I’ve been trying to imagine the impact on Southampton next summer when P&O Cruises celebrates its 175th anniversary with all seven ships in the fleet visiting the port at once for the first time ever.
The day will mean handling 30,000 disembarking and embarking passengers together with their not insignificant amounts of luggage plus all the provisions and other items that will need to be loaded onto each ship during the course of the day.
I had a glimpse of how the so-called Grand Event might look on Friday when I happened to be in Civitavecchia – the port for Rome – on a work assignment.
Lined up in one vast row was a shipping spotters dream, starting with the small in terms of Seabourn and SeaDream Yacht Club vessels; the medium-sized represented by P&O Cruises’ 2,000-passenger Oceana and a mid-range Costa Cruises ship; to the mega in terms of MSC Cruises’ MSC Fantasia, Princess Cruises’ Ruby Princess and Holland America Line’s Niew Amsterdam.
These seven ships alone were disgorging the best part of 15,000 passengers on shore excursions to Rome and welcoming them all back on board again at the end of the day.
While there was little doubt in my mind that the Eternal City would be swamped with cruise passengers on day trips, it made me consider the incredible logistics involved handling such huge numbers at any one time in a smooth and orderly fashion.
Similar such logistics will have to come into play in Southampton on July 3, 2012 when the city will be turning out in its thousands to welcome all P&O Cruises’ ships in the city at one time for the biggest birthday party it is ever likely to witness.
To say that Southampton will grind to a standstill is probably the understatement of the decade, but for anybody with even a vague interest in the cruise business, this will be a day not to be missed.
Yet the cruise industry has an enviable record for managing large scale events, just as my day in the port of Rome impressively demonstrated. Everything on the dockside appeared to be running like clockwork with fleets of coaches and taxis sweeping cruise ship passengers off on their many excursions into the Italian capital.
Economic benefit
It also made me wonder about the huge economic benefits the arrival of fleet of cruise ships into port must have on the local area, from transportation companies to cafés, bars and restaurants. This, after all, is big business and one that can have a huge impact on the destinations visited.
This was put into sharp focus to me the previous evening when I visited Malta and was discussing the impact of the Arab Spring and war in Libya on the island. A friendly local restaurant owner was bemoaning the lack of cruise ship calls this year and the direct negative impact that has had not only on his business but that of many others in the picturesque port of Valetta and other tourist draws on the island.
It was quite a contrast from bustling Civitavecchi, albeit only around a day’s cruising away.
What my snapshot of cruising in the Mediterranean managed to put into sharp focus was the power of the cruise itinerary – a view supported by new consumer research into the cruise sector.
The poll by Travelzoo.co.uk of 1,400 subscribers found that the cruise itinerary has overtaken price as the main priority for people choosing a cruise this year over 2009, despite ongoing recessionary pressures.
The itinerary was found to be most important for almost 30% of people, up from less than 20% three years ago. Price is the key factor for just over a quarter of people, down from close to 30% in 2009.
Other important influencing factors include the name/reputation of the cruise line, departure port and on board amenities.
The firm favourite cruise destinations of the Caribbean and Mediterranean have both slightly dipped in popularity since 2009, with growth identified in European river cruising, the Canary Islands and North America.
Coming back for more
The poll also found that first time cruisers are likely to become regular repeat passengers.
Of those who have taken a cruise in the past, 58% are likely to do so in the next year, while 19% who have never cruised before are likely to do so, according to the study.
“This says that first time cruisers become regular repeat customers, and a significant proportion of those who haven’t will try it soon. This is a great sign for growth in the industry,” the research report says.
P&O Cruises topped brand awareness of cruise lines followed by sister company Cunard Line and rival Royal Caribbean International.
Almost 60% of those asked said that finding a great offer was key to influencing their purchase. Of those, 43% were not even considering a cruise but found an offer – such as those provided by www.virginholidayscruises.co.uk – that was too good to miss.
More than three quarters of respondents went online to research their last cruise deal.
Only 6% used purely offline research, down from 22% in 2009, while 68% of all bookings are now made with travel agencies and 22% direct.
The cruise survey found that last minute cruise bookings have dropped by 30% since 2009, with more than 40% of people booking between three and six months ahead of departure and over 20% booking between seven and 12 months ahead.
This shows the power of forward planning and explains why cruise companies put their sailings on sale as much as 18 months ahead of the ship actually departing.
With the growth in the number of British cruise passengers forecast to continue rising in 2012 to 1.73 million from 1.71 million this year, it shows that the value for money message a holiday at sea continues to represent is beginning to get through to an increasing number of people.
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