Newcomers boost Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines to record bookings

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 19 January 2016 19 January 2016

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the destination focused UK operator of four medium sized ships, has recorded a 27% rise in bookings in the first week of January, which set a new record and exceeded that reached in the same week last year, as the share of new to cruising rose by seven percentage points, the company said in a statement.

Nathan Philpot, Sales and Marketing Director, said: “A key strategic driver for us is to attract new guests to the brand. Whilst we have a very high repeat rate – with a significant number of Fred. Olsen cruisers returning time and time again – January has seen the share of ‘new to cruise’ guests shift by seven percentage points, and the average guest age has fallen by 11 months across the fleet. This is against a backdrop within the cruise industry that has seen the average age grow by five years, with an increasing reliance on existing customers.”

“A number of our sailings for 2016 are already sold out, or only have a handful of cabins left. We will be moving our largest ship, Balmoral, to Newcastle this year, which was an ambitious decision, but the travel trade have been extremely supportive, and our sales in the North East are well ahead of expectations,” he said.

The company operates four ships that cruise from 10 departure ports around the UK and call at about 200 ports worldwide.

Agents resume aggressive discounting of cruises in Britain - report

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 18 January 2016 18 January 2016

Cruise lines have been urged to step in and “nip discounting in the bud”, as agents revealed it had become more widespread in recent months, Travel Weekly reports on its website.

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group that has significant presence in the country, cut commission to 5% in 2012 after it had become clear that some agents used part of the commission in a price war to win market share from others.

Scott Anderson, of The Luxury Cruise Company, claimed some agents were discounting cruises by up to 13%. Thomas Cook was this week offering 5% off.

“We’ve lost bookings as a result of others discounting, but we refuse to drop our prices,” he said. “It annoys me that there is no way of policing it. I’d like cruise lines to take away marketing funds from those that discount. Discounting breeds a culture among consumers who think they can get cheaper prices, but we won’t play price ping pong. Cruise lines must nip it in the bud,” Anderson was quoted by the publication as saying.

P&O Cruises fourth in UK travel brand ranking survey

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 18 January 2016 18 January 2016

P&O Cruises, the UK based contemporary market unit in the Carnival Corporation & plc group, was the only cruise company to sail in to the 2015 top five YouGov BrandIndex Buzz ranking for travel agents, hotels and guides, the Southampton based company said in a statement.

The BrandIndex measures the public’s perception of brands on a daily basis across a range of methods and annual rankings are compiled from scores across the year.

P&O Cruises is ranked fourth in the travel category for 2015. It is also second in the top five most improved brands of 2015 within this sector, improving its score by 0.9 on last year.

Brands are rated using YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score metric, which measures the key messaging heard about a brand through advertising, news, word-of-mouth or friends and family during the previous two weeks. It also measures recent brand sentiment and indicates whether the awareness has been positive or negative.

P&O Cruises senior vice president of sales and marketing Paul Ludlow said: “We are the market leading cruise line for British guests and it is great to see this being consolidated among the UK consumers - improving on last year and coming fourth overall is a huge achievement.”

The end of 2014 saw a new brand positioning unveiled with the launch of a multi-million pound consumer marketing push, spearheaded by a new TV advert starring Rob Brydon, and ‘This is the Life’ advertising strapline. It aims to inspire everyone - both seasoned cruisers and those new to cruising - to discover the joys of life through an unforgettable holiday experience. A continuation of this campaign throughout 2015, along with the striking new livery being introduced across the fleet and the launch of Britannia has re-energised the brand identity for Britain’s favourite cruise company over last 12 months.

Ludlow added: “Through our ‘This is the Life’ strapline we have created a compelling and distinctive brand which resonates with guests - both new and past guests - putting us at the forefront of the British holiday market, not just the cruise industry.”

P&O Cruises Australia received 84% more bookings in first week of January

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 18 January 2016 18 January 2016

P&O Cruises, the Sydney based contemporary market unit in Carnival Corporation & plc group, received 84% more bookings in the first week of January than in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

“In addition, Thursday 7 January was its biggest booking day ever, with holidaymakers keen to make the most of the cruise line’s latest 24-hour sale,” the company added.

P&O Cruises Australia President Sture Myrmell said the cruise line’s latest ships, Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria, were in hot demand, with past guests and new cruisers all eager to get onboard and experience the new look and feel of P&O’s product.

“We’ve been selling our expanded five-ship fleet for more than 12 months, but the bookings for Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden are really pouring in now that the ships are here and people can see for themselves how impressive they are,”Mrymell said.

The two ships were transferred from sister company Holland America Line and underwent a refit before they were reintroduced in Australia.

“In 2016, P&O will welcome more than 420,000 passengers onboard our five ships – reinforcing our position as Australia’s leading home cruise brand. Our 2016 inventory is filling up fast, so travellers should move quickly if they want to cruise this year.”

Myrmell said the cruise line had plenty more excitement in store for its agent partners and guests. “We can’t wait to take the next steps in the evolution of our brand with the addition of Pacific Explorer next year and our brand new ship in 2019, as well as the debut of a raft of new ports and itineraries. There’s going to be lots of great cruise news to share over the coming months.”