Get ideas for getaways - from international travel and cruises to fun things to do in our own backyard. Plus, browse vacation photo galleries and upload yours for free.
Travel news, tips and your contributions. Email us: travelsmart@pbpost.com
This Sept. 16, 2011 photo, shows the Carnival Imagination cruise liner, foreground, docked in the Port of Miami awaiting departure for a three day cruise to Nassau.
Multi-day cruise traffic could dip slightly in fiscal 2012, officials say
Fewer cruise ships are returning to South Florida ports this winter, a sign the decade-long boom in cruise growth at Port Everglades may be slowing.
The port expects 3.64 million multi-day cruise passengers this season — down slightly from an estimated 3.66 million last season.
Only 45 ships will call at the port for the 2011-12 cruise season, which runs October through September, down from 55 last year. Only one is newly built.
"For new ships, it's pretty light," said Ellen Kennedy, the Fort Lauderdale port's spokeswoman.
The cruise industry is a key economic engine in Broward County, and accounted for 4,780 direct local jobs in fiscal year 2010, according to port officials.
A major reason for the slowdown is that cruise lines are building fewer new ships. They also continue to spread vessels to newly developed U.S. ports.
While South Florida ports remain principal ports for the major lines, some are shifting newer ships into markets where they may have used older ships in the past, said Rod McLeod of McLeod.Applebaum & Partners in Coral Gables.
One example is the new 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic, which debuted in Europe in May. It will be based in Galveston, Texas, starting in November.
As new ships come online, cruise lines are also shifting existing ships to new markets including Australia and New Zealand, which can account for fewer ships at local ports, McLeod added.
"This is all happening at a time when the [new ship] order book is thinning out a bit."
That said, the cruise industry is still growing overall, as is the Caribbean as a destination, McLeod said.
Over the past decade, the number of multi-day cruise passengers using Port Everglades has swelled nearly 130 percent from 1.59 million in 2000 to 3.66 million in fiscal 2011. The two largest cruise ships in the world, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, both call Port Everglades home.
Despite the projected dip in passengers for fiscal 2012, Port Everglades' officials expect passenger growth to resume.
"The increases will come from new ships coming into service and increases in the minimum guaranteed number of passengers per our cruise agreements with Royal Caribbean and Carnival [Corp.]," Kennedy said.
While the number of cruise ships has slipped, some operators have boosted frequency of ship calls, often with vessels that carry more passengers than those that left.
Princess Cruises' ships, for example, will make 131 calls this season, up from 129 in 2011, while Regent Seven Seas will maintain 21 ship calls with two ships instead of three.
In fiscal year 2010, cruise traffic generated a record $45.7 million in port revenue — up 22 percent from the previous year. The port has budgeted for revenue growth in 2011 and 2012.
This season, the lone newly built ship to debut at Port Everglades will be the 450-guest Seabourn Quest on Nov. 21. The ultra-luxury ship, which cost about $300 million, will be one of the smallest vessels at the port. Cabins for its 14-day Caribbean cruise departing Nov. 23 start at $3,999 per person double occupancy.
Two older ships will also make their first call.
Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas, which previously sailed from Miami, will offer four- and five-night Western Caribbean cruises starting in November. P&O Cruises' 710-guest Adonia will arrive March 26.
At the Port of Palm Beach, Celebration Cruise Line is the only multi-day operator. Celebration started two-day cruises to the Bahamas from the port in March 2010.
The Port of Miami expects to be "neck and neck" with Port Everglades on cruise traffic in the coming year and remain close in numbers in the future, spokeswoman Andria Muñiz-Amador said.
"We should again be at approximately the 4 million mark for passengers in 2011," she said.
Many of the world's best cruise ships still leave from South Florida ports, and experts such as Stewart Chiron of Miami-based CruiseGuy.com say the upcoming cruise season should be "terrific."
Seabourn Quest, for example, boasts 225 suites, four dining venues, six bars and lounges and an 11,400-square-foot spa — touted as the largest of any luxury ship.
The ship's size offers an intimate sailing experience and the personable service of its staff is "off the chart," Chiron said.
'; var reportAbuse = function( reportAbuseLinkElement, commenter, commentArticleId ) { var body = escape(jQuery('#comment-' + commentArticleId).text()); var commentData = { title: commenter, commentId: commentArticleId, commentBody: body }; jQuery( jQuery( "#" + reportAbuseLinkElement ).parents().get(0) ).hide(); jQuery( jQuery.tmpl( reportAbuseFormTemplate, commentData ) ).insertAfter( jQuery( "#" + reportAbuseLinkElement ).parents().get(1) ); jQuery( '#reportAbuseForm_' + commentArticleId ).submit( function( event ){ if( !isValidReportAbuseForm( this, commentArticleId ) ) { event.preventDefault(); } } ); jQuery( '#suggestRemovalClose_' + commentArticleId ).click( function( event ){ closeReportAbuseForm(this); event.preventDefault(); } ); } var isValidReportAbuseForm = function( reportAbuseFormElement, commentId ) { reportAbuseFormElement = reportAbuseFormElement; // Make sure we're a Prototype Element object // Validate before submitting the form //var commentId = reportAbuseFormElement.down( 'input[name="suggestRemove"]' ).value; var valid = true; var emailRegex = /^[a-zA-Z0-9][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]@[a-zA-Z0-9][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]\.[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z\.]*[a-zA-Z]$/; var articleCommentsName = jQuery("#suggestRemovalName_" + commentId).val(); var articleCommentsEmail = jQuery("#suggestRemovalEmail_" + commentId).val(); var articleCommentsComment = jQuery("#suggestRemovalComment_" + commentId).val(); if( articleCommentsName.length */
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment