HOW THE TIDE TURNED

STEPHEN SCOURFIELD reveals a big turnaround out on the oceans and rivers

Cruising is back. Really back.

It’s not hard to think back to pandemic days when cruise ships were shunned, shut­up and anchored.

It seemed a very long, fraught voyage back to normality. (At times it seemed almost impossible to envisage how that would happen.)

But that isn’t how it has played out.

Bookings for sailings in European waters this year are predicted to be more than 30 per cent higher than in 2019 — and the same percentage prediction applies to cruises in Alaska.

My Cruises general manager Michael Middleton says itineraries are selling out quickly. That has brought with it the need for My Cruises, as a seller, “to be nimble and get new cruise holiday packages to the broader market as soon as they’re released”. And that prompted it to develop and launch a downloadable digital brochure.

Silversea luxury cruise line will sail five times as many itineraries of 21 days or longer in 2023 than in 2019.

Cruising is a mature industry, with lots of “component industries” or categories — from expedition ships to small, bespoke ocean ships with fewer than 800 passengers (and price tags to match), then the 800 to 1500­passenger ships, mid­sized ships carrying 1500 to 2500 passengers, the 2500 to 3500­passenger category, and then mega ships with more people aboard.

It is estimated that 20 cruise lines globally will expand their fleets this year.

THE LONG & SHORT OF IT

There are short sampler cruises, “out and back” in Australian waters, an absolute plethora of ships and itineraries in Europe and big repositioning and circumnavigation cruises.

There are fun ships with waterslides, “value ships” with lots of bars and restaurants and “silver service ships”. There are ships which are destinations in their own right, and others with itineraries which mean being on shore, engaged with countries and cultures is the point.

And cruising is back right across all those “mature industry” categories.

The demand for cruising to Antarctica is significant, as are inexpensive short cruises from Brisbane and Sydney.

The same is true across booking patterns, where some cruise and taking it aboard. There have been passengers sitting out isolation in their cabins, and others offloaded to hotels in port. enthusiasts are looking long­term and booking big trips, others are snapping up cheap, short­term deals — and lots of travellers are doing both.

What is emerging is what many cruise industry insiders are now calling ‘the biggest year ever’. It is predicted that more than $35 billion will be spent on cruises in 2023.

But those days are rapidly receding.

Even I hadn’t seen the “comeback” so hard and fast.

Part of this remarkable success story has to be attributed to the cruise lines themselves. They understood and really took up the need to lead the way on health and safety. Lots of new­build ships have more spacious public areas and reduced “shared air”.

Some companies have scaled back the number of passengers on existing ships.

Cruise companies also made the quite sensible point that being in an isolated and controlled environment was a better and safer way to travel than wandering round at random in big crowds.

There have been bumps along the way, of course, with passengers testing positive to COVID­19 and not being allowed to board a ship, or not being tested

In some cases, and on some ships, they are pretty much forgotten, in this vaccine­fuelled year of revenge travel.

What is emerging is what many cruise industry insiders are now calling “the biggest year ever”.

It is predicted that more than $35 billion will be spent on cruises in 2023.

As one example, Cunard has just reported that it booked more passengers in the first week of January than any equivalent period during the last decade. A spokesperson for the luxury line, which is part of the massive Carnival family, says there has been strong booking for both 2023 and 2024. Cunard added new itineraries and innovative shore excursions to really plump up 2023, but a stand­out success are the bookings for Queen Anne, its fourth ship, which will come into service in May 2024.

So, there’s long­term planning, and there are short­term deals, too. At another end of the scale,

Royal Caribbean offered discounted prices on some Quantum of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas sailings — including an eight­night Quantum cruise from Brisbane to South Pacific islands from $699 per person. It has to be booked by 5pm, February 28, 2023 — but you can be sure that other deals will pop up throughout the year.

And, once again, at another end of a scale, in addition to small trips, there are big ones.

