As the average age of an Alaskan cruise passenger continues to trend younger, Alaska cruise lines such as Princess Cruises are visiting quieter ports, and adding more adventurous shore excursions.
Interested in ocean kayaking? On the Tahitian Princess, Princess Cruises has you covered.
How about mushing across a glacier with a team of specially trained dogs, giving you a taste of the famous Iditarod race? Princess Cruises has you covered there as well.
In addition to visiting the standard ports of Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway, quieter ports such as Sitka and Valdez are now making appearances, giving guests an opportunity to see a few of the less touristy parts of Alaska.
These are great new trends in Alaska cruise deals bound to appeal to younger guests.
Source: Vancouver Sun
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has handed out ten notices of violation to eight separate cruise ships. The Alaska cruise lines cited were Celebrity, International Shipping Partners, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Holland America and Royal Caribbean.
To put things in perspective, out of 224 readings taken, only ten showed results that were in violation. Still, only two citations were handed out last year. The trend is definitely not in the right direction, and hopefully the Alaska cruise lines will take action to reverse them.
How are ships selected to be evaluated? The DEC uses a random process to select them, but guests can also complain about a specific ship. With enough effort and oversight, the Alaska cruise lines should be able to completely remove any violations under the air quality standards.
Source: Fairbanks Daily News
American Safaris Cruises is well known for its luxury Alaska cruises. Its long time former CEO, Dan Blanchard, will be back in charge as his new holding company, InnerSea Discoveries, purchases the small ship operator. The new management will be in effect beginning with the 2009 Alaska cruise season.
Blanchard has committed to maintaining American Safari Cruises’ strong focus on natural history and environmental education for all of its Alaska cruise tours. Their ships are some of the smallest operating Alaska cruise routes, only carrying between ten and forty passengers. Because of their small size, their guests enjoy a far more intimate, flexibly itinerary featuring active shore excursions and the finest cuisine.
Their prices are competitive for the luxury Alaska cruise market, starting at about $4,495 per person. If you can afford it, an Alaskan cruise with American Safari Cruises is sure to be a memorable one!
Source: USA Today
As reported by the Calgary Herald, Royal Caribbean claims it’s not the crushing recession or low bookings that have forced it to take Serenades of the Sea off the Alaska cruise market. No, it’s high taxes!
I guess it sounds better than simply saying your prices are too high to fill all of your ships.
It’s true that Alaskan cruising is made a lot more expensive by the head taxes charged for each passenger, not to mention local taxes and fees, corporate taxes, gaming taxes and the cost of marine pilots.
But all of these factors have existed for years, a period when more and more ships were brought online. 2008 was a record year for Alaskan cruising–and profits!
Just high taxes? I’m not buying it. Over capacity, plain and simple. Royal Caribbean might have more luck offering more aggressive Alaska cruise deals.
Source: Calgary Herald
Robin Farley, an analyst for UBS Investment Research, recently talked about the recent poor stock market performance of the major cruise lines. According to his research, their shares are tumbling because it has been more difficult for them to attract customers in the current economic climate, and investors are worried about their profitability.
Of interest to readers of this blog, Farley reports that their profits are being particularly hard hit in the Alaska cruise market. Soft demand in the early part of the year forced the cruise lines to lower their prices. The strategy worked to get guests to book tours, but at lower prices and thus lower profits for the companies.
In an interesting deviation, Royal Caribbean is resisting the temptation to offer discounts as aggressive as its major competitors, reasoning that even with slightly lower bookings it can make more money with higher fares. It’s not a bad strategy, providing the other cruise lines don’t lure away too many of their potential customers with more attractive tours. No matter how you look at it, though, the bottom line is that this season offers the most attractive Alaska cruise deals in recent history.
Source: Associated Press
