As a cruise company, you have to pay to dock at Caribbean ports where your passengers pay for touristy activities.
But, wait. What if you built your own tourist destination; a privately owned tropical village with bars and cute shops (and, better still, water slides) and dropped your passengers off there for a day?
Whatever money they spend, and they will spend, stays with you. You also can almost certainly avoid complaints of overtourism and potential political or safety problems by keeping guests on land you control.
Nobody is suggesting cruise ships will stop disgorging guests in St. Thomas or Montego Bay, but cruise companies are increasingly building their own private islands to better control the narrative; and the profits.
In a recent story posted on the Skift website, analyst Richard Clarke is quoted as saying there are many advantages to a cruise line operating its own destination.
“By visiting only locations owned by the cruise line, cruise companies avoid concerns about whether new and bigger ships can fit into ports, whether locations will have the capacity to absorb guests, and any objections from locals about the economic impact of the cruise,” he said. “It also helps sidestep any concerns that may arise from political or social instability that could endanger guests.”
“If your customers are leaving your ships to go spend money on beaches, you should own the beaches,” Skift said. “That's the apparent logic of cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean in building private destinations. It's like vertical integration for vacations.”
Five years ago, Royal Caribbean opened Perfect Day at Coco Cay on a Bahamian island once called Little Stirrup Cay. They’ve operated Labadee, a private spot in Haiti, for years.
They now have several other, similar projects in the hopper, including Royal Beach Club Paradise Island, due to open in 2025, and Royal Beach Club Cozumel, set to open in 2026. Skift reports Perfect Day Mexico in Mahahual, Mexico, south of Tulum, is due to fling open its doors to cruise goers in 2027.
Other cruise companies are stepping up their own private island game. Holland American Line and Carnival Cruise Line on 10DEC, 2024 announced that Half Moon Cay is being enhanced and renamed RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay.
Other cruise lines have already figured out that private islands are a good item to keep in their tool box. The Beach Club at Bimini is a resort that's exclusive to Virgin Voyages customers when their Lady Ships call at Bimini. Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve is a sustainable destination where guests can connect with nature.
“Cruise line private islands are not a new concept, but offering more than just a swath of beach is different,” RoyalCaribbeanBlog.Com reports. “All the major cruise lines have at least one private destination, and many lines are up to two.
“Private islands make good business sense,” author Matt Hochberg said on the Royal Caribbean blog site. “They capture more of their customers spending, the capacity and amenities are directly controlled by the cruise line to ensure it matches up with their standards, and it delivers high guest satisfaction rates.”
