upload your vaccine card photo

The vaccine card photo upload is part of the four-step check-in process in Royal Caribbean's app.

You can upload a photo when you first complete the online check-in process, or go back later to add a photo.

The third step is to upload a photo of your vaccine card, along with entering the vaccine manufacturer and date of last dose.

After uploading a photo, the app will put it into a waiting status as it gets manually verified.

Don't worry that it remains in the "waiting" phase for a little bit. Eventually the card will either be accepted or you will be asked to submit it again.

There's plenty of cruise news out there, and I have a fresh look at some of the bigger stories from this week.

There are smaller updates from across the fleet that I think are kind of interesting, neat, or otherwise good to know.

If you ever have a news tip, feel free to email it to [email protected] for possible inclusion in a future update!

Coast Guard investigating SpaceX launch scrub due to Harmony of the Seas

A SpaceX cruise ship attempt to launch a rocket last weekend was cancelled due to Harmony of the Seas veering into the "exclusion zone", and now the United States Coast Guard is involved.

Prior to any SpaceX launch, there is an exclusion zone established so that no planes, ships, etc are able to enter the space, which adjoins against the second busiest cruise and shipping port in the country at Port Canaveral.

Harmony of the Seas entered that zone, which cancelled the launch. SpaceX was able to launch the rocket the next day.

The Falcon 9 rocket was carrying an Italian satellite into orbit

U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson David Micallef confirmed that the Coast Guard will look into what happened, "Our primary concern is the safety of mariners at sea, and we will continue to work with our federal, state, and local port partners to ensure safe and navigable waterways."

Singapore cancels two Quantum of the Seas cruises due to Covid-19

Two sailings on Quantum of the Seas from Singapore had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 cases among the crew.

According to the cruise line, 0.6% of the crew tested positive for Covid-19, and so the sailings were cancelled "in an abundance of caution."

The crew members that tested positive were immediately isolated. Close contacts were also quarantined and tested.

According to the Singapore Cruise Society, the affected sailings were the January 31, 2022 and February 3, 2022

The ship will under go a deep cleaning and disinfection during her time off.

Wonder of the Seas arrives in Cyprus

The newest and largest cruise ship in the world made a brief stop in Cyprus as it prepares to begin cruises.

Wonder of the Seas arrived in Limassol, Cyprus on January 31st in order to bring more crew members onboard.

Cyprus' Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos welcomed the ship upon her arrival, "The benefits for our economy and tourism are huge, when leading shipping companies dock in Cyprus. We welcome to the Port of Limassol the largest cruise ship in the world, the Wonder of the Seas of Royal Caribbean."

Wonder is now headed to Cadiz, Spain as a final stop before her transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The first sailing of Wonder of the Seas will be March 4, 2022.

Labadee sign painted

Labadee re-opened last week, and the sign that spells out the private destination's name has been repainted.

Prior to the pandemic, the letters had a colorful look to them, against a blue background.

Royal Caribbean repainted the letters with a green background and a white floral motif.

Royal Caribbean also shared new aerial photos of Labadee.

Royal Caribbean trademarks "Accessory Place"

In January, Royal Caribbean Group trademarked the phrase "Accessory Place".

According to the paperwork filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the trademark is intended to cover the category of retail store services featuring jewelry.

Booking a pre- or post-cruise hotel just got easier for Royal Caribbean's sister brand.

Celebrity Cruises announced its new Hotels by Celebrity option, where guests can book a four- or five-star hotel along with their cruise. There is no limit to the duration of how many nights you can book.

While the program is now available for Celebrity Cruises only, it may be coming to Royal Caribbean too. Jessica Suchman, Celebrity's Sales Training and Development Specialist, told travel agents in a webinar, "this will be a tool for all of our brands at Royal Caribbean Group, but we're beginning here with Celebrity Cruises."

In order to book a hotel through the program, you need to have a Celebrity Cruises reservation number.

The program offers refundable hotel booking options. 

You may reserve up to 9 rooms at a time, provided they all have the same check-in and check-out dates. For a booking of 5-9 rooms a different name for each room is required.

