Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the Miami-based cruise line, says the Spokane area is among the sites it is considering for a new reservations call center.


Company officials decline to disclose further details about a possible call center here, such as how many people it would employ, how big the facility would be, or where it might be located.


We are looking at a number of cities, and Spokane is one of them, says Jaye Hilton, spokeswoman for the companys Royal Caribbean International cruise line. But actually it is too preliminary to discuss at the moment.


Stan Key, manager of business development at the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, says, Im able to confirm that were working with a large customer care center. Key declines to say anything further, explaining that the clients decision is at the sensitive stage.


Royal Caribbean currently operates two other call centers, one in Wichita, Kan., that employs 700 people, and another at its headquarters in Miami that employs 600, Hilton says.


Royal Caribbean is exploring the possibility of opening a new center in the Northwest so it can provide better service to its customers on the West Coast of the U.S. and in Asia, says spokesman Michael Sheehan.


It would provide a little diversification, and flexibility in dealing with time-zone differences, says Sheehan.


The companys Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises brands offer cruises to more than 150 destinations around the world, including to Europe, Russia, and South America. The company employs about 36,000 people and operates a fleet of 29 ships with combined capacity for about 61,000 passengers. The company served about 3 million passengers in 2003, says Sheehan.


Royal Caribbean Cruises posted first-quarter net income of $95.8 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with $53.2 million, or 27 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenues for the first quarter of 2004 jumped 20.6 percent to $1.1 billion, from $880.2 million in the year-earlier period