Marella Cruises’ sales for the next eight months have surpassed 2019 levels as demand for all-inclusive holidays remains high, the line’s managing director said.
Chris Hackney (pictured) told Travel Weekly the line’s sales for the rest of the year and the winter season are higher than the comparable period in 2019, showing customers recognise the “incredible value” of a cruise.
“We are in a really strong place for bookings for 2023 and the winter and we are really happy with it,” he said.
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“Demand in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean is strong and although we always have concerns about the cost-of-living crisis impacting bookings, our all-inclusive product is such good value for money and customers are seeing that.
“Sales are ahead of where they were in 2019 and our prices have stayed high so it’s great.”
Commercial and business development director at Tui UK & Ireland, Richard Sofer, said: “People are really buying into all-inclusive holidays right now as we are in a period where people’s living costs are volatile and there are concerns over exchange rate costs when travelling abroad so by choosing an all-inclusive holiday option everything is already paid for.
“In some beach holidays, we’ve seen customers reduce their length of stay from 14 nights to 10, but we are not seeing that in cruise.
“People are still concerned about flight disruption after the challenges of last summer, but because we are the only cruise line with our own fleet of aircraft, people trust us and know we will look after them from end to end and that is a massive advantage for us over other operators.”
Hackney went on to praise the line’s decision to homeport a ship in Singapore, and said the announcement prompted a “shot in the arm” for sales.
“We have Marella Discovery homeporting out of Singapore this winter and are offering passengers an overnight in port which has been incredibly popular.
“When we made the announcement, we had a real shot in the arm in terms of bookings and that is our top selling destination right now.”