Carnival Cruise Line said it will offer instalment financing of its cruise vacations through Uplift, a relatively new third-party finance company.
Uplift will offer Carnival customers an alternative to its in-house incremental payment program, EasyPay.
Uplift Pay Monthly offers to finance of up to 24 months with no downpayment.
In an example, Uplift said consumers booking a cruise priced at $2,000 on a 24-month plan would make 24 payments of $96.97, yielding a finance charge on the purchase of 15% APR, or $327.28 above the price of the cruise.
The minimum ticket price to receive Uplift financing is $605. There are no prepayment penalties.
EasyPay splits the ticket price into monthly payments but does not levy a finance charge. Customers must put down a deposit, and billing is through a credit card. If the customer pays the balance on the credit card each month there is no extra charge.
EasyPay must be picked as the payment plan 120 to 150 days from sailing, depending on the itinerary. Monthly payments begin 30 days after the initial deposit.
Ken Tate, the chief commercial officer for Carnival Cruise Line, said Carnival agreed to partner with Uplift because of its unique zero down payment, 24-month format and because it is focused only on the travel sector.
Uplift said Uplift Pay Monthly can be offered by travel advisors, and that its systems will seamlessly integrate with Carnival’s existing booking and payment processes.
Norwegian Cruise Line also offers an Uplift option.
Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald, far right, was joined onstage during the CEO Conversation panel by John Chernesky-the-puppet of Princess Cruises. The session was moderated by editor in chief Arnie Weissmann, seated, left. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada
FORT LAUDERDALE — Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald told an audience at CruiseWorld that being the largest cruise company in the world comes with two key advantages — stability and innovation — that help Carnival’s brands deliver industry-leading results.
The company has more than 100 ships, and it operates in every segment and several global source markets. “One of every two people who cruise go with one of our nine brands,” Donald said, which include Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Cunard Line, in addition to the namesake Carnival Cruise Line.
“Because we have such a large portfolio, it’s difficult for anyone thing happening somewhere in the world to take the company down,” Donald said.
Size matters in innovation too. “We have the scale and the capability to take on projects that others can’t,” he said.
A prime example of that is the costly OceanMedallion personalization technology that Carnival developed and rolled out initially on Princess Cruises.
“We invented it,” Donald said. “It’s not off-the-shelf apps.”
Donald ran down a list of developments at various Carnival brands, such as the roller coaster on next year’s Carnival Cruise Line newbuild, the Mardi Gras.
But when he forgot to mention Princess Cruises, a surprise guest made an appearance.
From behind the couch where Arnold was seated, up popped a Muppets-style character designed to look like Princess’ senior vice president of sales and trade marketing, John Chernesky. The puppet ribbed Donald and amused the crowd until the real John Chernesky bounded on stage to complain that the puppet has been impersonating him all over town.
The larger message to the puppet tomfoolery was to billboard the Jim Henson Creature Shop show, called “Inspired Silliness,” that will debut next month on the newest Princess ship, the Sky Princess.
When Donald finally regained the spotlight, he took some time to outline Carnival’s sustainability initiatives and defend the industry’s record.
He said that very little of the estimated 8 million tons of plastics in the ocean comes from ships, much less from cruise ships. “It comes from land; it comes through the rivers and gets into the ocean,” he said, adding, “Having said that, we don’t want anything going in the ocean. He said that Carnival has accelerated existing recycling efforts and processes to eliminate plastics from its waste stream.
Likewise, when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, a Carnival brand was the first to use liquified natural gas (LNG) to provide power in port, and Carnival Corp. will be the first to bring an LNG-powered ship to North America, with the Mardi Gras.
“Ultimately we want to get to zero-emission,” Donald said. But he said cruise emissions are a tiny fraction of the global equation. “The reality is if the cruise industry didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be able to measure the difference in emissions,” he said.
Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises have signed an agreement to construct a new cruise terminal on the island and manage its existing facility.
The cruise giants signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saint Lucian government on Tuesday to form a joint venture for the project.
The cruise line brands account for 75% of all cruise ship deployment to the island.
The joint venture will manage and operate the current cruise pier and terminal facilities at the Port of Castries and design, finance, build and operate a new cruise port in Vieux Fort on the southern part of the island.
Prime minister of Saint Lucia Allen Chastanet said the agreement marked “a major step towards enhancing” the country’s tourism offering.
He said: “Saint Lucia has had record-breaking cruise arrivals over the past few years and we thank our partners Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean for their continued confidence in our amazing destination.
“It is essential that we continue to diversify what we have to offer, grow our brand and ensure that different sectors in our island’s economy benefit from the growth in cruise tourism and that Saint Lucians can benefit from the opportunities which arise from the increased numbers; which means we have to improve our capacity.
“This signing is historic, as this project will have a major impact on the sustainability of the cruise sector and the reach of cruise tourism to the south of the island. This will also mean employment at several phases of the project, the expansion of existing businesses and the formation of new enterprises.”
Giora Israel, senior vice president of global port and destination development for Carnival Corporation said: “This is an exciting day for our guests who already love the beauty and deep culture of Saint Lucia and an important step in sustaining cruise tourism growth for the island.”
Michael Bayley, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean International said the cruise market is the fastest-growing sector of tourism and in the next decade cruising in the Caribbean is anticipated to grow by 40%.
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