Note the two-day stop at Barbados. Apparently this is because there are lots of flights into Barbados at weekends.

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Originally posted by Matts:
Are the customers really going to want to stump up so much for the orange experience?

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Is stelios aiming at Europeans for this juant? Maybe American's will find it attractive?

If easycruise 'package' international flights with the cruise, the price may still look attractive?

Where's your review Matts?

[ 07-06-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Is stelious aiming at Europeans for this juant? Maybe American's will find it attractive?

[ 07-06-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Americans will not find flights to and from the Caribbean islands to be very cheap--even from Miami, it can easily be $400 or more in and out of these ports of call, not to mention how much more from various US cities farther North or West! I think if someone is willing and able to spend money on flights, they will select a more upscale cruise, offering more on-board amenities.

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Originally posted by Matts:
One can easily expect to pay 300GB Pounds minimum for such a flight. Are the customers really going to want to stump up so much for the orange experience?

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They probably won't go just for the "Orange Experience", but may well use the orange ship to island hop, or combine it with a week on Barbados or one of the other islands. Tom's price is also valid for Christmas week, a bargain really if you consider it as inter island accommodation rather than a 'cruise'. Where can one book a room for £18 a night for 2 anywhere, let alone in the Caribbean?

[ 07-06-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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easyCruise Announces the Launch of Its 2005-2006 Caribbean Cruise Program
July 5, 2005

LONDON -- easyCruise, a recent venture of Stelios Haji-Ioannou (see www.stelios.com), the serial entrepreneur and founder of the easyGroup of companies (see www.easy.com) including easyJet PLC (Europe's leading low-cost airline listed on the London Stock Exchange) has announced its entry into the winter 2005-2006 Caribbean cruise season with its ship, easyCruiseOne.

The easyCruise web site (www.easycruise.com) is now selling Caribbean cruises beginning November 12, 2005, until April 26, 2006, with prices beginning at $16.20 USD per person per night for a cabin, based on two people sharing. Ports of call include: Bridgetown in Barbados (Saturday and Sunday), Kingstown in St. Vincent (Monday), Fort de France in Martinique (Tuesday), Bequia in The Grenadines (Wednesday), St George's in Grenada (Thursday) and Castries in St. Lucia (Friday). Barbados, Martinique, Grenada and St. Lucia all have international airports with a selection of direct flights from the U.S., London, Paris and other destinations.

easyCruise offers travelers a unique "luxe for less" opportunity to visit enticing destinations via flexible one-week itineraries that allow cruisers to embark and depart at any port along the route, provided they stay onboard for at least two nights. During the Caribbean season, easyCruiseOne will remain in Barbados for two days and nights to enable passengers to accommodate preferred flight arrangements.

easyCruiseOne's inaugural summer itinerary in the French and Italian Rivieras concludes October 15, 2005, with the ship then spending a week at the MIPCOM TV festival in Cannes. The ship will then sail to the Caribbean to begin its winter itinerary.

The current and first summer season for easyCruise is proving very encouraging for the company. More than 90 different nationalities have already booked cabins on easyCruiseOne and the average age of easyCruise passengers is 33 years old, more than 20 years younger than the current industry average. Attracting younger consumers to easyCruise has been done through effective innovation. Contrary to the norm, easyCruiseOne stays in port every night so that passengers can hit the town and enjoy the nightlife. In addition, passengers can join the cruise where and when they want, subject to a two-night minimum, with a 14-night maximum stay.

This same flexible formula will apply to easyCruiseOne in the Caribbean, although passengers will be required to be back on board by midnight, as nightlife in the Caribbean tends to both start and finish earlier than in the Mediterranean. In the Caribbean, easyCruiseOne will sail sometime after midnight, and arrive in port at approximately 10:00 a.m. (The ship's current schedule in the Mediterranean is to sail after 4:00 a.m. and arrive in port at approximately 1:00 p.m.) In both the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, once the ship has arrived in port, passengers are free to stay on board and enjoy the facilities, or to go ashore.

Expansion plans beyond easyCruiseOne

Another result of an encouraging first season is that easyCruise is already investigating the best way to add a second ship to the fleet -- easyCruiseTwo -- for Greek island cruising during the summer 2006 or 2007 cruise season. Either an existing vessel would have to be acquired, or a purpose-built ship would need to be constructed. Destinations in Greece under consideration include: Athens (Friday), Mykonos (Saturday), Patmos (Sunday), Rhodes (Monday), Heraklion (Tuesday), Hania (Wednesday) and Milos (Thursday). easyCruiseTwo could then head to the Arabian Gulf for the winter season; the destinations being discussed are Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

For more information, high resolution images and to book cruises for the Caribbean or the French and Italian Rivieras, please visit www.easyCruise.com.

Market Wire

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However getting to the Caribbean is an altogether more expensive option and although they will call at 3 major air gateways (St Lucia, Martinique, Barbados) the flights to all of them from europe are not cheap. One can easily expect to pay 300GB Pounds minimum for such a flight. Are the customers really going to want to stump up so much for the orange experience?

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Silly us. We'e all forgeting something - Stelios owns an airline!

Of course Stelios could lease an aircraft for this purpose somewhere

[ 07-07-2005: Message edited by: Johan C ]

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These aircrafts are not suitable for transatlantic flights they have fuel for a 4-5 hours flight.

Of course Stelios could lease an aircraft for this purpose somewhere

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Indeed. At the moment the longest flight easyJet do is London - Athens, which is approaching 4 hours or so. So doing transatlantic flights would be a big step forward for easyJet, or indeed any of the no-frills airlines.

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Consider impact of cruise line
Adrian Loveridge
August 2, 2005

I wonder if our regional tourism policymakers have even considered the potential ramifications of the November launch of EasyCruise, the budget cruise ship line, not just on the established cruise companies but also on regional airlines.

The proposed itinerary includes Barbados (two nights), St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Grenada, Martinique and the Grenadines.

All bookings are subject to a minimum of two nights at a retail cost of £9 (or about US$16) per person based on two sharing a cabin including port taxes.

So, for instance, if passengers wanted to travel from Grenada to Barbados the cost would be US$16 including two nights accommodation.

With Caribbean governments now charging up to US$35 per person for airport departure taxes plus all the additional add-ons associated with intra-regional air travel like fuel surcharges, security and handling fees, VAT or other forms of sales taxes, airport enhancement fees etc, it looks likely many price conscious travellers will take a much lower cost option with EasyCruise.

And I wonder how it will affect the traditional land-based accommodation providers who simply cannot match an overnight hotel cost of US$9 per person?

More new and larger cruise ships are about to enter service and with the Caribbean still being the largest area of operation, it seems inevitable there will some overcapacity in the next year or two.

Combined with the low-cost concept of EasyCruise, which will find its own niche and clientele, the secondary effect will be to push prices of traditional cruises down.

Once again, this will put further pressure on land-based tourism which is already reeling from dramatic increase in operational costs over the last year.

Of course the positive effect will be to allow Caribbean people to move inexpensively between certain islands and avoid all the inhibitive costs now linked to travelling relatively short distances by air. Quite, how this will affect our already struggling regional airlines, its hard to predict.

The consumer is now faced with a choice of travelling from one island to another, albeit at a much slower pace for US$16 or taking the hopefully quicker flight option for US$200 plus.

One thing for sure, neither the established cruise or current regional airline industry is ever going to be totally the same after November.

Barbados Advocate

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