Thomson Cruises has claimed it will be a “mighty competitor” for Royal Caribbean International when the latter’s Grandeur of the Seas ship is repositioned to Palma next year.
Speaking on new ship Thomson Dream’s inaugural cruise, Thomson Cruises managing director David Selby said their regional flying schedule, range of itineraries on three ships and policy of including gratuities in the cruise price puts it in a very strong position.
He said: “We dropped ex-UK cruises to fill the gap at Palma being created by the closure of Ocean Village. Royal Caribbean will find it is up against a mighty competitor.”
Thomson took delivery of the 1,506-passenger Thomson Dream, formerly Costa Cruises’ Costa Europa, on Sunday. It had been in dry-dock to repair a hole gashed in the side of the ship when it crashed into a pier in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, at the end of February killing three crew members.
After two unscheduled cruises between Palma and Barcelona to help repatriate 2,800 British holidaymakers stranded by the volcano ash crisis and a five-night inaugural voyage with paying passengers, Thomson Dream has started sailing a seven-night ex-Palma cruise programme.
Selby admitted there were teething problems during the inaugural but blamed many on the ash crisis. Crew were unable to get to the ship for the sailing and the repatriation cruises put an unexpected strain on supplies. He said: “They are all things that will be fixed in days.”
He said Thomson Cruises will be carrying 254,000 passengers this year across the Thomson and Island Cruises fleet, a 30% increase on 2009 due to the addition of Thomson Dream.
In 2011, when Thomson will have the ship for a full year, the cruise line will carry a total 280,000.