Cruise Market Community
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 1st November 2012
The infographic below guides you on how far in advance you should book, and the season to set sail for the best deal on a Caribbean cruise. This provides a framework for planning, from which you can then narrow down your specific destinations, cruise duration, cabin type and ship segment. Based on actual pricing* from 26 cruise lines and 144 cruise ships representing over 7,500 sailings in the Caribbean and Bahamas between September 1, 2010 to November 30, 2013, it just goes to show a little advance planning can save a lot of money per person per day on your cruise itinerary.
Interestingly, unlike its European infograph counterpart, Caribbean cruises get more expensive each month closer to the sail on date – so no penalty for booking well in advance!
* Cruise Market Watch total weighted average price (per per person per day) across all cabin categories.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 29th October 2012
List of possible cruise sailing disruptions from Hurricane Sandy:
| Scheduled Departure Dates |
| Departure Port/Ship Name | 10/28/2012 | 10/29/2012 | 10/31/2012 |
| Baltimore MD | | | |
| Carnival Pride | 2,251 | | |
| Bayonne NJ | | | |
| Explorer of the Seas | 3,301 | | |
| Boston MA | | | |
| Jewel of the Seas | 2,234 | | |
| New York NY | | | |
| Caribbean Princess | | | 3,301 |
| Carnival Miracle | | 2,251 | |
| Crystal Symphony | | | 1,018 |
| Norwegian Gem | | 2,529 | |
| Norwegian Jewel | 2,544 | | |
| Queen Mary 2 | 5,554 | | |
| Norfolk VA | | | |
| Carnival Glory | 3,152 | | |
| Sum Of Passengers | 19,038 | 4,781 | 4,318 |
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 23rd October 2012
Cruise prices vary not only based on destination, number of nights booked, cabin type and ship segment but are also dependent on the season you set sail and how far in advance you buy. The same cruise itinerary can cost you a lot less per person per day if you book your ticket for the right season and the right number of months in advance. This infographic* can help you figure out the best time of year to go on a European cruise by highlighting prices by season and how far in advance you should book to get the best deal. The “rule of thumb for a European cruise” graphic requires little additional editorial comment. The only question that remains is what you will do with the money you save?
* Cruise Market Watch total weighted average price (per day per person) across all cabin categories from 30 cruise lines and 163 ships representing over 8,500 sailings in northern and southern Europe between September 1, 2010 to November 30, 2013.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 20th October 2012
A type of boomerang occurs for companies and victims that suffer tragic events. First is the event itself, which is followed many months later by its reemergence in the news during subsequent trails and lawsuits. And so it is with Carnival, Concordia passengers, crew and their families while the captain of the cruise ship finished his pre-trial hearings last week. While no date has been set for the actual court case, we can expect the news flow to continue.
As demonstrated by the word cloud of that news flow below, the Captain remains squarely at the center of the discussion.
And the impact has been felt in the industry. Three weeks ago on September 25th, the word “Costa” was mentioned 67 times in Carnival’s Q3 earnings conference call. That was more than “Executive” (66 times), but less than “quarter” (96 times).
In summary, earnings were reduced as a result of the Concordia incident by about $500 million, and Costa lost about $100 million in 2012. In the most recent financial quarter – a quarter that booked revenue for sailings six to eight months after the accident, Costa accounted for over half of Carnival’s decline in net revenue yields.
The Costa brand’s occupancy drop was 5% in 2012, with an 11% decline in the second and a 6% drop in the third quarters. In the fourth quarter of 2012 Costa’s ships are expected to match the occupancy rates of a year prior, albeit at lower prices.
Going forward, pricing and occupancy for Costa’s bookings in Q1 2013 are tracking lower on a year-over-year basis. However, these differences will narrow as year over year comparisons versus 2012 become easier. According to Howard Frank, Carnival’s Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer “Based on consumer research, the brand perception in each of Costa’s major markets is gradually improving so we are greatly encouraged by the resiliency of the brand.”
In fact, Carnival has a new build on order for Costa with expected delivery in the Fall 2014 The Costa brand is also helping to develop an emerging cruise market strategy in Australia and Asia. Carnival has increased capacity by 8.5% in these markets and will be sending the Costa Atlantica to join the Costa Victoria in China in the spring of 2013. Costa was an early entrant into the Chinese market and has a marketing history there.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 15th April 2012
Sally with RCL's Grandeur of The Seas
Cruising has always been about more than just sailing – it’s also about visiting and exploring destinations. One of the best ways to do that in Old San Juan Puerto Rico is a horse and carriage tour with Las Calesas Del Viejo San Juan. Not only will you get to see the highlights of Old San Juan, you will learn about the culture and history from your skilled and knowledgeable driver. The sound of horse’s hooves over the cobblestone streets can’t help but transport you back to the early years of Spanish rule in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Experiences such as these explain the positive cruise industry economic impacts to local economies and small businesses that operate shore side excursions.
