Cruise
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Scores of agents visited P&O’s latest ship Azura before it was named by ballet star Darcey Bussell on Saturday and started its maiden voyage on Monday. Our special report continues on pages 22-23
P&O to redesign its future vessels
Chris Gray.
FUTURE P&O Cruises ships are likely to be an entirely new design with more outdoor cabins and more public areas on lower decks, accord- ing to Cunard UK chief executive David Dingle. Speaking during the naming celebrations for
Azura, Dingle said P&O’s owner will not launch any bigger ships than Azura. He predicted continued growth for the UK cruise market, saying the proportion of the population cruising could grow from 2.5% to 3.5% within four years to match the percentage in the US, and bring the total number of cruisers up to 2.1 million per year. But he said the new customers’ needs could be met without building ever-larger ships of a size similar to Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, and he signalled new vessels were set to be a radically different design. “We’ve had two ships of this size in the last
two years, Ventura and now Azura. I don’t see P&O needing a ship the size of Oasis. It is hugely difficult to get around when you
get that big and we like to build ships where you can easily get to all parts of the ship,” he said. “You don’t get economies of scale by continu- ing to make larger ships. When you go from a 1,500 to 3,000-bed ship you get scale economy, but the curve starts flattening after that.” Dingle said changes to building regulations
governing lower decks of ships gave Carnival Corporation as a whole the chance to reassess how it built new vessels. Potential new developments would be increas- ing the proportion of cabins with private balconies. One way of achieving that would be by moving public areas to lower decks to create more space at higher levels. Carnival Corporation chief executive Micky Arison said the company would slow its rate of building to no more than three ships a year across all its brands until 2013.
He said it would be up to Dingle and P&O Cruises managing director Carol Marlow to convince the Carnival board that new ships should go to their brand.
SOLO PASSENGERS.
Single cabins prove popular
ALL OF Azura’s single cabins are sold out for its entire first season. The ship is the first in P&O Cruises’ fleet to
have cabins for solo travellers, and managing director Carol Marlow said the sales showed the move had been a resounding success. The 18 single cabins are two thirds the size of two-bed cabins. But despite the sell-out, Marlow said future ships were unlikely to have signifi- cantly higher proportions of single cabins because although floorspace could be smaller, the bathroom area could not be shrunk – meaning they were not cost-effective. Sales for Azura were slower than for Ventura when they started in April last year, and Marlow said prices across P&O were 5-6% lower than 2008, although they started to firm up towards the end of last year. As expected, 60-65% of Azura sales were to
previous P&O customers. Marlow said there were customers who had travelled on Ventura with their grandchildren who were now booking on Azura as couples. She said one of the key selling points was customers viewing the Azura as the “new Aurora”, which launched in 2000.
ENTERTAINMENT.
A British evening with James Bond
HELLO SAILORS: Azura godmother Darcey Bussell receives a kiss on the cheek before naming P&O Cruises’ latest ship. Bussell led a dance routine at the Aqua Pool in the centrepiece of celebrations before Azura’s maiden voyage. See a video message from Bussell as well as other celebrities and agents at ttglive.com/azura
20
16.04.2010
AZURA’S FIRST season is set to see “James Bond” evenings to underline its marketing as a classic British ship. P&O Cruises managing director Carol Marlow said the classic Bond films would be among the movies shown on the Sea Screen. The evenings, complete with Bond girls, would be held as one of the events marking Azura’s status as a classic British ship, she said. Carnival UK chief executive David Dingle said
Azura’s classic British character could be seen in the formal dress code, afternoon teas, deck games and ballroom dancing.
sgriffiths@ttglive.com
Sophie Griffiths
020 7921 8010
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