Smooth sailing for Mediterranean cruise industry
The Mediterranean cruises industry is incredibly buoyant, as is the cruise industry in general. Of the more than 328 million vacations Americans planned this summer, about 33 million were cruises, according to the Travel Industry Association. Holland America will send a record 5 ships on Europe cruises in 2006, including a full season of Mediterranean cruises on the new ms Noordam. Itineraries on the Med are selling faster and earlier than at virtually any time in the history of cruising, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the association of 19 popular cruise companies.
Consumer demand for seagoing vacations remained strong in the second quarter of 2005. CLIA member cruise lines carried 2.66 million worldwide guests during the second quarter, a 2.3 percent increase over the same period in 2004. The cruise lines also posted a collective 101.7 percent occupancy factor compared with 100.7 percent for the year prior. For the first six months of 2005, the fleets carried 5.30 million passengers, a 5.5% increase over the 5,024,465 carried during the same period in 2004.
Carnival Corporaton & PLC, the world's largest cruise group, third quarter 2005 earnings rose 11.7% as strong demand for its cruises drove ticket prices higher and offset higher fuel prices. The operator of the Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Seabourn, Windstar, Costa, Cunard, P&O, Ocean Village, and Swan Hellenic cruise lines said earnings for the quarter rose to $1.15 billion, or $1.36 a share, from $1.03 billion, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier. The corporation expects to post a 20 percent gain in its earnings per share for 2005, despite fuel price increases that are estimated to cost the company an additional $170 million in 2005.
Together, the Carnival brands operate 77 ships totaling more than 128,000 lower berths with a huge investment in nine new ships to be delivered between November 2004 and December 2006.
Who cruises? Adrienne Pielou recently took a Mediterranean cruise on the Sea Princess, part of the mid-market Princess Cruises fleet. The 2,100 passengers were mostly British, but also included 290 "gigantically fat" Americans, 400 children, and 100 of various other nationalities. Those 400 kids are a welcome sign for an industry that's marketing itself to families in order to avoid the stigma of providing vacations for seniors only.
Consumer demand for seagoing vacations remained strong in the second quarter of 2005. CLIA member cruise lines carried 2.66 million worldwide guests during the second quarter, a 2.3 percent increase over the same period in 2004. The cruise lines also posted a collective 101.7 percent occupancy factor compared with 100.7 percent for the year prior. For the first six months of 2005, the fleets carried 5.30 million passengers, a 5.5% increase over the 5,024,465 carried during the same period in 2004.
Carnival Corporaton & PLC, the world's largest cruise group, third quarter 2005 earnings rose 11.7% as strong demand for its cruises drove ticket prices higher and offset higher fuel prices. The operator of the Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Seabourn, Windstar, Costa, Cunard, P&O, Ocean Village, and Swan Hellenic cruise lines said earnings for the quarter rose to $1.15 billion, or $1.36 a share, from $1.03 billion, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier. The corporation expects to post a 20 percent gain in its earnings per share for 2005, despite fuel price increases that are estimated to cost the company an additional $170 million in 2005.
Together, the Carnival brands operate 77 ships totaling more than 128,000 lower berths with a huge investment in nine new ships to be delivered between November 2004 and December 2006.
Who cruises? Adrienne Pielou recently took a Mediterranean cruise on the Sea Princess, part of the mid-market Princess Cruises fleet. The 2,100 passengers were mostly British, but also included 290 "gigantically fat" Americans, 400 children, and 100 of various other nationalities. Those 400 kids are a welcome sign for an industry that's marketing itself to families in order to avoid the stigma of providing vacations for seniors only.
posted by 3RunHomer at 7:00 AM
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