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Unique Cruise Solutions The news you need to know |
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Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional |
February 2010 Edition |
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Seabourn to Cruise The Persian Gulf & India in 2012 |
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First Costa. Then Royal Caribbean. Now Seabourn.
The number of cruise lines offering regular voyages around the Persian Gulf is
about to grow by one as The Yachts of Seabourn enters the fray. The luxury line says it will send the 208-passenger Seabourn Legend to the region in 2012 for a series of 7-night "Pearls of Arabia" voyages out of Dubai that include stops in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. The Legend also will sail a series of "Indian Ocean Delights" voyages between Dubai and Mumbai, India that include stops in Oman and multiple ports in India. RELATED: The world's fastest growing cruise destination is the Persian Gulf? RELATED: Italian style meets Arabian culture as Costa names ship in Dubai ALSO ONLINE: Another Holland America ship gets a major overhaul The announcement comes just two months after industry giant Royal Caribbean began its first season of voyages in the region. Royal Caribbean's 2,112-passenger Brilliance of the Seas is sailing weekly out of Dubai on seven-night trip to Oman, Bahrain and other parts of the United Arab Emirates. Royal Caribbean's move, in turn, came in the wake of a big ramp-up in the region by Costa Cruises, which pioneered the concept of Persian Gulf voyages four years ago along with German-focused sister line Aida Cruises. Just last month Costa named its latest ship, the 2,260-passenger Costa Deliziosa, in Dubai in an extravagant event that was seen as a coming out party of sorts for the region as a cruise destination. It was the first time a cruise ship had been named in an Arab city. Costa CEO Pier Luigi Foschi noted at the event that the Carnival-owned line was moving 140,000 cruisers through the city this winter, a 40% increase from last year and more than three times the number of just three years ago. Perpetually sunny and warm, the Persian Gulf is proving a popular winter getaway for cruise fans from Europe, in particular, as well as Middle Easterners and smaller numbers of Americans, despite its location near several troubled countries including Iraq and Yemen. For a European cruiser, the Persian Gulf is closer than the Caribbean and offers an appealing mix of culture, history and modern conveniences, not to mention luxury (Dubai's sparkling new airport puts those in cruise hubs Miami and Fort Lauderdale to shame, and the beach-lined city boasts some of the world's most elaborate resorts). Dubai's top tourism official, Hamad Bin Mejiren, told cruise writers in Dubai last month for the Costa event that the city expected to see 575,000 cruise passengers by 2015. That's more than double the 263,000 that arrived in 2009. As recently as 2001, Dubai was getting just 7,000 cruise passengers a year. |
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