Teri West
Six hundred million dollars. That's how much revenue Cleveland Research Center estimates Royal Caribbean's Perfect Day at CocoCay will make in 2026.
In the race to build the most successful private cruise destination in the Caribbean, that makes Royal Caribbean Group the current winner from a revenue standpoint.
Norwegian Cruise Line's Great Stirrup Cay will make $80 million in revenue in 2026, the research group estimated. Carnival Cruise Line, meanwhile, will see $150 million from Celebration Key, it approximated.
It's long been clear that competition is fierce at the big three contemporary cruise lines when it comes to private destinations, but the easiest way to evaluate that tends to be just looking at what they're building. For example, CocoCay boasts a waterpark and now, come next summer, NCL guests will also be able to experience one at Great Stirrup Cay.?
As the cruise lines attempt to one-up each other's offerings, the numbers offer another means of evaluating where the race stands.
Carnival can expect to see nearly double the revenue from Celebration Key than that of Great Stirrup Cay next year, despite it being just the first full calendar year in which Celebration Key will be operating.
But Cleveland Research Center approximated that Carnival has spent more money than both Royal Caribbean and NCL to build its destination, and that's just for an initial phase of construction which, unlike its competitors, doesn't include a full waterpark.
The $600 million Carnival invested in Celebration Key's first phase exceeds the $400 million for CocoCay and estimated $350 million for Great Stirrup Cay. Royal Caribbean's investment was also prior to Covid and therefore at "a more reasonable cost," said Tyler McGillivray, a research associate at Cleveland Research Company.
A true financial picture will always require more than just revenue and investment figures, but they add a bit more to the story than just who has the most seats at their swim up bar or who has the tallest waterslide.
Plus, they show one payoff for having the largest ship.
With the 5,610-passenger Icon of the Seas and now the Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean can bring more guests to its island with one ship -- and CocoCay can accommodate two Icon-class ships at once. The more visitors there are on the island per day, the more visitors there are on the island per day ready to spend money.
Two years from now those megaships will be visiting an additional private destination, Perfect Day Mexico, which will have more than 30 waterslides and what the line says will be the world's longest lazy river.
Meanwhile, come 2029, Carnival will have a ship larger than any currently in existence, with a nearly 8,000-passenger capacity. Carnival hasn't announced ship details or itineraries, but they may make stops at Celebration Key.?