Viking has introduced a new 32­day Grand Australia Circumnavigation ocean voyage from Sydney return on Viking Venus, visiting the Whitsunday Islands, Great Barrier Reef, ducking up to the Indonesian islands of Komodo and Bali before sailing on to Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne and north­western Tasmania. Not only is it a long voyage, but this really is long­term planning, with only one 2025 departure. It is currently from $19,995 per person, with savings of up to $2000 per couple.

THE WAVE OF TRENDS

There are number of clear trends emerging, as the cruise industry quickly re­emerges.

Small ships are big news. There has certainly been outstanding demand for expedition and small (or “boutique”) ship cruising.

The “luxury” end of the cruise industry is booming — with the Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, Antarctica and Africa­Middle East­India voyages at the top of the list of itineraries.

As an indicator of this, the MSC Group’s 2023 plan included the launch of Explora Journeys — a new offering with purpose­built ships offering luxury experiences.

Royal Caribbean’s anticipated Icon of the Seas is an indication of what we can expect in big ships. The ship was recently floated for the first time at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, and is due to launch in January 2024. The 20­deck ship will have a water park, new areas just for families, big pool decks and carry up to 7600 passengers (10,000, if you count the crew).

While good­quality dining and bars are still a fundamental, the “passenger experience” is a new catchphrase. It’s bigger than just having a nice meal — it covers the cruise company and crew’s whole approach to welcoming guests.

Big voyages are big news. Across the industry, there is demand for voyages of at least 21 days.

The term “experiential excursions” is ringing around the cruise world, with operators aware of passengers’ desires for “exclusive, unique, and local” experiences. Feedback to cruise lines shows travellers’ desires to learn something new during their trips. That might be the Italian cooking lessons given by a countess in Venice on some Viking itineraries or Ponant’s ongoing partnership with French yoga club Le Tigre. And it spans the generations, as families opt for educational trips to locations such as the Galapagos Islands.

The demand for solo cruising continues to grow, as does the pressure for more deals where there’s no single supplement.

A report by strategy and operations consultant company Deloitte identifies that passengers of all generations want and use self­service digital channels. So cruise operators need to keep working on that for booking, check­in, check­out and activity selection. Onboard apps will become increasingly important.

Locally, the Kimberley remains WA’s cruising icon — and this year’s big wet season will see waterfalls running well into the dry season.

ELEMENTAL IDEAS

Deloitte’s report into the cruise industry also identifies five elements that help differentiate the passenger experience:

Engage me “Engage me in a personalised, authentic and attentive way.”

Hear me “Listen to my needs, empathise with my situation and follow through.”

Empower me “Provide me with the opportunities and access to drive my experiences the way I want.”

Delight me “Create moments that surprise me and exceed my expectations.”

Know me “Know and remember me, my preferences and my needs.”

It concludes that all five elements influence the extent to which cruise operators can turn passengers into loyal repeat customers.

SEA-STAINABILITY

(Excuse me that one.) Environmental issues are a big subject in the industry, and operators have been responding through both ship design, the way they source provisions for those ships, their management of waste, and their impact on destinations. This is not just lip service, but has become embedded into company attitudes — and, on the practical side, they need to try to futureproof new vessels against future environmental regulations.

As examples, Viking’s ocean ships will run on hydrogen fuel cells and Hurtigruten has been converting vessels to hybrid power, aiming to cut CO2 emissions by 25 per cent. Silverseas’ Nova­class ships have dual­fuel engines and aim for zero local emissions while in port. MSC has a new ship powered by liquid natural gas called Euribia launching in June on LNG. A spokesperson adds: “All wastewater on board is directed to the water treatment system, so no water is allowed to leave the ship without specific treatment that cleans the water to very high standards.

“This avoids alien ocean organisms from being transported from one ocean area to other, which could threaten local ecosystems.”

Members of Cruise Lines International Association are jointly chasing net zero carbon cruising by 2050 — and an important aspect of that is switching off engines in port and using sustainable shore power. Sydney aims to become the first port in the southern hemisphere to offer such shoreside electricity, scheduled for the end of 2024.