Within the results, guests can view the amenities for each specific hotel, and even filter by amenity and star level to further refine the search.

Offering hotels for before or after their cruise is an addition to the pre-existing option to book airfare for cruise guests.

Royal Caribbean Group has offered airfare booking through the cruise lines for years via the Air2Sea website. 

With added health protocols, spending a night or two in the departure city before the cruise begins has never been more important, and offering a hotel booking option offers a more complete vacation planning tool for guests.

Read more: Why you shouldn't fly to your cruise the same day it begins

You can use the Hotels by Celebrity website here.

Is there a question or two you aren't sure about Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship?

Wonder of the Seas is about to begin her inaugural season, and there's plenty of people who are excited to it out. New ships are always exciting because they offer the latest and greatest. Plus, people want to know what makes this ship different from others in the fleet.

Every ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet stands out from others in at least a few ways, and Wonder certainly has a lot of new additions and distinguishing features.

After scouring commonly asked questions on Google, here are some of the top questions people are searching for on the internet about Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas.

Is Wonder of the Seas bigger than Symphony of the Seas?

Yes, Wonder of the Seas is slightly larger than Symphony of the Seas, making her the biggest cruise ship in the world.

By bigger, we're talking about her gross tonnage, which is a nonlinear way to measure a ship's overall internal volume.

Wonder of the Seas is 236,857 gross tons, whereas Symphony comes in at 228,081.

Read more: Royal Caribbean ships by size

How big will Wonder of the Seas be?

Now that we know Wonder of the Seas is the biggest cruise ship in the world, how big is she exactly?

The new ship will be 1,188 feet long and 210 feet wide.

Wonder has a capacity of 5,734 passengers at double occupancy.

There are 18 decks and 2,867 staterooms to choose from, including interiors, balcony rooms, and suites.

An interesting fact about Wonder of the Seas is that there will actually be less suites on Wonder of the Seas than other Oasis Class ships. 

Why are there less suites? In order to make room for the new Suite Neighborhood, the amount of suites had to be cut back so there could be room for it all.

Read more: Why cruise ships are getting bigger

How much does Wonder of the Seas cost?

The construction cost to build Wonder of the Seas came out to 1.2 billion Euros or $1.35 billion.

The ship was built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Naizaire, France.

Where will Wonder of the Seas sail?

The first sailing with passengers of Wonder of the Seas is scheduled for March 4, 2022.

Wonder will spend just two months offering cruises from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida before heading over to Europe for a summer season.

Once in Europe, Wonder of the Seas will sail from Barcelona, Spain and Rome between April and October 2022.

After that, Wonder returns to the United States to offer year-round sailings from Port Canaveral, Florida in November 2022.

How many restaurants are on Wonder of the Seas?

There are more than 20 different places to eat on Wonder of the Seas. Some are included with your cruise fare, while others will cost extra.

Read more: What's included in your Royal Caribbean cruise fare

Among the many restaurants on Wonder of the Seas, there is a brand new dining option in The Mason Jar Southern Restaurant & Bar.

The Mason Jar will serve Southern staples, beginning with freshly baked buttermilk biscuits and jalapeno cornbread. Brunch offers range from savory johnnycakes topped with barbeque pulled pork to the Sweet-Tooth Cinnamon Roll.

You will also find Italian classics at Giovanni's Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar to American sports bar favorites at Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, to New England-inspired dishes at Hooked Seafood.

Other Wonder of the Seas options include Wonderland, Asian-inspired flavors at Izumi, American steakhouse Chops Grille, American seasonal dishes at 150 Central Park, Johnny Rockets, Starbucks, Sugar Beach and more.

Here is a full list of restaurants on Wonder of the Seas:

• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade
• Hooked Seafood
• El Loco Fresh and Cantina Fresca
• The Lime & Coconut 
• Izumi
• Wonderland
• 150 Central Park
• Johnny Rockets
• Starbucks
• Sugar Beach
• Chops Grille

What is the Broadway show on Wonder of the Seas?

Royal Caribbean has not yet announced the entertainment lineup for Wonder of the Seas.

