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Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional |
Thursday, June 04, 2009 |
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2010
itineraries - more ports & more creativity to attract cruisers |
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While the cruise lines are following traditional
deployment patterns in 2009, there may be more changes in store for
2010, pending how this year works out.
More ships are expected back to the Caribbean, as limited and more
costly airlift and the recession put long-distance travel out of
reach of many Americans. At the same time, more North American-based
cruise lines are seeking to tap into local markets for their
European programs. The same market conditions and a growing fleet
are also forcing European operators to be more creative with their
winter deployments.
The first reaction to the changing market condition was Carnival
Cruise Lines’ pullout of its two ships from previously announced
2009 European summer programs. The ships will instead by sailing in
the Caribbean. Carnival has also increased its offering of short
cruises, and is bringing more ships to local markets, thus making
the cruises more accessible and affordable to more people.
In Europe, AIDA Cruises and P&O Cruises are offering more shorter
cruises to attract first timers who otherwise might not be willing
to commit the amount of time and money to a cruise vacation. Royal
Caribbean and Holland America Line are also experimenting with short
cruises in Europe to introduce their products in markets in Holland,
the UK and Scandinavia.
Global Trends
In other developments, Royal Caribbean is reducing its 2010 Alaska
capacity from three to two ships, while gearing up its global
deployment and sourcing of passengers. In 2010, sister brand
Celebrity Cruises will also be dedicating its newest ship, the
Eclipse, to the UK market.
Both Royal Caribbean and Princess are also dedicating ships to the
UK market, sailing from the UK during the summer, and from Caribbean
homeports during the winter.
Meanwhile, more European brands are exploring the Western Hemisphere
with both Costa Crociere and MSC Cruises going to Canada and New
England, and Pullmantur exploring the Mexican Riviera.
In Asia, Costa is building up its presence with the Romantica
replacing the Allegra, alongside the Classica. Royal Caribbean will
be deploying the Legend of the Seas year-round in Asia, and AIDA
returns for seasonal sailings out of Bangkok. Princess Cruises has
two ships sailing year-round Down Under. What the ships have in
common is that they are sourcing passengers both locally and
internationally.
The Middle East will also see a boost in traffic with build-up of
capacity by Costa and AIDA out of Dubai, in addition to Royal
Caribbean, which will be sailing seven-day cruises from January
through March 2010.
More ships are also venturing to South America, where the winter
market so far has been dominated by Costa and MSC.
Creative summer programs are offered by Princess Cruises, which
sails northern route trans-Atlantic crossings during the summer, as
well as a summer world cruise roundtrip from Sydney.
A growing European fleet is driving local operators to more creative
winter deployment solutions with year-round cruises in the
Mediterranean, more ships going to South America, Asia deployment, a
build-up of capacity in Dubai and world cruises, in addition to the
more traditional Caribbean winter programs.
Challenges
The challenges to the ports are many, but the ships bring
significant rewards in shoreside spending by the cruise lines, crew
and, most of all, passengers.
The bottom line is that ports have something to offer that
passengers want in terms of ambiance, attractions and activities,
and the required infrastructure is there.
These attractions and activities must preferably be packaged in ways
that the cruise lines can sell as tours (shore excursions) and
generate financial returns.
On top of that are other considerations such as taxes, port costs or
national environmental regulations.
All these pieces of the puzzle must fit together and be workable,
according to cruise line executives interviewed by Cruise Industry
News.
Cruise lines have also taken steps to ensure their business by
building their own terminal facilities. Costa, for example, operates
in Savona and Barcelona. Carnival operates in Grand Turk and Long
Beach, and will soon open up a new facility in Roatan, while still
hoping to build a port in Cancun. Carnival has also helped develop
shore excursions with local partners.
Royal Caribbean is working with Jamaica to develop a new port,
Falmouth, that will accommodate its 5,400-passenger Oasis of the
Seas. The cruise line is also working with Antigua.
Ports are also investing heavily on their own, including Venice,
Malaga, San Diego and Seattle. Other ports are investing in
facilities in return for long-term contracts and passenger-traffic
guarantees, such as Miami, Port Everglades, New York and Port
Canaveral.
Itinerary Planning Formula
At the end of the day, the formula is simple: How to generate high
demand and high revenues, according to Deanna Austin, senior vice
president of planning, yield management and customer service for
Princess. She said that the planning focuses on "delivering" both
onboard and ashore.
Consumer preferences and internal feedback (from ships and travel
agents) are also considered, according to Chris Allen, director of
deployment and itinerary planning for Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and
Azamara Cruises. "The itineraries must have a fit for the target
markets," he said. "Market research identifies trends and popular
destinations. And finally are the constraints of logistics."
At Holland America, Simon Douwes, director of itinerary planning,
also said he is not necessarily planning farther ahead and making
longer-term commitments to ports. “Due to the economic downturn we
have become a little bit more cautious in our planning," he said. |
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Worldwide Travel & Cruise Assoc., Inc.
150 S. University Dr. Ste E,
Plantation, FL 33324 - USA
Tel: +1 954 452 8800 Fax: +1 954
252 3945
EMail:
sales@cruiseco.com |
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