Carnival UK is not trying to cut out smaller agents and is more committed to the UK travel trade than any other cruiseline, according to regional boss David Dingle and Carnival Corporation chief executive Micky Arison.
Speaking at a press briefing last week, Carnival UK chief executive David Dingle dismissed accusations that Carnival brands have become less supportive of the trade than rivals, and have been trying to lose smaller-volume agents by making it impossible for them to compete with multiples and cruise clubs.
Dingle said: “A market leader will always get accused of being arrogant. That comes with the parish, unfortunately.
“But we’re not really doing anything different. We’re highly business-like in the partnerships we have with our agents.
“We have helped them to become very good distributors of cruise. We help new entrants to the market – we’ve encouraged them and brought them into the sector, so we are absolutely not consolidating down to fewer agents.”
Dingle said Carnival UK had close long-term strategic partners in the multiples and with the cruise clubs as well as with independent agents.
“Our goal is to bring more people into the industry and if there’s one place where there’s a good source of holidaymakers who haven’t cruised before, it’s travel agencies – not the cruise clubs.”
He acknowledged some agents were giving away a large chunk of their commission to match prices, and said: “We try to discourage it and get them to sell on service instead of price, but it’s hard for us to instruct the travel industry not to give their commission away.”
Carnival Corporation chairman and chief executive Micky Arison argued that Carnival UK brands P&O Cruises and Cunard would always be more committed to agents in the UK than any other cruiseline because they are British.
“The global lines open offices over here and base some ships here, but they can just as easily close or move them,” he said.
Arison said Carnival was “still right in the middle” of a significant expansion of its fleet, with six new ships joining this year, but that this would be cut to two or three a year from 2013 onwards.
He said the decision to slow down investment in new ships would drive more cash into the business and also reflected the fact that there has been some softening in the market because of the economic climate.
“People think, if you don’t build as many ships, that you’re either trying to drive more cash flow or that demand is diminishing. The truth is that it’s a combination of both.”
Arison was in London for three days of shareholder meetings in between the launch of Costa Deliziosa in Venice and the arrival of Aida Blue in Hamburg. P&O’s new Azura is due for delivery in April.