In fact, it is not yet clear if there will be a Broadway show onboard Wonder of the Seas, although other Oasis Class ships have all had Broadway shows onboard.

When will Wonder of the Seas be available in Royal Caribbean's app?

Yes, but it is not clear when app support will become available for Wonder of the Seas.

Without question, Wonder of the Seas will have app support before her first sailing.  However, Royal Caribbean has yet to enable Wonder in the app, which also means the ability to check-in for the cruise remains unavailable.

Read more: Royal Caribbean app walkthrough and tips

Who is Wonder of the Seas' godmother?

Royal Caribbean has not yet announced the ceremonial role of the ship's godmother.

It is likely the godmother will be revealed closer to the official ship's christening, which has also not been announced yet.

What is the Vue?

A new feature for any Oasis Class ship is the Vue, which is a new cantilevered bar.

Royal Caribbean says the Vue will offer panoramic ocean views by day and a colorful mosaic canopy overhead by night.

The Vue is located on Deck 15 forward in the Solarium, and is where you would find the cantilevered hot tubs on other Oasis Class ships.

How many unique neighborhoods does Wonder of the Seas have?

Wonder of the Seas is the first Oasis Class ship to have an eighth neighborhood, with the addition of the Suite Neighborhood.

Located midship across decks 16, 17, and 18, the new Suite Neighborhood wraps around the funnel.

Suite guests will have a private sun deck on deck 18 to enjoy at their leisure, which offers a view of the back of the ship.  There are also loungers and various seating options near an exclusive plunge pool and bar.

Like all Oasis Class ships, suite guests also can dine at Coastal Kitchen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Junior Suite passengers can only dine at Coastal Kitchen for dinner). Coastal Kitchen is a complimentary restaurant for suite guests that offers a Mediterranean-Californian fusion menu that changes daily.

Sailing on Wonder of the Seas? Here are more helpful articles:

• Wonder of the Seas tour
• What are the different types of cabins on a cruise ship?
• What to expect on your first cruise
• The unwritten rules of going on a cruise
• Royal Caribbean frequently asked questons

Three weeks after Royal Caribbean was forced to cancel three sailings on Symphony of the Seas, the ship is back in service.

In early January, Royal Caribbean announced four of its cruise ships would either cancel cruises or remain out of service for a while longer due to a rise in Covid-19 cases, largely due to the Omicron variant.

On Saturday, the first of these ships returned to service without any further delays.

Symphony of the Seas departed PortMiami on a 7-night Western Caribbean itinerary that includes a stop at Perfect Day at CocoCay.

According to reports from onboard Symphony, there are 2,937 passengers on this sailing.

When Royal Caribbean cancelled the Symphony sailings, it said it did so, "as a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, and in an abundance of caution."

Royal Caribbean International Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, Mark Tamis, told The Points Guy last month the cancelled cruises gave the cruise line an opportunity to take care of crew members and give passengers a better experience, "“One is [that] crew who test positive and are asymptomatic are able to serve their quarantine period on one of these ships."

"It also allows us to have these additional crew members who then can supplement the crew who are not able to work for those 10 days in order to make sure that we’re able to deliver a great vacation and a full experience — all the while protecting our guests, our crew, the ships and the places that we visit, as we have done since our healthy return to service."

Read more: What it's like to be on a cruise ship quarantining crew members

When Symphony of the Seas ceased operations, she was the largest cruise ship in the world.  Today, she has been supplanted by sister vessel Wonder of the Seas.

A look around Symphony of the Seas

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader Robert Jaworski is onboard Symphony of the Seas and shared photos from around the ship.

Other ships returning soon

When Royal Caribbean cancelled cruises on four ships last month, they did so in order to minimize the overall impact to the fleet.

The four ships included:

• Vision of the Seas sailings through March 7, 2022
• Serenade of the Seas sailings from Jan. 8–March 5, 2022
• Jewel of the Seas sailings from Jan. 9–Feb. 12, 2022
• Symphony of the Seas sailings from Jan. 8–22, 2022

With Symphony back in service, the other three ships will also return to service in the next month or so.

