Azamara to scale back Aussie visits?

AZAMARA Club Cruises’ president and chief executive officer Larry Pimentel has hinted at a reduction of the line’s capacity in Australian waters.

The executive highlighted “the combination of Australia and NZ are some of the highest rated voyages we have in the world,” but told Cruise Weekly at CLIA Australasia’s Cruise360 on Fri “we tend to move the ships around because our guests are port and country collectors”.

“I personally like the idea of having one or both ships in Australian waters every year, however we will move the ships around,” he continued.

Pimentel highlighted South Africa as a destination he would like to see the cruise line visit, but admitted it would “take a ship out of our pattern today”.

Although not fully ruling out the chance for a third ship to join

Azamara Quest and Azamara Journey in the future, Pimentel said the “tricky part” about the upper end of the market would be “expanding too quick, too fast”.

The executive said Azamara has “carved out a niche” and its two ships are very successful, very full and profitable.

“A third [ship] is 50% growth - assuming it’s the same size - and 50% growth is a big number and we have a very successful model at this point,” he said.

The upcoming season will be Azamara’s third and biggest season in Australia and 2018 will see both Quest and Journey visit Australian waters.

Pimentel is pictured with Adam Armstrong, md Australia and New Zealand, RCL Cruises.