This summer is turning out to be the latest cruise booking market seen during the downturn, according to the UK general manager of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
Speaking at the launch of the operator’s new travel agent training website in London last night, Jo Rzymowska said that the booking pattern for summer 2011 was the latest she has known in her six years in the industry.
She said this was taking its toll on pricing but claimed ex-UK cruises – those starting and finishing from the UK port of Southampton – were actually holding their value better than most and there had been a marked upturn in sales in the last three weeks.
“We are seeing selling far later than I have ever known. I do think we’re in a time of unprecedented world economic challenges but people are still going to go on holiday,” Rzymowska said.
The performance of the operator’s ex-UK cruises was said to be an indication of how Royal Caribbean and sister premium line Celebrity Cruises were now well-established in the UK.
Royal Caribbean has dedicated Independence of the Seas, one of the world’s largest ships, to the UK year-round. And Celebrity Cruises has based one of its newest vessels, Celebrity Eclipse, in Southampton for a second summer after last year’s debut that saw it catapulted into the national conscience when it abandoned inaugural plans to repatriate Brits from Spain who were caught in the ash cloud airspace closure crisis.
Rzymowska added that the recent 2012 programme launch had gone well. “We are pleased with 2012 to date. It’s still very early days and difficult to monitor year on year because we have different products on sale at different times but, overall, the feedback we have had from the trade is we got the launch right this year, providing information at least two to three weeks before we went on sale.”
This year’s 2012 cruise programme launch period was notable for Royal Caribbean rival Complete Cruise Solution’s decision to drop base commission to 5% for it P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises brands.
Despite many agents saying they planned to switch sell to Royal Caribbean brands which continue to pay agents as much as three times in commission, Rzymowska said it was still too early to say what impact CCS’s move has had.
“It’s early days, we are just focusing on what we do well and where we want to operate,” she said. “We really want to stay focused on what’s right for us and how we want to work and who we want to work with. It will be interesting to see how the launch period plays out. Our brands are very different from CCS’s.”