Was Carnival UK commercial director Nigel Esdale just trying to deflect questions when he told journalists and travel agents at the Carnival UK 2010 report last week that he wouldn't "rule out" basing a P&O Cruises ship in the Med?
It is, after all, a bit of a meaningless throwaway line.
But if it was just a throwaway remark, he might want to think again. Specifically about when Med flycruises might be ruled in, if the comments on Cruise.co.uk are anything to go by.
Harry from Hastings points out the benefits of a Med flycruise on a ship that charges sterling on board now the euro has gone sky high (or is it that the pound has plunged?), Shelledpea acknowledges there is always Thomson for a British Mediterranean flycruise but wants an Ocean Village feel on a "fairly modern ship". VinnyTurner reckons it's only a "matter of time" before a P&O ship is based in the Med.
It would be strange indeed to start Med flycruises having gone to all the trouble of closing Ocean Village but all OV's passengers have to go somewhere for their next cruise. Does it make sense for Carnival UK to let them go to Thomson Cruises or to help fill Royal Caribbean's new cruises from Palma?
And if the Brits want seven-night British cruises in the sun, as opposed to to the sun, surely that's what P&O has to give them.
Just to prove how much OV was loved, by the way, its last cruise, in October this year, went on sale yesterday but there was so much demand the system crashed and they had to take it off sale. The website says it will be going back on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, at 10am.
There must also be a limit as to how many passengers P&O Cruises can continue to embark in Southampton, especially given all the cruise lines it is up against now.
Celebrity Cruises is coming in new in this year with the classy Eclipse and MSC Cruises is moving into Southampton in 2011. Neither offers that true-Brit experience, but whose to say new-to-cruise passengers, which all these lines have to attract to fill their new tonnage, are that bothered?
The question now surely is not if P&O will make the Mediterranean flycruise leap, but when.
Jane Archer
Comments (2)
Well Jane, UK fly/cruises really started with chartered Greek ships anyway, with Thomson (yes them again), Sovereign and Swan Hellenic, so maybe Brits like a bit of foreign on holiday (although the point about Sterling on board is taken). Now of course, other than Thomson (who also control the Island Escape) they're mainly Italian, with Costa and MSC, plus a bit of Louis.
P&O were the ones who said that a product like Ocean Village could only ever support second-hand ships, but on closing it they said the flights were the problem - which is true of course if you're not a tour operator. That was a few years of course after they proposed basing a large ship in the Med for UK fly/cruisers (when they were fighting off the now-defunct Airtours' Sun Cruises).
Costa and MSC can master their cheap fly/cruise fares on 7-day cruises because it's only a small proportion of their overall carryings. And outside of OV, P&O was not really a true 7-day operator, while Costa is now in the same stable (and publicly states that it will not base ships in the UK, which it once did).
The Carnival UK forecast of 3 million UK cruisers by 2020 will mean a requirement for either 35 new ships of 2,500 berths each or 25 with 3,500 berths, and as Micky Arison said, there will be a wider range of products available in the UK market, so who knows what we might see yet.
Posted by Kevin Griffin | March 9, 2010 2:34 PM
Posted on March 9, 2010 14:34
Ocean Village was created "for people who don't do cruises" to get them interested in cruising. This did seem to work when OV had one ship. I have always wondered though if Carnival UK's plan has always been to eventually replace Ocean Village with a P&O ship.
There are many people who would rather fly straight to the sun to join a cruise and miss out on the "wonderful" Bay of Biscay. My personal feelings are that if Carnival UK did this it would work but, like Ocean Village, for how long?
Posted by David E-Stainer | March 14, 2010 8:01 PM
Posted on March 14, 2010 20:01