"Although the industry's overall capacity increase of 3-4% in 2014 is below average, changes in ship deployments mean that Caribbean market capacity overall will be up 12-13% in 2014," UBS cruise analyst Robin Farley stated in a recent research report. "The three major cruise operators are all growing capacity in the Caribbean this year -Royal Caribbean and NCL at a double-digit rate," she underscored. Farley estimated that Royal Caribbean will have 49% of its deployments in the Caribbean this year, versus 44% in 2013, while its share in Europe will fall from 26% to 22%. Royal Caribbean has reversed course since its European capacity spiked in 2011, when it placed half of its Royal Caribbean International fleet in Europe and upped its overall European capacity by 33%. NCL will increase its Caribbean footprint from 41% of deployments in 2013 to 48% this year, while its European share will fall from 25% to 20%, according to Farley.
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