20 May 2008

Cruise business sees buoys of optimism

Despite the USÃ¢â¬â¢s sluggish economy, two cruise-related developments are providing some smooth sailing to the travel industry:

---CruiseCompete.com reported it has experienced a 25% increase in year-over-year sales for the first four months of the year.

---Norwegian Cruise Line is going back into the business of short cruises from Miami, which it has not done in several years -- a decision that leads observers to note the Caribbean/Bahamas cruise industry is doing well.

In a last-minute scheduling change, the line says it'll move the troubled Pride of Aloha from its NCL America subsidiary in Hawaii to Miami in July for three- and four-night cruises to the Bahamas.

The nine-year-old ship will be renamed the Norwegian Sky, which was its original name before Norwegian moved it to its Hawaii subsidiary in 2004.

The 2,002-passenger vessel already was scheduled to leave the NCL America fleet in May but was not expected to re-enter the North American market, according to news reports.

Norwegian had announced plans to transfer the ship to its parent company in Asia, Star Cruises.

Despite growing talk of recession and economic hardship, the major lines have been relatively upbeat about Caribbean bookings in recent months.

The Sky will be the youngest ship sailing three- and four-day Bahamas cruises.

The four-day voyages will stop at Grand Bahama Island, Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay, NCLÃ¢â¬â¢s private island in the Bahamas. The three-day voyages, departing on Fridays, will stop in Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay. The line says the itineraries will remain in place through at least April 17, 2009.

The new cruises start at $229 per person for an inside cabin; $329 per person for a balcony cabin.

Meanwhile, CruiseCompete.com is providing more than 4,000 cruise quotes per day to prospective cruise travelers.

"Budgets may be tight, but most people are not willing to give up their vacations," said Heidi Allison-Shane, CruiseCompete.com spokesperson. She added:

"More families and groups seem to be booking cruises so far this year. Cruises offer something for everyone.Ã¢â¬~

She said seven-night Mediterranean cruises appear to be the most heavily booked right now.

Other extremely popular destinations include the Caribbean, South America, Hawaii and the Canada/New England region. Many Alaska cruises for this summer are already sold out and holiday season voyages to the Caribbean also are filling up.

Report by David Wilkening