DEL.ICIO.USAJC TRAVEL NEWS
Cruise prices drop, bookings up
Associated Press
Sunday, February 08, 2009
New York — It’s wave season, the time of year when travelers typically book the most cruises. And there’s good news for cruise-loving consumers: Discounts abound, more than a dozen new ships are being introduced this year, and booking windows are shrinking, which means you don’t have to plan quite so far ahead.
Royal Caribbean
This undated computer illustration released by Royal Caribbean shows a rendering of the ‘Central Park’ area of the future Royal Caribbean cruise liner named the ‘Oasis of the Seas’ that is currently being built in Finland.
AP File Photo
Britain’s most famous cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), passes through the Suez canal in Ismailia, Egypt headed for Dubai on its final voyage. The 70,000 ton ship which was launched in 1967 and since then has traveled around 6 million miles (9.6 million kilometers), making more than 800 trans-Atlantic crossings and carrying 2.5 million passengers, is sailing on its final voyage, headed for a new life as a luxury floating hotel in Dubai.
AP File Photo
This is the giant poolside screen used for the ‘Movies Under the Stars’ program on the Caribbean Princess cruise ship.
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As a result, some companies are seeing a surge in cruise bookings. Princess Cruises reported its biggest booking day ever Jan. 12, with volume up 17 percent over its previous best day. Expedia CruiseShipCenters had an
18 percent increase in cruise sales in 2008, and bookings made this year are already ahead of last January by 14 percent.
Consumers “cannot pass up a deal,” said Heidi Allison-Shane of CruiseCompete.com, which has also experienced an upswing in bookings since Jan. 1. She estimated that prices for cruises are down 15 to 20 percent.
“It is the year of the deal,” agreed Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com.
“Companies with big resort ships to fill find that consumers are not booking as far ahead as normal,” said Douglas Ward, author of the Berlitz “Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships” and Insight Guides’ “Cruising: All Questions Answered.” “But, booking late means less choice of cabin types and location to choose from. Cruise lines, therefore, are offering greater discounts and incentives to book ahead.”
Fuel supplements, which some cruise companies added last year to their fares as the price of oil surged, also have been dropped. But at least one line added a small fee for something that used to be free. Royal Caribbean now charges $3.95 for room service orders between midnight and 5 a.m.
In a Jan. 15 report on the finances of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Carnival Corp., Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent predicted that cruise prices will keep dropping, along with onboard spending.
The low prices are the result of “deteriorating” consumer demand, “massive supply” of cruises hitting the market, and cruise operators’ “desire to fill these ships at any price,” according to Kent.
Despite that gloomy assessment of the industry, the Cruise Lines International Association gave its usual rosy outlook at its annual January press conference in New York. CLIA, which represents 23 cruise lines and 97 percent of the North American market, reported 13.2 million people taking cruises in 2008, up from 12.56 million in 2007 and 9.53 million in 2003.
Here are some other cruise trends and more news:
‘Not a cruise ship’
Part of the increase in the number of cruisers is driven by increased supply. More ships enter the market each year and more berths get filled. Among the new vessels getting attention this year is Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, which is scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale in December.
“It’s not a cruise ship, it’s a feat of engineering and creativity,” Spencer Brown said. “It’s an amazing, creative, fabulous ship that will get the lion’s share of attention in the next year.”
Spencer Brown said she toured the ship recently in Finland, where it was under construction in drydock.
“I forgot I was on a ship,” she said. “It’s that different.”
Oasis of the Seas’ features include a boardwalk with carnival games and the first-ever at-sea carousel; a zip-line suspended nine decks above the boardwalk; a mini-Central Park with real grass and trees; an AquaTheater with diving and other performances; and a moving bar that allows guests to have a cocktail while they slowly descend three decks. The ship will also be the largest cruise ship yet, accommodating 5,400 guests.
Other new CLIA ships coming onto the market include Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Dream, Celebrity’s Celebrity Equinox, MSC Cruises’ MSC Splendida, Costa Cruises’ Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica, Pearl Seas’ Pearl Mist, Silversea Cruises’ Silver Spirit and Seabourn Cruise Lines’ Seabourn Odyssey. Newly refurbished ships making their debut include Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner, which have just completed a $40 million overhaul.
The Seabourn Odyssey, which launches in June, will accommodate 450 guests, and 90 percent of its 225 suites will offer verandas. It also will host Seabourn’s first world cruise, a 108-day trip departing January 2010 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with a 42-port itinerary in 26 countries. Seabourn is offering $1,000 off early bookings on Odyssey.
Riverboat renaissance
“Cruises in the Middle East, and river cruises particularly in Europe – are gaining in popularity,” said Ward, the Berlitz cruise book expert.
Ships sailing these itineraries are often smaller and more intimate than the mega-vessels most American cruisers are familiar with, because they have to fit into river locks and under bridges. The U.S.-based company Tauck World Discovery, for example, has ships on European river tours with a maximum capacity of 118 guests. In April in Europe, Tauck launches its third new riverboat in three years, the MS Swiss Jewel.
No new cities are scheduled to be added this year to the list of more than 30 North American homeports, but some cities will be welcoming additional ships. Carnival, for example, starts year-round service from Baltimore beginning in April with two different weeklong Caribbean itineraries. In November, Carnival is also expanding cruises from Mobile and New Orleans.
Asked to name this year’s “hot” cruise destinations, 900 CLIA travel agents surveyed in January cited the Caribbean/Bahamas, Alaska, and the Mediterranean, with increased interest in Canada/New England, European river tours, Hawaii and South America.
The agents also said the Caribbean, including Eastern Mexico, is expected to get the most bookings this year, followed by Alaska, the Mediterranean and Europe, and Mexico.
In the news
In December, the threat of pirates prompted a German cruise ship to evacuate some 420 passengers and crew after the company decided not to risk their safety as the ship passed through the Gulf of Aden. Those aboard the M/S Columbus, a Hapag-Lloyd ship, disembarked in Yemen, then flew to Dubai, where they rejoined the ship. CLIA President Terry Dale explained that ships use the Gulf of Aden because it’s an efficient way to navigate the region. “If you took an alternate course, it can add up to 28 days to an itinerary,” he said.
Also in 2008, what may be the world’s most famous and beloved cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, took its final voyage to Dubai, where it will turn into a floating hotel moored off an artificial palm-shaped island. In 40 years at sea, the luxury liner traveled 6 million miles, carried 2.5 million passengers and crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times.
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