The evolution of cruising’s private islands
Some passengers say they don’t care where the ship goes, as long as it stops at the cruise line’s exclusive destinations. Executive teams are responding by enhancing private islands and building new experiences in established ports.
Waves gently lapped at my feet as I stood in the sand at the newly built Hideaway Beach on Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean International’s private island in the Bahamas.
Although I couldn’t see it, new private cruise destinations were being built on an island 70 miles to my north, while another was under construction a similar distance to the south.
To the east and west, a smattering of private islands and beaches owned or operated by cruise lines dotted the Bahamian archipelago. Located just hours from the world’s largest cruise ports in Florida, these ports of call generate enough demand that they have become cornerstones of many Caribbean cruise itineraries.
Offering sandy beaches and a variety of amenities, private destinations often garner a cruise line’s highest guest approval ratings. They are so in demand, some travel advisors say their clients don’t care where they go as long as their cruise stops at a private island or beach. And most Caribbean-bound ships oblige, some offering itineraries that visit more than one private destination and others sailing short jaunts with only a private island call.
Cruise lines are heeding the call from their customers, evolving and refining the destinations they have and opening new ones that rethink the concept of a private cruise destination. In some cases, they are shifting from private, secluded stops to optional offerings adjacent to the public ports that are critical to their itineraries.
In all cases, the offerings provide what makes them so popular: an exclusive extension of the cruise experience ashore.
New developments
Consumer research tells Royal Caribbean International that guests go on cruises for two primary reasons: No. 2 is to eat, but No. 1 is for the destinations, said Jay Schneider, chief product innovation officer for the line.
Cruise lines have long focused on the latter, and increasingly, the destinations they offer are private.
But there are only so many islands for sale, and building and maintaining them is expensive and arduous.
Royal operates its Perfect Day at CocoCay private island, but its next development plans are for a beach club portfolio that offer exclusive experiences adjacent to public port calls.
Unlike Perfect Day, these beach clubs will be located where guests have other options while in port and will carry a charge, much like a shore excursion would.
Its first example will be the Royal Beach Club in Nassau, a port Schneider described as strategically important for the line but that nevertheless has a “very low appeal and low satisfaction with guests.”
“It’s an example of a high-volume port that is either tired or it can’t be a pure Perfect Day, where we want to build a Royal exclusive product,” he said.
The line plans to charge an entrance fee for Royal Beach Club, and it’s likely that some cruisers will choose to do other things in port than pay for that private experience.
With up to four Royal Caribbean Group ships able to dock at Nassau at the same time, the beach club will serve Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises guests, much like Perfect Day will do beginning this April.
Royal isn’t the only line planning a private beach next to a major cruise port. Carnival Cruise Line is building its seventh private destination, Celebration Key, on the south side of Grand Bahama. It is set to receive ships by summer 2025. The $600 million project is 20 miles outside of Freeport and will have four berths to accommodate the line’s Excel-class ships. At 65 acres, the destination will be the largest exclusive area in the Carnival Corp. portfolio and the closest to Florida’s cruise ports.
Jan Swartz, executive vice president of strategic operations for Carnival Corp., said private beach experiences are important, especially for returning cruisers.
“We have a very high repeat rate of guests, and so we always want to create a diverse array of itineraries visiting an assortment of different ports, even if you’re leaving out of the same homeport,” she said. “You can return to us again and again and experience a new mix of itineraries and also some signature moments.”
Perfect Day at public ports?
Cruise lines have long invested in private beach destinations in strategically located destinations throughout the Caribbean: Carnival operates Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic and Mahogany Bay in Honduras; Royal Caribbean’s Labadee is a private destination on the northern coast of Haiti; and Norwegian Cruise Line has Harvest Caye in Belize.
But Celebration Key and Royal’s beach club will be a test of whether a new beach experience can bring renewed appeal and guest satisfaction to two of the Caribbean’s busiest ports of call.
Royal first laid out its plans to build more private destinations in 2018. Schneider said these destinations could pop up around the world including in the South Pacific, China, the North Pacific, the Mediterranean and in more locations in the Caribbean, where he said Royal has ambitious plans for growth and is actively looking at property.
The line had planned to build another Perfect Day private experience on Lelepa Island in Vanuatu, east of Australia, but now says it is committed to developing the destination “in some way, shape or form,” although it may not be a Perfect Day experience, Schneider said.
Disney Cruise Line is also in the process of building a new private destination in an otherwise public destination. While Disney’s first destination, Castaway Cay in the Bahamas, encompasses an entire island, the line’s new Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point will share an island with Princess Cruises’ Princess Cays on the southern end of Eleuthera. Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point is set to open in June.
