Cruise price integrity under fire

Cruise price integrity under fire
By admin


Trafalgar chief executive Gavin Tollman has accused cruise lines of having no price integrity and of offering passengers only a superficial experience of a destination.

With cruising widely believed to be eroding the market share of coach touring, Tollman took the opportunity at the launch of Trafalgar's 2013 European program to hit back and question the long term viability of the cruise sector.

"Pricing in a cruise brochure means nothing," Tollman said. "Cruise lines do not allow a ship to leave with an empty cabin and they will drive down the rate… they have a lack of price integrity but at Trafalgar we have maintained that integrity."

He guaranteed that the earlier you book with Trafalgar, the better the deal you will get.

Tollman said agents in the US have become increasingly concerned that they need to sell far more cruises than ever in order to maintain the same revenue.

Luxury cruises have discounted heavily which does long term damage to the integrity of the product, he added.

In addition, while land touring explores a destination, cruising provides only a limited view of a port, Tollman claimed.
Trafalgar meanwhile said its buying power and the strong Australian dollar had seen 2013 prices fall up to 14%.

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