Tag Archives: cruise holidays

Cruise industry must do more to boost numbers, Clia chairman says

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By Hollie-Rae Merrick 

Cruise industry must do more to boost numbers, Clia chairman saysThe cruise industry is not doing a good enough job to drive forward the number of Brits taking a cruise, Clia UK and Ireland chairman Jo Rzymowska has told cruise lines.

Speaking at the Clia UK and Ireland AGM on Friday, the Celebrity Cruises boss said the industry needed to get across the array of variety offered on cruise ships – compared to what is offered by land-based holidays.

She said that while the UK was leading the way in Europe in terms of the number of people taking a cruise, numbers hadn’t risen as much as hoped.

“Just under 22 million people every year are cruising with us (globally) – that has doubled over the last decade, which is significant,” she said.

“And in the UK we are still leading the way from a European point of view with 6 million cruises and just over 1.7 million of those from the UK. However, that has remained fairly static as we know for the last couple years.

“We are leading the way, but there is a country snapping at our heels – the Germans. It’s up to us collectively to not let that happen.”

Rzymowska said land-based holidays didn’t offer the same variety as cruises, and that ocean and river vessels offer great access to destinations, a better and more consistent level of customer service, and more choice to suit all needs.

She added: “Land-based holidays don’t offer these to the extent we do, but still only 1.7 million Brits take a cruise. Quite frankly, as an industry we are not doing a good enough job and we need to do a far better job than we are today.”

Clia UK and Ireland’s three working groups – PR, consumer engagement and trade engagement – have been coming up with great ideas on how to take the industry forward, according to Rzymowska.

Globally 95% of the cruise capacity is a member of Clia, with 61 cruise lines. In the UK, US and Australia, Clia works with more than 50,000 agents and Rzymowska said Andy Harmer’s team in the UK was leading the way.

“Our aim is to talk to agents even better and more effectively than we are today. The UK and Ireland, under Andy’s leadership, is leading the way in doing that.”

Cruising’s advantage over theme park magic

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By Tom Stieghorst
I had the chance last week to spend some time at a Central Florida theme park, one of the cruise industry’s competitors for the vacation dollar.

Universal Studios Orlando offers a formidable array of attractions, including an evening entertainment complex, three luxury hotels with a budget-priced resort in the wings and a pair of theme parks chock full of roller coasters, rides and faithful backlot reproductions of New York, San Francisco and even Homer Simpson’s hometown, Springfield.

The latest project at Universal is a re-creation of London for an attraction devoted to literary wizard Harry Potter. Sometime this summer The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Diagon Alley will open, bringing the Wyndham Theater and other landmarks of the city to more than 6 million Universal Studios visitors annually.

Cruise lines have one crucial edge in the competition. While theme parks must re-create the world in Central Florida, cruise ships can actually bring guests to all of the fascinating destinations that can only be represented at land-based parks.*TomStieghorst

It seems almost too obvious to mention, but “destination” sometimes gets lost in the cruise industry’s sales initiatives.

One of Wizarding World’s marvels will be a train, the Hogwarts Express, running between the new attraction in Universal Studios and the original Harry Potter theme area in the adjacent Islands of Adventure park.

Although Universal is withholding details, executives hint that the train will have video screens instead of windows to project images of London and the British countryside on the journey from Diagon Alley to the imaginary Hogsmeade village in Scotland. It will be exciting to see, and I’ll look forward to it as much as the next theme park fan. But on a cruise excursion one could see the real thing in all of its glory. That has to trump seeing the facsimile in Orlando, no matter how clever the reproduction.

The same applies to the themed re-creations of France, China and Morocco in Walt Disney World’s Epcot or the Bavarian beer hall at Busch Gardens in Tampa. How much better to drink some locally brewed beer in Hamburg, or see the quays of Shanghai from the deck of a cruise ship.

Orlando has its advantages, too. Plenty of people who struggle to afford going abroad can see a version of distant lands there. But cruises can take guests to the real thing, and that’s a selling point agents ought to play up.

Cruise Holidays survey: Quantum the most anticipated ship

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By Tom Stieghorst

Quantum-NorthStarPod-Render.jpgCruise Holidays said Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas is the most anticipated cruise ship due in 2014.

In a survey of 133 of its franchisees about trends in cruising next year, Cruise Holidays found that when asked which ship they are anticipating the most, the “overwhelming response” was Quantum.

Other cruise ships entering service in 2014 include the Costa Diadema, Regal Princess and Norwegian Getaway.

Cruise Holidays said that the Quantum, which debuts in November 2014, accounts for 20% of its 2015 bookings so far in 2015.

Quantum, the first in a new class of ships for Royal Caribbean, will carry 4,100 passengers and will sail year-round from Bayonne, N.J., on seven- to 12-day cruises to the Bahamas and the eastern and southern Caribbean.

The survey said the Caribbean continues to command the most bookings of any cruise region by a wide margin, with 54.8% of the total for next year. Europe as a whole remains second with 10.4%, with Alaska third at 9.1% and Bermuda next at 3.5%

River cruises were included for comparison in the list for the first time. They account for 5.7% of all Cruise Holidays bookings in 2014.