Where cruise lines go private
When looking for new places to build private destinations, Royal takes into account various factors, such as where the cruise line sails and how quickly a region reopened to cruising after the pandemic pause in operations.
Another factor is anti-tourism, or anti-cruise, sentiment.
“There’s tension for tourism, and then there’s tensions for ‘Well, wait a minute, this is too much tourism,’” Schneider said. “Whether it’s working with local ports, whether it’s working with local governments, trying to find that right balance is where that macro kind of viewpoint comes in.”
Part of the drive to develop private destinations is creating locations that can both accommodate large ships and wants them, said Koreen McNutt, senior vice president of sales and trade engagement and commercial sales officer for MSC Cruises, which opened the Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve private island in late 2019.
For instance, she said, Key West is a popular port among cruisers, but its residents have pushed back against large ships.
Safety and comfort in places that have a lot of tourism are also factors that make private islands attractive to guests, McNutt added. The U.S. State Department has issued and reissued travel advisories in the Caribbean warning travelers about crime in Jamaica and the Bahamas, although local officials have said those concerns are overblown.
Kelly Brewer, an Arkansas-based top producer for Carnival Cruise Line with Cruise Planners, said safety concerns have been a significant factor in demand for private island experiences for the 14 years she has been selling them.
“We always get complaints about any itinerary that has Nassau or Freeport on them … but more so now with the safety alert at Nassau,” she said.
While the crime rates are comparable to those in U.S. cities, she said, guests don’t want to worry when they are on vacation. Brewer attributed the very existence of the Bahamian private destinations to the lack of appeal at the country’s two main ports.
“No one ever requests Nassau or Freeport,” she said.
Having a day at an enclosed beach or island with food included and drinks at the ready without having to navigate people selling goods and services is attractive to guests, McNutt said.
“Too many people wanting to braid your hair, sell you baskets and whatever, right? You have a full day of no concerns with that,” she said. “It just gives you a day of relaxation to truly enjoy these beautiful Bahamian waters and swimming; and you have a bartender right there, you have food right there.”
Cruise customers hungry for more
McNutt said there is such demand for private destinations that she is frequently asked when MSC plans to build more.
The cruise line is among several that are not building new private destinations but upgrading and expanding the ones they have.
MSC, which sails five ships in the Caribbean and is expected to welcome the 5,200-passenger World America to the region in 2025, is closing Ocean Cay from April 7 to May 22 to make additions to the island to ready it for the increased capacity.
The island will get another buffet; new housing for its Bahamian staff, which will increase from 150 to 280; a third solar farm; and additional flora. The project will also include the construction of a marine conservation center to serve as a base for biologists, coral reef experts and students, with interactive pavilions to showcase the work MSC is doing to grow super corals that are resistant to rising ocean temperatures.
In 2019, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings made a major upgrade to Great Stirrup Cay, adding Silver Cove, with 38 private villas for rent, a spa, more swimming areas and new food and drink venues. In recent months, in response to guest feedback, it added an infinity pool to the Cove with in-pool loungers, said Juan Kuryla, the company’s senior vice president of port construction and development. Having the island allows the company to offer “a more all-inclusive experience,” Kuryla said, since guests can use their onboard drinks package there as well as enjoy the complimentary dining.
Royal Caribbean also expanded its private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, with Hideaway Beach, an adults-only experience with a DJ, an infinity pool with a swim-up bar and a milky blue lagoon, all far from the beaches filled with kids and families. Hideaway Beach also has two grades of private cabanas, one by the main infinity pool and the other closer to the lagoon and lined with an infinity pool exclusively for cabana guests.
Carnival Corp.’s Swartz said that new projects and improvements at private destinations give advisors a call to action to reach out to repeat clients sooner than they normally would to stimulate interest in their next sailing.
Elizabeth Caran, owner of Outlander Travel in North Carolina, said the desire to check out new private destinations drives demand. Her clients often don’t care where else the ship is going to go, she said, especially spring break and summer cruisers.
“Whether that’s Disney’s, Royal’s, Norwegian’s, whatever, they’ll have an island that they either have heard a lot about and want to go to or that they have been to before and want to get back to,” she said. “Especially with the Caribbean. It’s like, ‘I don’t care if it’s Eastern or Western. I don’t care if it’s even the Bahamas as long as it goes to one of the private islands.”
As my feet sunk into the sand of that blue lagoon at Perfect Day, I could see why Caran’s clients would want to be there, or some place like it.
All it took was stepping off the ship with a swipe of my SeaPass card — no looking for a bus, no concerns about having my passport and the right currency — and I was satiated, with a full belly after lunch and the sweet taste of a tropical drink from the swim-up bar still on my lips, while gazing out at the ocean.
Correction: Royal Caribbean Group first laid out its plans to build more private destinations in 2018, not 2019 as previously stated.
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