Royal building on success with Perfect Day Mexico

Perfection is a tall order, but Royal Caribbean Group believes it can achieve it twice with the opening of another Perfect Day private destination.

After years of refining the experience at its signature Perfect Day at CocoCay private island destination in the Bahamas, the company said last month it would open a Perfect Day Mexico adjacent to the Costa Maya cruise port in 2027. 

The addition will be part of a growing portfolio of private destinations Royal has in the works, including beach clubs in Nassau; Cozumel, Mexico; and the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu.

For its next Perfect Day, Royal acquired a port and land in Mahahual, Mexico, for $292 million in a deal set to close in the first half of 2025. The destination will have all the highlights from the Perfect Day at CocoCay in an area twice as large, although it is unclear how much of the land will be developed.

Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales, trade support and service for Royal Caribbean International, said Perfect Day Mexico will differ from the CocoCay version the same way sister vessels within a ship class do.

“We will be expanding on the thrill and the chill,” she said. “Just like with every new class of ship, even within the same class … each ship adds new bells and whistles and features. So, Perfect Day Mexico will take the best of Perfect Day at CocoCay, and we’ll add some new features.”

Building the next Perfect Day in Mexico is a strategic decision to deliver the experience in both the eastern and western Caribbean, said Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. It taps into the Gulf Coast and the Texas market, which he said has a similar interest in cruising as Florida but half the penetration. The private destination will be easily accessible from Galveston, Texas, where Royal opened a new terminal in 2022.

Perfectly popular

Royal Caribbean Group’s decision to double down on private destinations stems from Perfect Day CocoCay’s immense popularity: It is the company’s highest-rated destination based on net promoter score.

“Our ability to deliver a perfect day to basically every Royal Caribbean International guest in the Caribbean just drives greater demand for that brand,” Liberty said.

Royal’s next private destination concept is the Royal Beach Club. Unlike the Perfect Days, which are included in the cruise fare, the clubs will carry a fee and be an optional attraction in their ports of call.

The line plans to open Royal Beach Club Paradise Island along a 17-acre beachfront in Nassau in late 2025 and the Royal Beach Club Cozumel in 2026. The company’s 2019 plan to build a Perfect Day in Vanuatu, about 1,000 miles east of Australia, have changed. Liberty told investors during the company’s Q3 earnings call last week that the site will be a Royal Beach Club. (There are no details on when it might open.)

More thrill and chill

Perfect Day, which offers what Royal calls “thrills” through its waterpark and “chill” through beach experiences, is so popular that travel advisors say clients specifically request itineraries that include the private island.

Sharon Concepcion, vice president of Travel Leaders Vacation Center, said Royal keeps CocoCay fresh by strategically adding new features every so often since it became a Perfect Day in 2019. This year it was the adults-only Hideaway Beach; in 2020, it was the Coco Beach Club with floating cabanas and an infinity pool.

“I’ve been going there for several years now, and it seems like every time I am attending an inaugural; they always tell us, ‘You have to be sure to go to this area now because it’s brand new and it’s open,'” she said. “So, it’s giving you new content to bring back to your customers.”

As impactful as new features are for advisors, the evolution of ship deployments has been even more significant. Royal has added more short cruises to the island, including on its newest tonnage, like this year’s Utopia of the Seas, which executives said helps attract new cruisers and millennials to those ships. This year, Royal’s Celebrity Cruises brand also began visiting the island on both long and short itineraries.

Danny Genung

“If you would have told me a couple of years ago that Royal was going to put two of their newest ships on three- and four-day cruises, I would not have believed you,” said Danny Genung, CEO of Harr Travel, pointing to the Utopia and the Allure of the Seas. “It’s just not something that the cruise lines did previously. A lot of times it was just the older ships.” 

Addy Bibb, co-owner of Atlanta-based Addy and Terry Travel, is excited about Perfect Day Mexico and hopes Royal Caribbean’s ownership of the port will mean the line invests in making docking there easier during inclement weather, saying that Costa Maya gets missed a lot if conditions are bad or the sea is rough, often making it “an extra sea day.”

Addy Bibb

The Perfect Day location could also help clients who are bored with Costa Maya if they’ve been there before, Bibb said.”If you’ve done the Mayan ruins, you’ve done everything,” she said. “They really just sit in port, but in having another option, a lot of people are really excited about it.”