Sell, sail, sale

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Silversea’s Silver Shadow.

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Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas.

With more than 200 ships operating in the Mediterranean and cruise lines wooing customers with special deals, there has never been a better time to promote holidays afloat.

It's been a year of good news, bad news for the cruise sector - the global downturn sent shivers through the industry, with expectations of a less than buoyant summer season at just the time that more than 18,000 berths were due for launch with 14 new vessels setting sail in 2009.

A flood of special offers, ranging from two-for-one to free flights and onboard credits, has served to excite interest in vacations at sea, however, and while margins may be down, according to the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA), the number of people cruising with its member lines was expected to rise around 2%, to 13.5 million in 2009.

For the Gulf traveller, it may be too late to catch the spectacular deals generated earlier this year, but the good news here is that there is still capacity in the Mediterranean as the move towards late booking has risen elsewhere in the world and now approaches regional levels.

The CLIA Cruise Market Profile 2009 confirmed shorter booking times, with clients now waiting until much nearer departure date than the five to seven months' lead time that had been the norm - but the good news for the trade was that nearly 90% of cruises continue to be sold through travel agents, rising to 97% for some lines.

Royal Caribbean, pioneer of outbound cruising from the Gulf, confirmed the slowdown of enquiries and confirmed reservations, with Middle East executive director, Lakshmi Durai emphasising the last minute nature of the market: "But, while it has not been like previous years (when we were up 30 per cent annually), we are on a par or a few percentage points above 2008," she said.

While there are eight Royal Caribbean ships offering 70 sailings in the Mediterranean with a year-round operation for the first time, as well as five Celebrity vessels including the new Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox and the two Azamara ‘boutique' ships visiting 91 ports in 36 countries, Durai stipulated that the market was not wide open for last minute bookings.

"Those waiting for bargains will not necessarily get best price as yields have held up for 2009 and many of our sailings in the Mediterranean are full, including the majority of those on our latest ship, Independence of the Seas," she said.

GSA for Princess and Cunard in the region, Cruise Master Middle East suggested that looking for sailings during Ramadan or Eid holidays might pay dividends, with many lines now prolonging their Mediterranean seasons through in to the autumn months.

According to sales and marketing manager, Ashok Kumar, summer has segued in to early winter, and many lines have also introduced year-round sailings with the Eastern Med showcased in the winter months.

"During the peak summer months, schedules out of Barcelona, Rome and Venice continue to be in demand and there is reasonable inventory available, particularly for sailing dates that coincide with the Eid period," he said.

He said that earlier offers such as free upgrades on Princess and Cunard, two-for-one pricing and free shore excursions on Regent Seven Seas and cash credits on Carnival did stimulate interest, and as a result, many of these offers ended on May 31: "However, there are still very good bargains to be had, especially for year-end sailings."

One feature of this year's eccentric trends is that the weak dollar is persuading many US travellers to opt for a cruise - paid for in dollars rather than Euros - rather than a land based holiday in Europe, and hence, those lines that cater more for the US market are tending to fill quicker.

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