Consumer demand for cruising strong in 2017, travel specialists say
Consumer appetites for cruising are running at full steam in 2017.
South Florida travel specialists say consumer demand for cruises has been trending high with stronger booking results from a year ago during this year’s “wave season,” which is now in full swing.
During the important industry-wide promotional period, which generally runs from January through March and sometimes into April, cruise lines pull out the stops with deals and incentives to entice travelers to book voyages early, particularly for the summer and beyond.
For Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel representative headquartered in Coral Springs, 2017 has started out “super strong” for its more than 1,800 home-based franchised cruise agencies nationwide, said Vicky Garcia, chief operating officer and co-owner.
“January was the strongest we’ve seen in about four years,” said Garcia. “We saw double-digit growth in sales, and we’re seeing demand across all cruise lines” from mainstream to luxury.
The uptick in consumer demand began in December – a month that traditionally isn’t a big booking month, Garcia said. She figures with the U.S. elections now over, consumers who had held off on making discretionary purchases are ready to turn their attention to things like vacation planning.
Travel specialists like Garcia say factors helping to fuel consumer interest this year include a wider range of “value-added” cruise line promotions.
“They’re building much more value into the pricing and people like buying value,” Garcia said.
One example she said is Norwegian Cruise Line’s Free at Sea promotion, which offers guests the option to choose from up to five free offers and qualify for 50 percent reduced deposits, when booking a new cruise in select cabin categories.
Those value-add offers include free unlimited open bar, free specialty dining, free shore excursions and free Wi-Fi. The Free at Sea promotion is available on seven-day voyages aboard Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Getaway from Miami to the eastern and western Caribbean, respectively, the cruise line’s website showed Friday.
“It’s a pretty rich offer and gets people’s attention,” Garcia said.
Cold weather also plays a role — the colder the better — in getting people to think early about escaping to warmer destinations for a cruise or land vacation.
Others agree cruise promotions are becoming increasingly value-laden.
“The cruise lines are doing a great job focusing attention on the value and the experience and less on the price,” said Don Walker, co-president and co-founder of WMPH Vacations in Delray Beach, whose subsidiaries include iCruise.com, AlaskaCruises.com and EuropeCruises.com. “Promotions include valuable amenities, and the higher up the client buys, the more value they get for their money.”
WMPH is also seeing strong demand for its cruise vacation offerings so far in 2017, he said.
As for where most people are looking to cruise, Alaska, the Caribbean and Europe are trending strong this year, travel specialists have said.
“The hottest destination is Alaska with prices starting to rise as a result,” noted Walker. “For the past four months, we’ve [also] seen guests very bullish for Europe. There are a lot of deals out there. It’s a great time for Americans to travel to Europe.”
Consumers can also expect to find attractive deals for Caribbean cruises given the fierce competition among cruise lines in the market.
Others are noticing similar destination trends.
While the Caribbean is seeing strong bookings, we’re seeing a greater spike for Alaska and Europe cruises compared to a year ago, said Drew Daly, general manager of network engagement and performance for CruiseOne, Dream Vacations and Cruises Inc. “We’re impressed with the performance of Europe.”
Together, the Fort Lauderdale-headquartered networks have about 1600 franchise and independent travel agents nationwide.
Daly said there’s also still strong momentum this year for river cruising, whether in Europe or other parts of the world.
In 2017, 18 new river cruise ships are on order, an increase of about 7 percent from the 184 vessels now operated by member cruise lines, according to global trade group Cruise Lines International Association, which operates its U.S. office from Washington, D.C.
Nearly 30 new ocean and river cruise ships are expected to launch in 2017, including ships from MSC Cruises and Silversea Cruises, which will make their debut at South Florida ports later this year.
The buzz generated by recently debuted ships and others coming soon, is also fanning interest in cruising overall, particularly among younger travelers and those who have never cruised, travel specialists say.
“The newer ships that have arrived in North America have helped raise awareness for cruising,” said Daly, noting growing interest among Millennials and Generation Y’ers.
Four new ocean-going vessels that debuted in 2016, including Royal Caribbean International’s “world’s largest” cruise ship Harmony of the Seas and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ luxury liner Seven Seas Explorer, now sail from South Florida ports.
Others include Holland America Line’s ms Koningsdam and Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Vista ships.
“Harmony of the Seas made a big splash last year and it still continues to book strong for us,” Cruise Planners’ Garcia said. “And demand for Seven Seas Explorer is ‘through the roof’.”
Looking ahead, prospects for industry growth remain positive barring any major unforeseen safety, security or geopolitical incidents, which could dampen consumers’ enthusiasm for ravel.
“[Cruise lines] are definitely building more ships and the industry is seeing pretty consistent growth,” Daly said.
With fewer than 30 percent of Americans ever having cruised, operators see new ships and amenities and diverse destination offerings as avenues to help capture more of the untapped market.
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