Carnival Group Cruise Report 2008

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by Story_tella

The UK cruise industry has taken the best part of 50 years to reach the 1 million passenger mark, but now, with such strong growth, it has been predicted that it will take just 8 years to hit 2 million.

This is just one of the fascinating revelations published in the 2008 Cruise Report which was compiled by the Carnival UK Group earlier this month. The report summarized current cruise trends as well as forecasting market predictions up to the year 2020.

Interestingly, the report suggested that the future of cruising this side of the Atlantic is looking good, with the majority of the 44 new ships set to be built in the next 5 years sailing for European brands. With an estimated 5 million UK passengers by 2020, this will be a much needed capacity increase.

These figures show great confidence in the UK cruise market and is good news for the Carnival Group who somewhat monopolize the market with ownership of P&O Cruises, Ocean Village, Cunard, Yachts of Seabourn and Princess Cruises.

Carnival UK Group – 2007 Figures

• 2007 saw an impressive 18% increase of UK passengers choosing to sail with Princess Cruises, thus partly due to an extended season of Southampton departures onboard the popular Sea Princess, along with the deployment of an additional 2 ships to serve Europe.

• Ocean Village continued their success in attracting informal cruisers, as well as maintaining their impressive first time cruiser rate, with around 50% of their passengers fitting into this category.

• P&O Cruises passenger figures mirrored those from 2006, but they did confirm heavy interest in their new build – the Ventura - sailing this year, which is set to increase capacity for P&O by 22%.

• Cunard saw high demand from UK passengers most notably on their transatlantic crossings on the Queen Mary 2, with North American passengers being outnumbered by Brits.

• Finally, Yachts of Seabourn, catering for the ultra luxury end of the cruise market, confirmed there was an increased demand for their product.

Looking ahead, host David Dingle, chief executive officer of Carnival UK, reported that we can expect cruising to head in a much healthier direction, with a focus on spas and fitness and more sophisticated dining, with an aim to eliminate some of the negative images of cruising.
We can also expect to see advanced technological features, such as interactive digital TV in cabins, texting facilities, and plasma screens in lounges to show major sporting events.

2020 Predictions

Let's take a step back in time to 1995. P&O Cruises proudly introduced the Oriana as the UK's largest cruise ship at a now somewhat modest 69,000 tons. This was seen as a huge advance in the industry, many believed it was too bold and questioned whether she would ever fill. 13 years on we have seen such unbelievable development in the market, not only in the size and capacity of the ships, but in the onboard innovations. Who would have thought we would see ice skating rinks, bowling alleys and even boxing rings onboard?

We only have to look as far as next year to see the start of the future of cruising, with the introduction of Royal Caribbean's Project Genesis, which will a record breaking 220,000 ton ships with a capacity for 5000 passengers. This alone is hard to imagine, so what can we see happening in the next 12 years?

Well, here's the good news; according to Peter Shanks, Carnival UKs chief commercial officer, we can say goodbye to single supplements and look forward to ships that have specific single cabins that can be sold for the same per person price as double cabins. He also predicts a renaissance for ocean liners, as it will become the most relaxing way to cross the Atlantic, as well as cruise ships being built differently to allow "weatherproof cruising". He stated; "The process has already started in the Mediterranean, but, by 2020, the development of many more all weather ships with greater stability and range of weatherproof entertainment facilities will make winter cruising viable from and to many more places"

Further positive predictions were put forward by David Dingle who believes that by 2020, inside cabins will be a thing of the past as balcony cabins come as standard. He further adds that cruise ships are likely to be powered in a different way; "It could be Biofuels; it could be liquefied natural gas, we should have worked the best way forward to marry the environmental issues involved with the optimum design for the ships to operate efficiently".

So, better ships, more balconies and less environmental damage all sounds pretty good, but what about the onboard innovations in 12 years time? What can we really expect from our cruise experience?

Unfortunately, the report didn't explore this area, however, Nigel Esdale, P&O's managing director did predict future ships weren't going to be built in the bigger and better style that is the current trend; "I do not believe ships will necessarily be any larger than the 2,000 to 3,000 passenger size which are already beginning to dominate the market here in 2008 but there will be a lot more of them and they will vary a lot more in style and on board facilities"

So rather than looking at a future filled with bigger ships with mind blowing innovations, maybe the market will develop in a more subtle direction, with emphasis on higher quality dining, entertainment and itineraries, making cruising the ultimate luxury product.

Genna Roberts is web editor at Inside Cruise - an online cruise community packed with all the latest cruise news, features and reviews. Come join us! Inside Cruise Get paid for your cruise reviews & photos here

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