Fancy taking a luxury cruise? Well there couldn’t be a better time than now to consider an option normally only the preserve of the mega rich.
The reason? It appears that ultra luxury cruise companies are feeling the pinch as much as anyone else and are reacting by introducing discounts and other incentives to encourage people to book now.
Incredibly, that means that prices have been almost halved in some cases as the five-star plus cruise companies seek to entice early bookers.
This comes at a time when cruise lines and the travel industry in general have embarked on a new year holiday price war, hoping to encourage people to book holidays for this summer and 2010.
The top-notch lines particularly are anxious to boost sales as they enter a period of unprecedented expansion with new ships being introduced over the next two years.
Yachts of Seabourn and Silversea Cruises are both introducing new vessels this summer and next winter.
Further new ships are due to enter service for Yachts of Seabourn and Oceania Cruises in 2010 and 2011.
This burst of new ship activity means the cruise lines have to fill them at a time when prospective passengers may be thinking more about the slumping values of their investment portfolios rather than when they are going to take their next cruise.
There’s no doubt the current economic environment has focussed minds of those running the top end cruise lines, hence the various offers we are seeing now.
Many of the offers are of the ‘too good to be true’ variety and do carry restrictions, yet are well worth investigating.
For example, Silversea, renowned for its all-inclusive cruises on board four all-suite ships – with a fifth and largest joining in December – is halving the price of 2010 sailings provided they are booked and paid for a year in advance.
This comes as the company announces its 2010 cruise schedule and starts accepting bookings from today (January 12).
Silversea will run a record number of voyages visiting more than 355 ports in 95 countries and islands on 175 itineraries in 2010 – that’s a lot of capacity to fill even on compact-sized vessels.
Crystal Cruises hopes to encourage early bookings by keeping its prices based on more preferable exchange rates as well as introducing price cuts of up to 20% on 2010 voyages, reducing deposit payments and relaxing cancellation rules.
The company admits its money-saving actions are a direct response to the continuing bite of the credit crunch.
Interestingly, early anecdotal evidence suggests that despite the economic downturn, holiday sales are picking up this month after a dead December on the back of extensive advertising and media reports.
Not unsurprisingly, people are shopping around hunting down the best bargains, just as they are on the high street.
Cruise lines and specialist cruise travel agencies are responding with a myriad of special offers.
With savings being hit through interest rates diving to an all-time low, now’s as good a time as any to invest in a well-earned (luxury) cruise getaway.
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