Serenade of the Seas was already scheduled to go in for a short dry dock, so Royal Caribbean combined her cancelled cruises with the upcoming refurbishment.

Vision of the Seas had not yet returned to service when her debut was pushed back.

Royal Caribbean Group will release its fourth quarter financial results later this week, which will provide insight into many aspects of their business right now.

While quarterly results are primarily focused on sharing the financial health of a company, there is usually insight into the direction Royal Caribbean is going in and even answers to some questions many have about what to expect next.

As Royal Caribbean is still recovering from the cruise industry shutdown of 2020-2021, there are short-term and long-term concerns investors and cruise fans have about cruising.

Royal Caribbean Group will host their call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, Friday, February 4, 2022.

Executives will start the call off with prepared statements about the outlook they have for the near-term future, but the majority of the call is question and answer between Wall Street analysts and the executives. Many times, these questions are of equal interest to cruise fans as they are to investors.

To get a sense of the questions and concerns Wall Street has for Royal Caribbean, I reached out to Dan Kline, Managing Editor, TheStreet.

1. How did Omicron impact the quarter?

There should be a prop bet on how many times the word "omicron" is said during the earnings call with investors, because it will be the primary topic.

From an investment standpoint, people want to know what kind of effect the Omicron variant had on Royal Caribbean's business, in terms of cancellations, cruise fare pricing, and ship capacities.

Mr. Kline will be looking closely at the short and long term impact of Omicron, "Royal Caribbean saw its comeback derailed a little bit by omicron, but the company has handled it well."

"I'm curious to see how the resurgence of the pandemic impacted the quarter and future bookings."

On December 31, 2021, Royal Caribbean Group said they "experienced a decline in bookings and increased cancellations for near-term sailings but to a lesser degree than that experienced with the Delta variant."

How much of that changed in the month since remains to be seen.

2. What percentage of bookings are new money versus future cruise credit?

Another indicator Mr. Kline is keen to know more about is how many bookings are the result of new cash flow versus re-using future cruise credits.

Future cruise credits (FCC) is something given out when cruises are cancelled, and to get a better sense of the company's financial state, comparing the amount of cash the company has versus FCC is another common question.

3. Are they seeing higher on-board spending?

One of the major sources of revenue for Royal Caribbean has been the money guests spend onboard.

While the cruise fare covers costs, the true profit center is money spent by passengers on cruise extras, such as drink packages, shore excursions, wifi and more.

Before the pandemic, Royal Caribbean's high profit quarterly results were almost always a result of higher guest spend.

While cruise ships are still sailing at a reduced capacity, higher spending by passengers could buoy profits.

Even in the third quarter 2021 results, Total revenues per Passenger Cruise Day in the third quarter was up 12% versus record 2019 levels driven mainly by strong onboard revenue performance. 

In fact, Royal Caribbean Group said onboard spending per passenger were at the highest levels in the company's history during Q3 2021.

4. What steps are they taking to manage their debt?

It's no secret that cruise lines took out big loans during the shutdown to keep them afloat in 2020 and 2021, so how are they balancing those obligations to avoid defaulting on the loans?

While this concern is primarily an investment question, it also impacts the average cruise passenger since being able to pay off these loans will allow the company to remain in operation.

5. Where do negotiations stand on the Grand Lucayan?

Mr. Kline is personally curious about Royal Caribbean's capital projects.

We know about plans to expand port projects into places like Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas, so what's the status of these projects.

Why does Wall Street care about port projects? Competitive advantage is a key metric for Mr. Kline, "I'm also very curious to hear about future investments like the Nassau project and the potential for revisiting the Freeport Grand Lucayan deal."

"I think that Royal has a huge lead on Carnival in private destinations and those two projects are fairly important."

How you can listen to the earnings call

There will be full coverage of anything intriguing that comes out of Royal Caribbean Group's fourth quarter 2021 earnings call right here on RoyalCaribbeanBlog, but if you would like to listen on your own, here's how.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations website, www.rclinvestor.com.  

You will be able to listen via the link provided close to the start of the call.