During last week’s World Travel Market Vision conference in London, Royal Caribbean’s UK and Ireland managing director Dominic Paul denied the notion floating around these days that cruises in the feature will focus on slower voyages with fewer port calls.
“There’s been a feeling that with the high cost of fuel, cruise ships will have to call at fewer ports. But when we speak to customers they are focused on itineraries – they are interested in visiting different and new places."
Paul's statement comes after Carnival Cruise UK chief executive David Dingle at the Cannes Seatrade Med conference in December claimed that cruises in the future would need to slow down in part due to new environmental protection laws.
Paul insisted ports of call were too important to Royal Caribbean customers for the line to reduce them,“You can build a ship that’s a destination in itself, but the opportunity to visit lots of different destinations in one holiday is a big selling point of a cruise. That’s what customers want – we would be nuts to start moving away from that model".
