News

Cheap deals threaten cruise market

(25 May 2006)

Cruiselines have been warned not to undermine the sector’s expanding early-booking trend by allowing travel agents to promote late deals in newspapers.

Recent advertisements for deals on Royal Caribbean International’s Legend of the Seas have prompted concerns about the marketing of lastminute holidays which cruiselines are struggling to sell and led to complaints from customers who have already paid a higher price for the same holidays.

There are fears this may be a sign of things to come, with ex-UK capacity set to rise dramatically next year when Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas is based in Southampton, and with P&O Cruises due to take delivery of its biggest ship, the Ventura, in 2008.

Passenger Shipping Association figures released last week revealed 52% of cruises are booked six months or more in advance, compared to just 36% five years ago.

The Sovereign Cruise Club managing director Stefan Shillito said: “Cruiselines have to be congratulated for encouraging the early-booking market, but the way to sustain that is to be very sensitive when there are late deals and to be more covert than to put them in news-papers.”

Royal Caribbean said customers who booked early for Legend of the Seas benefited from being able to choose their stateroom, but there were a limited number of deals available for specific cabins on off-peak sailings this summer.

“Like all travel companies, we operate tactical pricing to fill this capacity. These prices are available in the general market and are therefore featured in the booking system accessed by all our travel partners,” a spokeswoman said.

Complete Cruise Solution head of sales Giles Hawke said it was particularly important for its brands, including P&O Cruises and Cunard, to avoid above-the-line advertising of late deals because of its high past-passenger profile.

“There are times when there is a commercial need to generate sales, but we cannot afford to distort the market by coming out with late prices that are highly visible,” he said.

by Lee Hayhurst (About this Author)