NEW YORK -- The inventor of easyJet, the British no-frills airline,
is taking his idea to sea with a venture called easyCruise.
In the easyCruise world, prices would be low, cabins would be
furnished simply and cruisers would pay a la carte for meals,
housekeeping and other onboard services.
Behind this no-frills approach to cruising is a 37-year-old man
named Stelios, who calls himself a "serial entrepreneur."
Stelios has a last name, Haji-Ioannou, but he rarely uses it;
"Stelios," it appears, is an easier nom-de-trade.
Stelios, so far, has founded about six "easy" business ventures,
including the successful low-cost European airline easyJet, with
flights between London and Marseille, France, for about $27 and
unmistakable orange logos splashed on the sides of its planes.
These days, aside from easyJet et al, he's interested in two
similar concepts: easyCruise and easyHotel, a nonfloating version
of easyCruise that would offer inexpensive, clean-your-own hotel
rooms in London.
"Any efficiency gain is an improvement in the bottom line,"
Stelios said during an interview with TravelWeekly.com, which took
place in an office above an orange-tinged easyInternetcafe, which
offers rows of inexpensive Internet stations.
The no-frills, unbundled cruising concept is still in the
development stages, but last week easyCruise said it was in the
process of acquiring a vessel, the former Renaissance Two, which
will undergo a "complete refit" that will take about a year,
according to a statement on
easyCruise.com.
Stelios said the ship would be delivered to easyCruise in April
or May, and cabins would go on sale some time this year for a 2005
launch.
The product will be marketed mostly to European holiday-makers
and, like many low-cost operations, be sold via the Internet.
But beyond paying extra for bedding, housekeeping, meals and
tips, easyCruise would differ from the traditional cruise in
several ways. The Mediterranean-based ship would set sail in the
mornings, land at port in the late afternoon and stay though the
night to give passengers the opportunity to eat and search out
evening entertainment, gambling, bars and clubs on land.
Entertainment onboard the vessel could be limited to "snacks and
a bar in the evening with some music," Stelios said.
Stelios said the cruise would likely travel from "Ibiza to
Monaco via Majorca, Barcelona [and] Nice."
It would be sold on a per-day basis, making it possible to hop
on and off the voyage; the route would be tied to ports with easy
(but not necessarily easyJet) airlift.
The target market for easyCruise would be vacationers in their
20s, 30s and 40s -- far removed from today's boomer and mature
cruiser markets.
"One of the problems of the all-inclusive, seven-day package is
that it doesn't appeal to young people," Stelios said.
EasyCruise is "not trying to cater to everybody, from [children]
to the elderly," he added.
In concept, a hop-on, hop-off cruise would be, well, easy.
However, Tony Peisley, a U.K.-based cruise analyst, noted that
"budget lines need 100% [load] factors to make money" and added he
was "doubtful" about the no-frills concept.
Jay Lewis, the president of Miami-based consulting firm
MarketScope, suggested that despite its branding, easyCruise
wouldn't compete with other cruise lines for passengers.
"Call it whatever you want to call it," Lewis said. "It's really
not for the cruise dollar. It's in competition for the vacation
dollar. ... They're competing in a much larger market."
As for distribution, Stelios said the details were still being
hammered out, but he said easyCruise could offer agents a
commission for selling the small ship.
He added that easyCruise would "probably work out a section on
its Web site for U.S. agents to get better prices and then add a
fee to the consumer."
To contact reporter Rebecca Tobin, send e-mail to [email protected].