by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 2:45 PM ET, Thu November 5, 2026
Jason Liberty, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, along with Michael Bayley, CEO of Royal Caribbean International and Laura Hodges Bethge, President of Celebrity Cruises, discussed the brands’ future growth in front of travel advisors at CruiseWorld on Wednesday, November 5, which is hosted by Northstar Travel Group, TravelPulse’s parent company.
Liberty, Bayley and Hodges Bethge discussed the new partnership between Royal Caribbean and Sandals, how Royal Caribbean Group has shifted from offering a vacation of a lifetime to providing a lifetime of vacations, the launch of its first river cruise brand with Celebrity and more.
Royal Caribbean Group: Sandals Merger, Future Growth
Jason Liberty, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean, sat down with Travel Weekly’s Editor-in-Chief, Johanna Jainchill, to discuss recent happenings.
While Liberty couldn’t officially announce concrete developments on the Royal Caribbean/Sandals merger, he did note what it will not be: Royal Caribbean ships will not visit Sandals Resorts.
However, he did note the power of a collective force between the cruise experience and the resort experience, and how it will hopefully influence loyalty between the cruise and all-inclusive experience.
Liberty told travel advisors: “I do think you’ll see packages, pre- and post-, you’ll see packages that incentivize the guest to take those additional vacations, and ultimately, the way I look at it, if a customer is on Royal Caribbean, and they’re going to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean that’s not Sandals or Beaches, that’s a failure.”
As younger travelers continue to transform what travelers want, Liberty told advisors that these travelers, who are more likely to collect and share travel experiences online, play a role in growing cruise demand.
Offering all-inclusives along with several different cruise brands that operate within multiple different categories, from family-friendly Royal Caribbean to luxury, will encourage more travelers to keep coming back to Royal Caribbean Group for their vacations.
In addition to the prospect of creating an ever-widening travel brand, Royal Caribbean also now has access to 1,000 acres of undeveloped land in the Caribbean.
Celebrity River Cruises
Michael Bayley, CEO of Royal Caribbean International and Laura Hodges Bethge, President of Celebrity Cruises discuss travel developments at CruiseWorld 2026. (Photo Credit: Lacey Pfalz)
Liberty and Laura Hodges Bethge, President of Celebrity Cruises, discussed recent developments related to an exciting new expansion into river cruising with Celebrity River Cruises.
When asked why Celebrity was the right brand to begin river cruising, Liberty told advisors, “We think about the customer of today and also how the customer of today is going to grow into the customer of tomorrow…We looked at the demographics, the psychographics, we thought Celebrity was the right way to enter this space, to get our footing, and we also thought Celebrity was the brand where we could grow this at great scale.”
Laura Hodges Bethge discussed how Celebrity is considering the new river cruise traveler, offering experiences for those who enjoy elevated, premium travel with a distinct focus on great hospitality, food and dining options and immersive destination experiences.
“You should look at your Royal Caribbean guests, your Celebrity guests, even some of your Silversea guests, that are [already] river cruising, or are interested in much more immersive, localized, experiences,” said Beth Hodges. “I would absolutely start there. They will know us, they will know our brand…and that’s a great place to start.”
As an example demonstrating the loyalty of the Royal Caribbean Group’s cruisers, Beth Hodges shared that the first sailings for Celebrity’s river cruises sold out in just six minutes after going live online.
The Growth of Shorter Sailings
While Celebrity’s river cruises and the new merger with Sandals Resorts were major points of discussion throughout both panels, Michael Bayley, CEO of Royal Caribbean International, noted another important trend: shorter cruises as a gateway for travelers who are new to cruising.
“I think we see the growth coming across all the segments; we don’t think it’s just out of one segment, but we recognize and see that that short product with superior, wonderful hardware with a great private destination, is by far the on-ramp for new-to-cruise,” said Bayley.
“So it really, genuinely, allows new customers to put their toe in the water, to see if they like the cruise product, to see if they find it engaging or not. Of course, when they come on and they experience one of our large new ships, and they go to Perfect Day (at CocoCay), they are absolutely sold. I think for the travel partners, it’s a genuine opportunity.”
While shorter cruises might not be becoming more popular among all cruiser types than other styles of cruises, they’re becoming a gateway for those who might be anxious about spending a whole week or more on a cruise ship when they’ve never been at sea before—giving travel advisors a great opportunity to turn clients into cruisers.
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