Puerto Rico is no exception. With a 2012 Port Pulse™ rank of 26th (out of over 830 embarkation and destination ports around the world) the Port of San Juan benefits from the spending of 150,000 crew and 920,000 annual passengers. That is a direct economic impact estimated at over $125 million.
Review seasonality of 2012 passenger and crew spending in San Juan, cruise line share and embarkation vs. destination statistics in the charts below by clicking the image to enlarge.
Cruise passenger and crew spending in ports of call from direct spending on a variety of goods and services including ground transportation, clothing, food and shore excursions. For embarkation/debarkation ports estimates also include lodging as part of a pre- and/or post-cruise stay, air and ground transportation and miscellaneous port and cruise line services.
Sources: Crew and passenger visitation rates and port spending estimates derived from Business Research & Economic Advisors, Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association and Cruise Lines International Association. Each ship’s unique destination itinerary, sailing days and passenger capacity from Cruise Market Watch.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 22nd January 2012
Thus far pricing* for sailings on Costa (all Costa ships, all sailing departure dates) has not changed since the Concordia accident on January 13, 2012. Click on graph below for advertised prices from January 7 to January 21, 2012. Note little or no change to the booking prices. With prices for Costa holding up, wave season for RCL and CCL are likely holding up as well (refer to Cruise Pulse for details).
This finding is backed up by responses from several U.S. travel agents in regard to booking demand. Surprisingly, agents have indicated minimal to no demand impact. Nevertheless, on 12/30/2012 Carnival guided loss a booking slow down in the mid teens.
Interestingly, travel agents are currently Carnival’s best marketing resource. While the “Land vs. Sea” campaign is off the air (given its theme the campaign does not “play well” with current events) thousands of travel agents are out in the community engaged in conversations with prospective cruisers on a daily basis. It is these human one-on-one interactions that assure vacationers this tragic event is a “one off“ and in fact, given the renewed focus on safety and procedures, now is the safest time to cruise ever.
* Average price per day per person, inside cabin.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 14th January 2012
I’ve always been fond of the quotation “the law of flotation wasn’t discovered contemplating the sinking of things.” This has certainly held true for the cruise industry – growing the annual number of passengers carried nearly 5 times over the past 20 years. But with over 9,000 sailings worldwide in 2012 the odds of something going wrong somewhere do increase.
Traditionally I have considered the media coverage of cruises ships to be somewhat lopsided. I imagine there are plenty of things going on over the course of a year throughout hotel rooms in Las Vegas for example – but we tend not to hear these stories. By contrast, we do readily hear about the occasional sick cruise ship passenger, bad smell or overboard suicide.
My heart goes out to the passengers and families on Concordia’s sailing. This is a terrible tragedy by any measure. Without diminishing these human experiences, the recent events of the Costa Concordia will at the very least have an impact to Carnival’s near term bottom line, something Cruise Market Watch can measure.
For the Costa Concordia, remaining sailings in Carnival’s First Quarter (Q1) 2012 would have brought in an estimated total of $15.8 million in ticket revenue. For Q2 the impact will be in the order of $47.4 million in ticket revenue, Q3 $63 million and Q4 $45.9 million. Concordia was booking considerably higher prices during the summer (June, July and August). In a “back of the napkin” estimate that assumes the lost ticket revenue falls straight out of the bottom line this would equate to about .02 cents in Q1 earnings per share and .05 cents in Q2. The loss to earnings from the Carnival Splendor incident was .07 cents per share in a single quarter. Things we can’t measure include – what will be costs of raising and repairing the Concordia and when will she sail again? Will those who have already booked future sailings on Concordia transfer their vacations to other ships? What will be the legal actions and operational changes? We will have to wait to hear guidance from Carnival. Update: 12/30/2012 Carnival guided loss be in the range of $155-$175 million after a booking slow down in the mid teens. This news came after initially guiding $85 to $95 million lower (or .11 cents to .12 cents per share) on 12/16/2012.
Fortunately, ship builder Fincantieri has ship yards located right in Italy. Any near term impact to ticket pricing across Costa and other cruise brands will likely correlate with the duration of time in which the story continues to garner news headlines and cruise brands keep their wave season ad campaigns off the television. Pricing impacts will continue to be closely watched.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 29th November 2011
Among the 2012 highlights:
- ~ The worldwide cruise market is estimated at $34.1 billion
- ~ Cruise passengers carried worldwide in 2012 is estimated at 20.3 million, a 5.6% increase over 2011
- ~ The top two cruise companies Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Co (NYSE: RCL) account for 73% of worldwide share of revenue
- ~ The 2012 Port PulseTM rankings place Miami Florida as the #1 cruise embarkation port in the world and Nassau Bahamas the #1 port of call
- ~ Direct spending by passengers and crew at all cruise ports in the world is estimated at $15.5 billion
Image via Wikipedia
While cruise lines have grown annual passengers traveled at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4% since 1990 – all the cruise ships in the entire world filled at capacity all year long still only amount to less than ½ of the total number of annual visitors to Las Vegas. Cruise passengers carried worldwide in 2012 is estimated at 20.3 million, an increase of 5.6% over 2011.
