NEW YORK -- After weeks of lagging sales, a few cruise executives
reported a slight uptick in bookings to coincide with U.S. success
in the war with Iraq.
Cunard senior vice president Deborah Natansohn said bookings
were picking up, and Uniworld CEO Serba Illich said he was
enthusiastic about a spurt of bookings last week.
Uniworld had seen more cancellations than new bookings in the
previous three weeks, he added.
Mark Conroy, president of Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, also said
business was "better" last week.
However, "better" is a comparative word, and Conroy cautioned
that it was still too early to tell if cruise travel was bouncing
back.
He said Radisson Seven Seas is averaging between $10 million and
$12 million in booking activity per week -- about normal for this
time of year -- but the stick rate, the percentage of clients who
put down a deposit, still is down, at 20%.
That's an improvement over the first few weeks of the war, when
the stick rate was around 10%, but "in good times, we'd net half,"
Conroy said.
Meanwhile, cancellation rates seem to be under control.
Andy Stuart, senior vice president of marketing and sales for
Norwegian Cruise Line, said, "We're not seeing a big increase in
the cancellation rate," though he added, "It's definitely harder to
find new customers."
A Disney Cruise Line spokesman also reported few cancellations
but said some clients had asked to change dates.
At Silversea Cruises, the line said it received a limited number
of cancellations, which it "attributed to the fact that guests who
booked over the last five months were pretty resilient travelers to
begin with."
From the retail perspective, Mary Jean Tully, CEO of
Mississauga, Ontario-based Cruise Professionals, said, "People
aren't as worried because they can cancel. We're still getting
bookings for the future."
Still, she added, her agency was seeing a lot of
"fence-sitters."
Meanwhile, a Crystal Cruises reception here attracted about 350
people -- travel agents and their clients -- despite the war and a
chilly rain.
Roland Largay of Largay Travel in Southbury, Conn., and Marcella
Rappaport of World Travel Specialists in Harrison, N.Y., brought
several of their clients to the reception.
"We're trying to be proactive," Largay said. But back at the
agency, "the phones aren't ringing."
"They're not," agreed Rappaport. "But they will."
Largay later said that the day after the Crystal event, he sold
a Crystal penthouse cruise to one of the attendees.
"I'm an eternal optimist," he said. "But I'm also realistic. I
think it's going to be a few weeks before we see a real increase in
business."