Prince Albert Named in Monaco

With a snip of a ribbon yesterday (June 3, 2008) in Monaco, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco named Silversea's new expedition ship Prince Albert II.

The ship will enter service on June 12 with an expedition from London to the Arctic Circle.

Sooner Rather Than Later

In this CND article we looked at the reason why a cruise ship is almost never delivered late anymore, and why so many actually enter service before the original inaugural date the cruise line sets. These "early" deliveries have created problems for cruise lines in that many people who book the inaugural don't just want to be one of the first to sail on the new ship, they want to be on the first sailing no matter when it is. It seems that never really occurred to the cruise lines. In the CND article we looked at why that detail escaped their attention.

Some cruise lines are now understanding that some of their customers want the experience of being on the inaugural cruise and they will change their date willingly to do it. Recently, when they decided to put their new ships into service early, both Princess and Celebrity have employed a solution that comes with a risk to them. For passengers on the inaugural sailing, they have made duplicate reservations on the new inaugural date giving them both same stateroom and their original fare. They then have allowed them a couple of weeks to decide which they want. Of course the risk for the line is that it moves them closer to the sailing dates knowing that they are holding one reservation that will certainly be canceled, and the closer they come to sailing date, the more risk there is to the line that it will be harder to sell the unused space.

CND heard from executives at both lines about how popular the decision has been with customers.

The complete article was published in the June 2, 2008, edition of Cruise News Daily.

Prepare Yourself to Get a Little Less from Your Travel Agent

Earlier this week, RCCL told travel agents they would be adjusting their commission structure for 2009 for all their North American brands, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity and Azamara. In the CND article we detailed the changes and the method, but the bottom line is that travel agents will either have to sell more to make the same commission level on each cruise they sell, or make less money on each one.

While this may seem more of an agency issue, it will affect the consumer. Royal Caribbean doesn't allow their agents to rebate, so it won't affect the price you pay for your cruise directly, but it will probably shrink the incentives agents offer, such as free travel insurance or an onboard credit, or even the elimination (or reduction in quality) of a bon voyage gift. It will also affect things at more service-oriented agencies simply because the agency has to sell more cruises to make the same money, they will have less time available for each client.

So far no other lines have followed RCCL's lead, but if they do, consumers will experience smaller rebates available on those lines thus increasing their bottom line price.

Details appeared in the May 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.

The Natives Aren't Restless

Alaska Native Travel Guides will sail aboard 114 Holland America cruises this summer that include Glacier Bay in the itinerary. This will be in addition to the Tlingit cultural interpreters who board the ship at Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier to explain the origins of the Huna people, and the National Park Rangers who provide narration and presentations while in Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier.

Complete details were in the May 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.

The Solstice Is Coming Early This Year

Celebrity Cruises announced that Celebrity Solstice will enter service three weeks earlier than originally planned. The three new sailings will be on November 23 & 30 and December 7 and will all be the regular 7-night eastern Caribbean itinerary that it will operate all winter round trip from Ft. Lauderdale.

Like Princess did earlier this spring when they announced Ruby Princess would enter service earlier, Celebrity is recognizing that there are people who booked the original inaugural date because they really wanted to be on the first sailing of a new ship. Celebrity, therefore, is following a similar plan to what Princess did. They have offered everyone booked on the original inaugural date of December 14 the opporutnity to rebook on the new inaugural date of November 23 (which happens to be a Thanksgiving sailing) in the same stateroom at the same price before sale opens to the general public. The other two sailings opened immediately.