Cruise lines hopeful tough times in the past

Cruise lines hopeful tough times in the past
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A series of unfortunate cruise incidents over the last year has impacted the industry as a whole but the future remains bright, according to cruise executives.

Speaking to media on board P&O Cruises’ Pacific Pearl at the weekend, senior executives from Princess Cruises admitted the spate of Carnival Cruise Lines mishaps in the US and ongoing coverage of the Costa Concordia disaster have taken their toll.

‘I think it’s impacted the whole industry,” executive vice president Jan Swartz said. “Any event of that magnitude with that kind of publicity affects us all.”

The effect is being seen predominantly on the new-to-cruise market which may be more easily deterred from taking to the seas by safety concerns, but Swartz highlighted the role of travel agents in reassuring them.

“The travel agent is a very important force in that decision. They can hear out their fears and concerns and help to overcome them,” she said.

However, the cruise line’s loyal customer base and appeal to more experienced cruisers has limited the impact, according to vice president fleet operations Rai Caluori.

“Part of our strategy is to appeal and sell to the experienced cruiser who is much more educated in being able to separate a ‘black swan’ event from something that may apply unilaterally throughout the industry,” he said.

The “good news” story of Royal Princess, the company’s first new ship in five years, has also helped the public to forget. The christening of the vessel by the Duchess of Cambridge in June generated substantial positive publicity for both the cruise line and the sector, although Swartz declined to reveal if that interest had translated into sales.

“We’ve seen that we’re quite a resilient industry and over time, hopefully the narrative will return to focusing on the tens of millions of passengers who we, as an industry, create wonderful memories for,” she said. “Sometimes that gets forgotten.”

Meanwhile, the Australian head of Carnival Cruise Lines, Jennifer Vandekreeke, insisted that the cruise line’s local operations had not been impacted by the events on the other side of the world.

“It was really, really tough in the States but we didn’t see much of a response here at all,” she said.

Vandekreeke attributed that in part to the “pretty optimistic and resilient” nature of Australians.

“It’s also 14 time zones away and we didn’t have any Australians on board so I don’t think as many people really made that connection. As much as we were waiting for it to impact our business, it really didn’t."

In addition, the tragic loss of a couple at sea after falling overboard from Carnival Spirit earlier this year had minimal impact.

“For a couple of days it was a little quieter but it’s rebounded really well,” Vandekreeke said.

In fact, growing demand from the local market prompted Carnival Cruise Lines to confirm in May that it would double its Australian capacity with the deployment of a second ship in local waters. Carnival Legend will undergo a $17 million refurbishment and “Aussification” before it arrives Down Under in September 2014. 

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