Cuba, UAE High on the List of Italy’s Cruise Christmas Bookings

It’s a great time for tourism in Italy and the cruise ship segment in particular is in the midst of a golden age. Bookings surged a whopping 39% from the year earlier for the period running from Dec. 24 through the Epiphany.

The data comes from trade association Clia, which counted 278,000 passengers ready to embark on everything from a Mediterranean jaunt to a longer trip to the Caribbean or the Far East. Companies are ramping up investment in on-board activities, shows, gala dinners, exclusive menus and side trips.

Costa, Msc Crociere and Royal Caribbean are working on amenities from traditional holiday sweets to cinema under the stars, to light shows and decorations, while top chefs prepare holiday meals.

“Cruise ship companies are exploring new itineraries and activities for every kind of passenger to bring added value to their celebration,” said Claudia Marmorato, Clia’s business development director for southern Europe.

“Besides the traditional routes in the Arab Emirates, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean,” said Carlo Schiavon, the group’s sales and marketing director of Costa Crociere for Italy, “ this year we’re banking on our destinations in the Indian Ocean where we offer two-week cruises around the Seychelles, Madagascar, Réunion, and Mauritius with the Costa neoRomantica and another itinerary around Maldive, Sri Lanka and India with Costa neoClassica.”

For the Mcs passenger, Christmas and New Year’s are a must. Country manager Leonardo Massa said Cuba has become one of the new favorite destinations in the Caribbean, “where we have Msc Armonia and Msc Opera for trips in the Caribbean Sea, as well as the Emirates, where, for the first time, we have Msc Fantasia, the biggest cruise ship ever in this area.”

Chief operating officer of Rcl Cruises, Gianni Rotondo, said the response has been enthusiastic to the company’s Far East offering: “The preference this time of year is definitely for destinations in the Caribbean, where the biggest ships in the world travel, followed by the Arab Emirates with a stop in Oman, and the Far East with a cruise leaving from Singapore and Shanghai”.

Times are better than good and companies are investing with renewed dynamism.

Costa Group has ordered seven new ships by 2021, which will consolidate its leadership position in the European cruise ship sector.

In 2016, Msc Crociere launched its second €9 billion strategic investment plan, announced in 2014, to expand its fleet. The plan calls for 11 new state-of-the-art ships. And in October, Royal Caribbean laid out a busy roadmap taking it through 2024, including an overhaul of the entire fleet and 11 new ships for an investment of more than €9 billion. The first to be inaugurated, in 2018, will be Oasis 4, the fourth ship in the Oasis line, the biggest ships in the world.

Source: ItalyEurope24