Ship launches put UK at the centre of the cruise industry: opinion by Andrew Gardner

April 2008 is set to be a busy month for the cruise industry.

Firstly we have the launch of the cruiselines’ programmes for 2009 and 2010, which seem to get earlier every year.

But more exciting is that the UK will be the centre of the cruising world this month as Royal Caribbean International, P&O Cruises and MSC Cruises launch ships in Dover and Southampton. We will be treated like royalty as cruiselines fight for our attention.

I have to hand it to MSC, which has stars, including Sophia Loren and Andrea Bocelli, for MSC Poesia’s launch, making the trip to Dover on a Saturday a little more attractive.

On the other hand, P&O has Noddy to greet us on Ventura and Royal Caribbean will showcase the world’s biggest cruise ship, Independence of the Seas.

Meanwhile, if the credit crunch wasn’t bad enough, we have cruise commission crunch as Complete Cruise Solution says thank you to the trade by cutting commission by 1%.

This plays into the hands of the biggest agents and multiples, which have the highest comission rates and can continue to offer 10% discounts to poach bookings from more knowledgable specialists.

US cruiselines have already introduced non-commissionable parts of the holiday so in some cases we can only earn 6%-7% of the overall cost (before discounting!).

CCS has said the cuts should stop discounting, which sounds a little like the Government putting 4p on a pint of beer to stop binge drinking. And on that subject, I look forward to seeing you at the ship launches.