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Carnival UK Report: 'cruising is mainstream'
December 7, 2005

Cruising is now a mainstream holiday rather than the niche choice it was until recently according to The Cruise Report 2005, new research from Carnival UK, encompassing the brands of P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Ocean Village Holidays, Cunard Line and Swan Hellenic. In fact, more Brits go on a cruise than go skiing.

'Demand for cruising continues to grow faster in the UK than for any other type of mainstream holiday. We estimate growth of nearly 22% over the two years from 2004 to 2006, with one and a quarter million British people taking a cruise by then,' said David Dingle, managing director, Carnival UK.

The report packed with facts and figures generated by the Carnival UK brands looks at trends and changes in the UK cruise market including commentary on demand, pricing, size of ships, bookings, on-board options and preferences.

'What qualifies Carnival UK to make produce such a report?' asked Dingle at last night's launch in London's Soho Hotel. 'The five brands cover the whole spectrum of the cruise product from all-action Ocean Village to discovery-led Swan Hellenic and P&O Cruises' mixture of family-oriented or children-free ships in between,' he remarked.

'Last year, two out of every five UK cruise passengers travelled on one of the five brands and more than half of those passengers cruised from UK ports accounting for three quarters of all UK-UK cruisers - a number which has recently been growing faster than fly/cruisers,' reported Dingle.

With the introduction of new P&O Cruises' ship Arcadia and the first-ever dedication of a Princess Cruise ship to the UK market the five brands expect to have carried 14% more UK passengers in 2005 versus a 7% growth in the whole UK market.

Looking ahead, Dingle says the future is bright with disposable income the key factor underpinning demand for cruises. Carnival is predicts UK cruise passengers will reach 1.7 to 1.8m in five years time, but arguably this figure could be greater if cruise lines' ambitions grow according to the group's UK chief.

Seatrade Insider

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Cruising is now a mainstream holiday rather than the niche choice it was until recently according to The Cruise Report 2005, new research from Carnival UK..

I don't agree! Out of the brands stated: P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Ocean Village Holidays, Cunard Line and Swan Hellenic, only 'Ocean Village' might be termed 'mainstream', even then I'm not so sure. Cruising UK style is still surely the passtime of the wealthy middleaged and elderly? It's still not mass-market.

In fact, more Brits go on a cruise than go skiing.

The aging population has ensured that. I used to ski, now I cruise!

Demand for cruising continues to grow faster in the UK than for any other type of mainstream holiday.

I'm sure that is true, but the majority of holiday makers still choose NOT to take a cruise. I recall reading a few years ago that Cruises only make upo 5% of UK vacations - mainstream?

Last year, two out of every five UK cruise passengers travelled on one of the five brands...

Impressive, but put another way; last year three out of five UK cruise passengers chose NOT to cruise on the Carnival brands.

Looking ahead, Dingle says the future is bright with disposable income the key factor underpinning demand for cruises.

Yipee! I hope the government know that they need to give us all more disposable income for cruising?

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Last year, two out of every five UK cruise passengers travelled on one of the five brands...

Impressive, but put another way; last year three out of five UK cruise passengers chose NOT to cruise on the Carnival brands.

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If you look at the total number of berths available and what % are Carnival owned, I think this may look like a very poor statistic. What % of UK-UK berths does Carnival own? How much more than 75%? More to the point would be what are their occupancy rates in comparison with other lines.

Pam

[ 12-07-2005: Message edited by: PamM ]

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Originally posted by PamM:
If you look at the total number of berths available and what % are Carnival owned, I think this may look like a very poor statistic.
[ 12-07-2005: Message edited by: PamM ]

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Yes! I think Carnival’s mistake is that Cunard and P&O are pretty similar products; both operate big new ships, both use ‘tradition’ as a selling point and both will even have vista class ships. They both attract similar passengers; wealthy middle aged to elderly.

Even stranger is that P&O will have a ‘Grand Class’ in the future, competing which Princess who also operate annually from UK ports.

Lines like Olsen, Saga, and Classic International Cruises have the monopoly on the smaller ‘classic’ vessels, so Carnival lose out here.

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Originally posted by eroller:
In the US, cruising is 100% mainstream.

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I'm sure it is, but I really think that in the UK and Europe it is not.

And as for pricing - it is certainly not mainstream. It will come though, inevitably as the megaships take up residence over here.

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Originally posted by Matts:

At work when I announce I am going on a cruise - people always want to phone the HR department to see if I've been overpaid! They don't think of activities and don't think of reasonable prices.

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Sounds like the the way things were here 25 years ago. If you took a cruise, you had money. It's no longer looked at that way in the US, and anyone with a $1000 credit card limit (or less) can take a cruise.

In fact it may get to the point where cruising is actually looked down upon ... something only the "working class" or lower would be interested in. The image of cruising may truly take a 180 before it's all over.

What makes the UK special is that business operating here often have the ability to maintain high prices for decades and avoid price wars by 'secret' gentlemen’s agreements.

I bet in a decade our cruise prices will still be higher than the USA's, even with all of the competition which may well decide NOT to actually undercut each other!

In fact it may get to the point where cruising is actually looked down upon ... something only the "working class" or lower would be interested in.

A very interesting though. To an extent this has already happened in the USA with Carnival and RCI, has it not?

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
To an extent this has already happened in the USA with Carnival and RCI, has it not?

We used to have 'holiday camps' here in the UK which were very popular in the 1950/60's. The idea of 1000's of people holidaying together and partaking in organised activities was soon frowned upon. They were just like a mega-ship cruise, really.

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Yes, I think it has and will only escalate. That fact that so many can now drive to the nearest port in the US has also made cruising more available to the working class. An expensive flight is no longer required. I don't mean to stereotype, but I often read reports about passengers that drive to places like Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston, Gulfport, and Jacksonville for their Carnival cruise. Some are really low-income individuals working at places like Wal-Mart, but they can afford a cruise. These "home ports" are generally in driving range to some of the poorest areas of the United States ... mainly in the South. Another big change is the racial demographic. Cruising used to generally be associated only with caucasians. Caucasians are actually the minority on some of the short cruises that depart from the deep South. This was never heard of until fairly recently. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, just that cruising has truly changed with the times.

Cruises may truly become the poor man's vacation. They seem to be headed in that direction.

Didn't the UK have a low-cost, working class holiday retreat called "Butlins"? I've heard cruises coined as a "Butlins at sea".

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Originally posted by eroller:

Didn't the UK have a low-cost, working class holiday retreat called "Butlins"? I've heard cruises coined as a "Butlins at sea".

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Yes! They were the 'holiday camps' that I spoke about. They were very much like Carnival Cruises; pools, dining, organised entertainment, accomodation all within a camp at low prices. They were very succesful, but late became a joke, being compared with 'prison camps'.