High airfares hurt Med cruising

With the exception of river cruises, demand for summer 2012 sailings has softened in some European regions, with agents around the U.S. citing higher airfares and political and economic tensions as the reasons.

The Western Mediterranean is faring better than the Eastern Med. That is due primarily to travelers’ anxieties about Greece and its government’s measures to deal with financial instability by means of tough austerity measures, which have led to intermittent street riots in recent months.

“People are asking: ‘Are we going to get in the middle of a riot in Athens?’” reported Doug Crosby of Holiday Cruises and Tours in Henderson, Nev. “People are funny when it comes to political unrest. They’re not too comfortable. We have clients cruising there in October, and they’re asking us now about the riots.”

Even worse than the Med, according to Crosby, is demand for Holy Land cruises, which have tanked.

Mimi Comfort, who owns Cruise Holidays of Kansas City, agreed, noting, “Anything involving Egypt and Israel isn’t doing well for us. It’s been so volatile, and you feel bad about it because people are trying to make a living over there and the problems have killed their tourism. People are just afraid to go, whether it’s a legitimate fear or not.”

The Middle East, she said, “gets a bad rap. But if you look at the safety records of the places we send people to, it’s fine. I mean, there are sections of Kansas City I wouldn’t advise driving to at night.”

Getting there

Although it’s faring better than the Eastern Med, bookings to the Western Med also are sluggish, and that’s thanks in large part to rising airfares, Crosby and Comfort agreed.

“The airlines have become impossible to deal with,” Crosby said. “At least for the Western Med, air tends to be a little bit better to Rome, for instance, vs. getting to Athens or Istanbul. That may attract some people.”

Comfort said her clients are experiencing “airfare sticker shock.”

“People see these phenomenal cruise prices and they say, ‘Hey, I get to go to Europe,’ and then they look at the airfare,” she said. “That’s why some lines are including air from certain gateways, and even though it’s built into the price, it’s a nice marketing tactic. It makes people think they’re getting free air.”

In many cases, air costs for summer travel are significantly higher than cruise fares.

Fare searches on the major online travel agencies last week found a New York-Barcelona ticket for mid-June priced at $1,700. A seven-day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Epic, roundtrip from Barcelona in June, is priced much lower, at $1,079 per person for a balcony cabin.

Other transatlantic routes are similarly expensive: Chicago-Athens for $1,630 and Miami-Hamburg for $1,475, for example.

Dwain Wall, senior vice president and general manager of Cruise-One and Cruises Inc., said, “Airfares are going to be our big concern this year. The airlines have cut capacity.”

His company in late 2011 contracted with Fort Lauderdale-based Global Marine Travel to launch SelectAir, a program that provides CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. agents with three types of booking options. Global Marine is a long-time supplier of offshore airfares for commercial shipping interests and cruise ship crew members.

A choice of Global Marine Travel’s contract cruise fares, published fares and consolidator fares from 26 airlines is helping CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. retailers find affordable air for clients.

“We were astonished at how successful it has been so far,” Wall said. “Our agents are definitely using this new tool, and it’s helping them get past the airfare obstacle.”

However, not all clients are avoiding high airfares to Europe. Every agent interviewed about summer cruise destinations said river cruising is in high demand, thanks to its inclusive pricing structures. Shore excursions and wine with dinner typically are included in the cruise fare, for example, Crosby noted, which leads to “less of a feeling of being nickel-and-dimed.”

Crosby said the most popular itineraries are along the Rhine, between Amsterdam and Basel, and the Danube, from Nuremberg to Budapest or Vienna to Budapest.

Vicky Garcia, executive vice president of Cruise Planners, said airfares are not having the same effect on river cruise clients.

“I think it’s a different kind of customer who books river cruises,” Garcia said. “I think the mass-market, contemporary lines are having problems getting families onto the blue-water ships because it’s too expensive to fly everybody over to Europe. But river cruise clients tend to be [more upmarket] cultural travelers, and we’re not seeing the same problems when it comes to booking airfare for them.”

Rick Sasso, president of MSC Cruises, said he isn’t overly concerned about rising airfares affecting the summer season in Europe, noting that most of MSC’s guests “go into the search engines for air. They look for the best nonrefundable fare, and they book it.”

Sasso added that rising airfares so far have not affected U.S. bookings for the Italy-based line. “Most people are finding the airfare they’re comfortable with,” he said.

Other cruise lines took matters into their own hands this winter, offering air credits or air upgrades designed to take the sting out of the combined cruise-and-air price.

Crosby noted, for example, that luxury line Regent Seven Seas Cruises unveiled a $499 business-class air upgrade, and sister line Oceania offered a free hotel night in London for certain British Isles sailings on the Marina.

“The luxury lines have been very aggressive trying to minimize the impact of airfares, and these promotions are working with some customers,” Crosby said.

A Royal Caribbean International promotion targeted the U.K. source market by offering 15,000 free air tickets to customers who booked select 2012 Europe sailings.

A move to domestic travel

There might be a silver lining to the high international airfares. According to Garcia, Europe’s loss will be Alaska’s gain.

“Alaska is taking off again,” she said. “I’m hearing from Cruise Planners agents that there’s a lot of demand for Alaska. In fact, our bookings to Alaska this year are up about 18%.”

Crosby observed that although Alaska cruise fares “are a little high this year,” the cruise lines are able to maintain their prices because airfare costs won’t be as high for North Americans who choose the Last Frontier over Europe.

“As an agency, we’re having to fall in line with convincing people that if they look at the whole package, they’ll be better off in Alaska due to the lower airfares,” he said.

There are some Europe destinations that are doing well with blue-water cruisers from the U.S. this summer, including the British Isles, Scandinavia and the Baltics.

“These have been stronger areas for us,” Comfort said. “The first time people go to Europe they want to do the Med, and then as they get more experienced, they’ll want to go up to that area. It’s unique and different, and you don’t have the same anxieties that you do in the Med; there’s no turmoil, no bombings, no countries collapsing, no riots.”

On the domestic front, Garcia said that Canada and New England cruises are poised to have a good year in 2012.

“Those cruise destinations are coming back because airfares will be less, a lot of people can drive to the ports, and there’s the safety issue,” she said. “With all you see in the press, there are a lot of people who will be more apt to vacation closer to home. Many clients aren’t looking for anything too exotic right now.”

Crosby suggested that Bermuda also could benefit from the international airfare dilemma.

In the Caribbean, said Garcia, Royal Caribbean International’s 5,400-passenger Oasis-class ships continue to draw tens of thousands of clients for summer travel.

“People want to get on these ships, the Allure of the Seas and the Oasis of the Seas,” she said. “It’s a case of the ship being the draw. It’s the same thing as we’re seeing in Europe, where [Norwegian Cruise Line’s] Norwegian Epic continues to do well with bookings when many other ships aren’t. People want to experience these [megaships].”

The 4,000-passenger Norwegian Epic is operating Western Med cruises all summer, with alternating departures from Rome and Barcelona.

The Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas both operate from Fort Lauderdale.