On the heals of the several new ships to be added to the market in 2012 (including the 3,690 passenger Carnival Breeze, the 3,013 passenger MSC Divina, 3,012-guest Costa Fascinosca and 2,500 berth Disney Fantasy) eight more new cruise ships will launch by 2015. These ships will generate another $2.3 billion in annual revenue for the cruise industry. By 2015, 22.3 million cruise passengers are expected to be carried worldwide.
This is not only good for the cruise industry (of which two cruise companies dominate – Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Co (NYSE: RCL) with a combined 73% of worldwide market share) but also for the local economies of ports visited by cruise passengers. Direct spending by passengers and crew at all cruise ports around the world is estimated at $15.5 billion. The 2012 Port PulseTM rankings place Miami, Florida as the #1 embarkation port and Nassau Bahamas the #1 port of call. North America and Europe serve as the source markets for 85.9% of worldwide passengers, but other regions of the world such as Asia are growing significantly.
The new ships continue to bring attention to cruising, creating interest, additional pricing power, economies of scale and bookings of first time cruisers. Average cruise revenue per passenger per day for 2012 is projected to be $240.13.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 20th October 2011
Norwegian Cruise Lines has been generating positive cruise industry buzz over the last few weeks. After all, the launch of its new “Cruise like a Norwegian” national adverting campaign alone would be enough garner cruisers attention. But Norwegian topped itself with a simultaneous announcement of advance booking availability to sail its newest ship, the Breakaway as early as April 30, 2013. The Breakaway will home port in none other than the Big Apple – New York City).
What else could we do? We had to map all of Norwegian’s sailings for the next 12 months and let users discover how many cruisers around the world are cruising like Norwegians – by port, ship, country and month. Discover for yourself using the interactive interface below.
Insights into how the cruise lines are performing around the world, and how pricing changes impact forward earnings can be accessed from our proprietary database. It tracks daily ticket prices and passenger sailings to port destinations for over 8,000 annual cruises. With an exclusive window into the pricing of virtually every sailing, every day, world wide (including Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), Royal Caribbean Cruises Lines (RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)) our subscribers can view cruise revenue and passenger trends in near real time.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 27th September 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Going on a cruise is one of many vacationer’s dreams. The great thing about a cruise is that everything is pretty much there for you and you don’t have to worry about bringing in extra money, not unless you want to buy some souvenirs on the place of your destination. Other than that, it’s all about enjoyment and lot’s of fun. It is still highly recommended though that you bring in just a bit of extra cash just in case of emergencies.
How much are last minute cruises?
There are many different types of cruises you can take and if you are going for a last minute cruises, it will all depend on where you want to go and how many days do you want to stay. If you are going to like the Caribbean, then you should be expecting between $150 to $300 per person. That includes your stay for at least 4 nights from Miami. If you are going for 7 days and coming from a different location, then the price may not be the same.
What are the best cruises?
If you are looking forward to go on a cruise with your kid’s, I think the best cruise that I can recommend is the Disney cruise. Your kids will enjoy themselves while they’re on the ship. They’ll be entertained by their favorite Disney characters. For the parents, they can entertain themselves with some of the great shows and nightclubs as well. As part of the cruise, you will get to spend some time in the Caribbean for 2 nights or depending on the package you want to purchase. You can find the best combination like 3 days in Caribbean and 4 days Disney World.
How much money should you bring?
The average amount of money a person should ranges from $1000 to $2000. The only thing you will be spending on your cruise is your cocktails, souvenirs, and if you want to try your luck at the casino, but you won’t have to pay while you are on board, you can pay that on the last day of your cruise. Coffee, tea, milk, lemonade, punch, and bottled water are all free.
What are the best places to go on a cruise?
Some of the famous cruise destinations are the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Bora Bora, Jamaica, Alaska and of course for your kid’s, Disney World, but there are some other great destinations to choose from. The farther the location, the more you’ll have to pay. Disney cruise is about $600 to $700 per person.
It is for your best interest to contact your local travel agent for all the list and information of available cruise destinations. They have all information of the prices and the best deal they can provide you, along with the number of days you want to spend. They will also be glad to offer different packages they have available on every cruise. This will give you an idea of what and where to go based on your budget.
Our proprietary database tracks daily ticket prices and passenger sailings to port destinations from nearly 8,000 annual cruises. With an exclusive window into virtually every sailing, every day, world wide (including Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), Royal Caribbean Cruises Lines (RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)) our subscribers can view cruise revenue and passenger trends in near real time.
- TUI Orders New Ship from STX (cnd-cruiseblogger.blogspot.com)
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