SHORT HAUL: Cruising
ASSOCIATION OF CRUISE EXPERTS (ACE)
ANDY HARMER Director
Association of Cruise Experts
What are the newspapers saying? The travel pages of the weekend papers are full of great places to visit – from Antarctica to Zanzibar and I’m sure every letter of the alphabet in between. Consumers tell us that destination remains the priority in the booking process and now is a great time to introduce customers to the huge choice of destinations offered on a cruise holiday.
What is your top tip for cruising? One of the joys of cruising is visiting multiple destinations on one holiday. A cruise can showcase a broad range of different places, countries and daytime activity options all on the same trip. Indeed, with cruising there are thousands of destinations that can be explored – and there’s the great advantage of having to unpack just the once.
What’s new for 2013? Hot tips for cruising further afield in 2013 include the Far East and Indian Ocean; both offer an amazing diversity of holiday experiences for both ocean cruise and river voyages. The Asian ports of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore are becoming more popular as cruising ports and whilst a river cruise offers a completely different experience it is another incredible way of showcasing the amazing wildlife, scenery and culture in the region.
What is ACE currently working on? Here at ACE we are launching six new destination modules this year including ones covering the Indian Ocean, Far East and South America – the latter two going live this month (February). Destination will also play a key part of the
Selling Cruise Conference in May when the theme for our Trade Fair will be ‘Around the World’ with breakout sessions focussing on emerging river and ocean cruise destinations together with presentations from associations and countries with close ties to the industry including Cruise Baltic and Canada. With some fantastic cruise ships and itineraries combined with amazing value for money, cruise is the ultimate choice for those looking to explore some of the world’s greatest destinations.
cruiseexperts.org
price levels in the ferociously
competitive Mediterranean and other markets, provided it is properly
`policed’ , so that rogue agents cannot continue selling purely on low price. Royal Caribbean International,
(together with sister brand Celebrity Cruises) cut base commission to 10 per cent from January 1, but believes the move will clarify pricing for
customers by ending the confusion of commission-related rebating. RCI UK General Manager Jo
Rzwymowska has said the new 10% base commission fi gure was based on feedback from trade partners asked to consider an acceptable level, and that with marketing support and performance-related override agreements, its implementation would be more complex than a `one size fi ts all’ approach.
And Francis Riley, UK General Manager for commission-cutting Norwegian Cruise Line, said a new 10%t commission rate would bring greater price parity to the UK market. “Clients who e-mail 20 agents in search of the best price are now getting pretty much the same response from all of them, and this more level playing fi eld will make
Santorini is a popular cruise destination and with sunsets like these, it’s easy to see why
58 February 2013 •
www.sellinglonghaul.com
“UK travellers appreciate the value of package holidays and are looking to get as much as possible included in the price”
more agents willing to sell cruise as they know they won’t be blown away on price by a big wholesaler with call centres,” he said. Italian-owned MSC Cruises, which is maintaining variable commission levels of between 10- and 14% but joining other lines in removing fi ve per cent discounts for customers booking through its website, is hoping for further growth from the UK in 2013 after clocking up a 30 per cent increase in bookings last year. “We will be introducing MSC Precioza this year, and with ships in the Caribbean, the mainstream Med, South Africa, the Red Sea and the Middle East, we hope to increase UK- generated carryings by 50%,” said MSC UK managing director Giulio Libutti. Libutti believes simplicity of product presentation will be the key to winning more bookings from the UK. “We have been working hard at packaging our products with affordable air and have done a major deal with British Airways,” he said. “We’re also working closely with easyJet to provide affordable fl y-
cruise packages with a range of UK regional departures and excess baggage costs covered by us up to 23 kilos per passenger. “After the worldwide travel chaos caused by the volcanic ash cloud in 2010, UK travellers started to appreciate the value of package holidays where all components are covered. In this economic climate people are looking to get as much as possible included in the price of their holiday,” added Libutti.
Cruise talk “A fall in Mediterranean cruise capacity for 2013 should help stabilise
pricing, but it will be a blip rather than any sign that Mediterranean cruise growth has reached its limit. “One or two Med-based ships have been redeployed to UK homeports but will include the Mediterranean on many of their 2013 itineraries. And most lines are maintaining their Mediterranean fl eet capacity, and in some cases introducing new ships in the region. “So, can we see the strong growth
FIERCE OVER 50
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