Tag Archives: carnival Legend

Carnival Cruise Lines pulls out of Europe

Posted on by
Reply

Carnival Cruise Lines pulls out of Europe

By Lee Hayhurst

Carnival Cruise Lines pulls out of EuropeCarnival Cruise Lines is to send a letter to the UK trade today telling them it will have no ships in Europe next year.

The iconic US cruise line which had two ships in Europe this year – one sailing from Dover, the other from Barcelona and Venice – said it could not risk having ships in Europe.

It said it did not think Americans, who make up the vast majority of its passengers, would pay increased airfares to cross the Atlantic.

Itineraries for 2014 have yet to be announced, but UK director Adolfo Perez said agents may be expecting Carnival to have European sailings next year.

He stressed the deployment did not mean any scaling back of the UK office and said he was very hopeful that Carnival would bring a ship back in Europe for the 2015 season.

“The important thing is that our sales team is staying exactly the same size. In fact, we’re even recruiting someone right now to replace one of the team that has just left to move overseas.

“The trade has really supported us and sales have grown significantly from this market and so we will remain as committed as ever with the same great commissions and marketing support.

“We are really hopeful of getting a ship back in Europe in 2015 and you can’t just pull out for a year and then expect to just come back again when we need the trade, so it will be business as usual with us really engaged with the trade.

“Unfortunately, we just don’t think the airfares for Americans will be affordable.”

Perez said the decision to move ships out of Europe was in no way related to recent incidents on Carnival ships.

The letter to agents said: “Given the current market conditions, increasing air fares, and the fact that most of our guests are from the US, we have decided to not deploy a Carnival ship to Europe in 2014.

“This was a difficult decision for us, as we realise our guests truly love sailing with Carnival in Europe, largely because we provide great holidays at great value for money. We are hopeful we will return in the future.”

“Carnival continues to be committed to the UK and Irish markets. Whilst we have relied on you all for our European deployment in 2013, you continue to bring guests to Carnival in the Caribbean… and they love it.

“In fact, the majority of our UK customers choose a cruising holiday that departs from North America. After all, we are the cruise industry leader in year-round Caribbean cruise holidays including departures from all of the major Florida ports and we are the only cruise line to offer year-round departures from Barbados, a true British favourite.”

Carnival Cruise Line ran its first television marketing campaign in the UK this year, it’s ‘Switched On’ advert winning plaudits for promoting cruise to a younger non-traditional market in a fun and engaging way.

Following last year’s decision to split the UK-based team overseeing the line from fellow Carnival Corporation operator Holland America Line, it has had a dedicated sales and marketing team under Perez based in London.

The task to further establish the brand in the UK has been a challenge due to the general economic environment and stiff competition from other brands with UK-based ships also looking to stretch cruising’s appeal to a non-traditional clientele, according to industry insiders.

Much of the success Carnival has seen in recent years has been through agents and operators packaging up its cruises as part of holidays Brits take to ever-popular Florida.

Carnival pull their ships from Europe 2014

Posted on by
Reply
 
10 May 2013

Dear Valued Agent Partner

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the support we’ve received from you this year.  Our advertising and trade programmes have certainly “Switched On” demand for the Carnival product in the UK and Ireland and we are pleased that we are able to welcome even more guests on board Carnival in 2013. We couldn’t have done that without all of you.

I also wanted to update you on a few Carnival deployment announcements. As you may have seen recently, we have made the decision to base the Carnival Legend seasonally in Australia next year.  Additionally, we have made the decision to keep the rest of the fleet sailing from our  US home ports.  Given the current market conditions, increasing air fares, and the fact that most of our guests are from the U.S., we have decided to not deploy a Carnival ship to Europe in 2014. This was a difficult decision for us, as we realise our guests truly love sailing with Carnival in Europe, largely because we provide great holidays at great value for money.  We are hopeful we will return in the future.

Carnival continues to be committed to the UK and Irish markets. Whilst we have relied on you all for our European deployment in 2013, you continue to bring guests to Carnival in the Caribbean…and they love it.  In fact, the majority of our UK customers choose a cruising holiday that departs from North America.  After all, we are the cruise industry leader in year-round Caribbean cruise holidays including departures from all of the major Florida ports and we are the only cruise line to offer year-round departures from Barbados, a true British favourite.

In addition, our dedicated trade sales team, competitive commercial terms, and co-op marketing funding will remain in place during 2014.  We have 24 ships in our fleet and we will increasingly rely on the UK to help fill those ships.  We will continue to work hard to support the UK and Irish Trade next year and work on sourcing even more guests from these markets.

We look forward to working closely with you to find the key products that sell extremely well with guests from the UK and Ireland and help you sell more on those products.  We are also ensuring that our travel partners have the opportunity to see a Carnival FunShip by hosting over 100 agents aboard the Carnival Sunshine this summer as well as ship visits to the Carnival Legend while she’s deployed in the UK this year.

Thank you again for your support this year.  We look forward to continuing our strong partnerships in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Adolfo M. Pérez
Managing Director, UK and Ireland

Carnival Cruise Lines
© 2013 Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Corporation’s fourth quarter profits fall by 55%

Posted on by
Reply

Carnival Corporation’s fourth quarter profits fall by 55%

By Melanie Hall

Carnival Corporation’s profits fell by 23% in 2012, with a 55% drop in the fourth quarter, following its “most challenging” year after the Costa Concordia tragedy in January.

The company revealed its full year and fourth quarter earnings today, which showed that its net profits in the 12 months to November 30 were $1.47 billion, down from $1.9 billion at the same time last year.

Its fourth quarter profits are down from $217 million in 2011 to $98 million in 2012, a drop of 55%, although Carnival Corporation’s chairman and chief executive Micky Arison said that the quarter’s earnings “were better than anticipated”.

Commenting on the full year’s earnings, Arison said: “As a result of the Costa Concordia tragedy in January, the past year has been the most challenging in our company’s history.

“However, through the significant efforts of our brand management teams, we were able to maintain full year 2012 net revenue yields – excluding Costa – in line with the prior year.”

Arison added that unfavourable changes in fuel prices and currency exchange rates reduced earnings by $300 million compared to the prior year.

During the fourth quarter, Carnival reached an agreement on the construction of two new cruise ships – a 2,660-passenger ship for its Holland America Line brand to be delivered in 2015 and a 4,000-passenger vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand to be delivered in 2016. Both are the largest ships ever built for those brands.

Carnival has forecast a decline of 2-3% in its revenue yields in the first quarter of 2013 but has predicted it will improve during the remainder of next year for the North American brands and Costa, although it said its European brands continue to be hit by a “deteriorating economic environment”.

“We remain well positioned for a recovery in 2013 and beyond evidenced by the demonstrated resilience of our global portfolio of cruise brands as consumers continue to capitalize on cruising’s superior value versus land-based vacation alternatives,” said Arison.

“We continue to focus on a measured growth strategy through the introduction of two to three new ships per year and the development of emerging cruise markets in Asia.”