Carnival boosts ship capacity

CRUISE giant Carnival is underlining its commitment to the UK market with a capacity restructure affecting its P&O Cruises, Cunard Line and Princess Cruises brands.

P&O Cruises will introduce two new ships to the UK next summer, while Cunard’s plan to introduce Queen Victoria next year has been delayed until a new ‘enhanced’ model can be offered in 2007. In addition, Princess Cruises is to claim the 1,950-passenger Adonia from P&O Cruises in May 2005 – the first time the brand has had a dedicated ship for the British market.

It will be renamed Sea Princess and will operate from the UK in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter.

Carnival UK cruise managing director David Dingle said it was good news for UK agents. “There is very little growth in the package holiday market as a whole, and the cruise market is providing agents with high-value sales and decent levels of commission,” he said.

The new vessels joining the P&O Cruises fleet will be Arcadia and Artemis, entering service in April 2005 and May 2005 respectively. The £225

million, 1,968-bed Arcadia is currently under construction as Queen Victoria for Cunard Line, but will be transferred to P&O Cruises. It will be the largest ship built exclusively for the UK market.

Dingle said the initial deal for Queen Victoria was signed before the merger with P&O Princess Cruises last year, and was originally designed to run UK-UK itineraries to compete with P&O Cruises. The 1,200-bed Artemis joins from sister company Princess Cruises where it sailed as Royal Princess.

Meanwhile, Cunard has announced an order for a new £265 million, 1,850-passenger enhanced liner, still to be named Queen Victoria, for delivery in January 2007. The ship will boast more dining options and double the amount of suites and mini-suites to 15% of capacity. There are no plans to recruit more staff.