Thus far pricing* for sailings on Costa (all Costa ships, all sailing departure dates) has not changed since the Concordia accident on January 13, 2012. Click on graph below for advertised prices from January 7 to January 21, 2012. Note little or no change to the booking prices. With prices for Costa holding up, wave season for RCL and CCL are likely holding up as well (refer to Cruise Pulse for details).
This finding is backed up by responses from several U.S. travel agents in regard to booking demand. Surprisingly, agents have indicated minimal to no demand impact. Nevertheless, on 12/30/2012 Carnival guided loss a booking slow down in the mid teens.
Interestingly, travel agents are currently Carnival’s best marketing resource. While the “Land vs. Sea” campaign is off the air (given its theme the campaign does not “play well” with current events) thousands of travel agents are out in the community engaged in conversations with prospective cruisers on a daily basis. It is these human one-on-one interactions that assure vacationers this tragic event is a “one off“ and in fact, given the renewed focus on safety and procedures, now is the safest time to cruise ever.
* Average price per day per person, inside cabin.
Related articles
- Costa Cruises and Carnival Corporation & Plc Reiterate Commitment to Support Costa Concordia Passengers and Crew (cruiseindustrywire.com)
- Costa Concordia: What's next? (leggotunglei808.wordpress.com)
