Tag Archives: Independence of the Seas

Allure of the Seas to be based in Europe for first time

Posted on by
1

By Hollie-Rae Merrick 

Allure of the Seas to be based in Europe for first timeThe world’s biggest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, will be based in Europe for the first time next year as Royal Caribbean International targets new customers.

The cruise line said support from the UK trade had been a key factor in the decision.

UK managing director Stuart Leven said agents would have an opportunity to sell “a unique and innovative ship”, perfect for the family market, when the 6,318-berth Allure, which launched in 2010, starts sailings from Barcelona on May 3, 2015.

He said: “We look at the support from the trade when making these decisions, just as we did when we decided to base Anthem of the Seas in Southampton. We look at the markets that support the brand. The UK has always been supportive of Independence of the Seas out of Southampton and it was an obvious decision to take Allure to the Med and open it to a new customer base.”

Royal Caribbean has produced a mini-brochure about the ship and a marketing toolkit that includes videos, campaign tools and images.

Leven said operating Allure in Europe alongside Anthem of the Seas, which will be based in Southampton when it launches in 2015, demonstrated the line’s commitment to the European market. It will be the first time Allure has sailed outside the Caribbean.

The ship will operate seven-night cruises from Barcelona between May and October 2015, calling at Palma, Marseille, La Spezia and Civitavecchia, where there is the chance to join the ship.

Royal Caribbean and Iglu top charts in Greenlight cruise search analysis

Posted on by
Reply

By Travolution

By Travolution

Specialist cruise travel agent Iglu.com and operator Royal Caribbean are leading the way in terms of profile on Google according to the latest sector analysis from Greenlight.

The search agency analysed the 2.2 million cruise-related queries on the leading search engine, finding that brand queries were by far the most popular, accounting for 59%.

‘Royal Caribbean’, the world’s second largest operator behind the owner of UK market leader P&O Cruises’ parent Carnival Corporation, accounted for 6% of searches.

The line was also the most visible advertiser for paid search on Google.

Iglu topped the ranking for natural results and also Greenlight’s integrated search league table for natural and paid search combined having gained 67% share of voice in the former.

The 12 month view of search in the cruise showed November dip following a five month period when search volumes remained fairly static at around 2.5 million queries.

A significant spike in March saw the sector leap to 3.3 million from a low of 1.5 million in February following a period of declining volumes.

While brand searches accounted for 59% of the overall total, destination related searches were 12%, generic 14% and cruise ships 15%.

In the natural search table Iglu beat cruise.co.uk and Thomas Cook into second and third place respectively, with Wikipedia and P&O Cruises making up the top 5.

Key word ‘Royal Caribbean’ was queried 135,00 times, 10% of all brand-related queries, and the UK version of review site Cruise Critic claimed 61% share of voice by ranking for 1,469 keywords.

Viva Voyage, Planet Cruise (which was bought by Iglu this year), cruisedeals.co.uk and Iglu made up the top five most visible paid advertisers.

Royal Caribbean ships also fared well in the analysis, Independence of the Seas, which has sailed out of Southampton during the summer for the last six years.

This keyword was queried 18,100 times accounting for 5% of all cruise liner-related searches.

Analysis of destination-related searches found the ‘Caribbean cruises’, the world’s second largest destination for cruise behind Europe, accounted for 9% of searches.

‘Mediterranean cruises’ and ‘cruises from Southampton’ accounted for 5% and 3% of destination-related queries.

Of the 420 generic cruise keywords analysed ‘cruises’ accounted for 19% ‘last minute cruises 6% and ‘river cruises’ 5%.

Greenlight also assesses brand’s profile on social media. For cruise Youtube and Wikipedia claimed to the two top spots with Klout scores of 99 and 97 respectively.

They were followed by Thomas Cook, Thomson, Celebrity Cruises and P&O Cruises.

– See more at: http://www.travolution.com/articles/2013/12/20/7413/royal-caribbean-and-iglu-top-charts-in-greenlight-cruise-search-analysis.html#sthash.jb97ePHh.dpuf

Anthem of the Seas to sail out of Southampton?

Posted on by
Reply

Anthem of the Seas steel cutting ceremony held

Just before Royal Caribbean celebrated the keel-laying of Quantum of the Seas today, another milestone was reached for another brand new cruise ship.  Sister ship Anthem of the Seas had her first steel-cutting at Meyer Werft shipyard’s laser centre.

The steel-cutting for Quantum of the Seas took place in February 2013 and today’s event is the next step for Anthem of the Seas, which has been relatively quiet in terms of news about her.  

Delivery of Anthem of the Seas is scheduled in the spring 2015.

UPDATE 11:09AM: Royal Caribbean President and CEO Adam Goldstein commented on the ceremonies for both Anthem of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas today, “Today is a very special day in the development of our new Quantum class, as we are now two steps closer to delighting guests around the world with Quantum cruising.  It’s incredibly rewarding to see Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas coming together so well, and today we not only honor these two very important milestones, but also recognize the years of hard work and dedication from the team developing these ships.”

More proof Anthem of the Seas to sail out of Southampton

Royal Caribbean has been quiet on details related to its second Quantum class ship, Anthem of the Seas, to this point but we may know a little more about where this new cruise ship is going.  

A schedule of cruises from the Port of Le Havre, France shows a number of ports of call by Anthem of the Seas in 2015, which gives more evidence that Anthem of the Seas will be based out of Southampton, England.

Upon further inspection, the schedule of calls to Le Havre matches Independence of the Seas’ current itineraries for 2014.  Some are speculating that Anthem of the Seas will replace Independence of the Seas.

If you have your doubts about this information being accurate, keep in mind we saw a similar occurence with Quantum of the Seas in February when the Port of St Maarten posted a schedule similar to Le Havre with Quantum of the Seas listed and that turned out to be accurate.