Cruise Lines

Every destination has its day. Unfortunately for Alaska, this would appear neither its day, month nor year - or two.

True, Disney is sending a ship there for 2011, but one ship in against the fact that Carnival Corporation, which has a weighty presence in the 49th State through Princess Cruises and Holland America Line, has already reduced capacity for 2010. and is considering pulling more ships out? And that Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International have also cut capacity for 2010?

I would not like to be involved in the tourism industry there right now.

Carnival Corp chairman Mickey Arison blames the high cost of doing business in Alaska for the fact that more of ships could be pulled. He reckons the vessels can make more money elsewhere. It's understandable then, but a shame.

I had a great cruise in Alaska a few years ago with Princess. It's something very different from the Mediterranean and Caribbean, and surprisingly foreign - even the Americans on my cruise found it so - given it is actually part of the US.

But destinations come and go. Just look at what is happening to Antarctica. It was the must-go place for a few years, but now it's on the way down because those who wanted to go have been and it is very expensive, both for passengers and cruise lines. Result? Voyages of Discovery and Spirit of Adventure have left already, Swan Hellenic will be quitting after this winter.

I have no doubt it will bounce back, just as Alaska will, but it will take a few years and a fresh generation of cruisers to come along looking for something new.

The $50 head tax Alaska imposed on cruise passengers has been cited as a key reason for its downturn. It probably didn't help, but are we seriously to believe that people who could afford to go on a cruise there, with all the attendant flying, could not afford an extra $50 per person tax?

The Alaska Cruise Association has filed a lawsuit challenging the tax, presumably hoping that if it is repealed people will flood back. Somehow I doubt it. Not for a while anyway.

I expect we'll be hearing more of Arison's thoughts on the future of cruising in Alaska tomorrow, as well as many other cruise-related issues, when he takes to the stage on the opening day of the Travel Convention in Barcelona.

I will be there to hear what he says of course, and on Thursday I'll be on the stage myself, in my capacity as the Telegraph Travel's cruise corresponent, during the spin-off Cruise Forum on Royal Caribbean International's Navigator of the Seas.

My subject? What consumers like and don't like about cruising. If anyone has any thoughts for me to pass on to the cruise lines before then, do let me know.