Regal Princess to debut in May
The year 2014 has started on a positive note, with a lot of cruise queries and bookings, which have already been confirmed in the first six weeks of the year.
According Saxena,
to Nishith Director, Cruise Professionals, the year 2014 looks promising for the cruise industry. Talking about new products, he says, “For Princess Cruises, we have a new ship – Regal Princess – debuting in May 2014. Also, Princess Cruises has become the first luxury liner to introduce a large deployment for cruising in Japan.” Regal Princess would be deployed in Europe for the entire summer season. After sailing on three-week long itineraries, she would be deployed on Princess’ famous 12-day Grand Mediterranean itinerary, sailing between Barcelona and Venice. Regal Princess moves to the Caribbean later in the year and would be offering seven-day itineraries to choose from.
Regarding the growth in the cruise tourism from India in the last year, he affirms, “The
We are witnessing a demand for newer destinations and exotic itineraries
last two years have been extremely challenging with respect to growth in overall vacation spend. Though outbound travel is increasing, passengers opting for cruises from Tier- II and Tier- III cities is still low due to lack of awareness and presence of proactive travel agents.”
Saxena adds, “There is an increase in passengers opting for long-haul destinations such as Alaska, French Polynesia, South America, etc. We are also witnessing a demand for newer destinations and exotic itineraries in existing destinations like Scandinavia, Mediterranean, China and Japan.” Cruise Professionals have been conducting product updates and roadshows in metros and minimetros to enhance the cruise market share. “One of the key differentiators we offer to our travel agents is Cancellation Fee Waiver programme on Cunard and Princess Cruises, which saves passengers from high cancellation fees, in case of cancellation of bookings up to three working days prior to sail date,” he informs.