It’s going to be the most important 12 months ever for Marella Cruises, with over 350,000 company anticipated throughout the corporate’s fleet of 5 ships, mentioned Chris Hackney, managing director.
TUI Group, which owns Marella, reported the cruise line’s second quarter occupancy at 99 p.c, up from 95 p.c a 12 months in the past. The day by day fee per visitor was reported at 197 euro, up from 181 euro for the second quarter in 2023.
Three new homeports included Singapore final winter, Marmaris this summer season and La Romana for winter 2024-25.
“Prospects select a cruise round vacation spot, and we’re working laborious on new deployments,” he mentioned.
The corporate’s fly-cruise mannequin means most company are inside a 90-minute drive of a UK airport, and board TUI planes that take them to the ships. It’s a seamless expertise, mentioned Hackney. It additionally means the corporate can fluctuate its deployment due to having its personal airlift.
“That provides us an enormous quantity of flexibility with our deployment. We’ve deployed ships in Corfu and Dubrovnik, which don’t have the pure airlift,” Hackney mentioned, noting there are not any plans to base ships within the UK.
Massive Investments
The Marella Discovery 2 will drydock later this 12 months, with work highlighted by a big cabin refurbishment for balconies and suites, Hackney mentioned.
Different technical initiatives embrace bulbous bow updates throughout the fleet, waste warmth restoration and LED lighting, together with funding in HVAC to make the ships extra environment friendly.
“The client could not see or discover it but it surely’s necessary for us throughout the fleet,” Hackney mentioned.
Deployment
New subsequent winter is the corporate’s La Romana homeporting program, giving it a brand new wrinkle within the Caribbean with calls into the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with the Marella Explora 2.
Subsequent summer season the Marella Discovery 2 heads to Limassol for a brand new deployment, Hackney mentioned.
“We typically function within the Mediterranean in the summertime and the Caribbean and Canaries within the winter. That’s our blueprint that has labored efficiently,” he defined. “It brings the strengths of our airlift and cruise-and-stay product.”
The corporate can have one further ship within the Canaries for 2024-25 as earlier this 12 months the Marella Discovery 2’s program in Asia was cancelled as a result of geopolitical scenario within the Center East and the repositioning of the ship back-and-forth to the Far East.
Wanting Good
“We’re in a lucky place,” Hackney added. “The bookings are trying good in the meanwhile. We had a profitable winter and the summer season season is constructive.
“We’re acutely aware within the UK of the place our prospects are coming from. There’s a cost-of-living disaster right here and we provide worth for cash with the all-inclusive proposition we’ve. That’s one thing we put in plenty of our messaging.
“The secret is to verify the client expertise is phenomenal. We talk about that each day and take a look at evolve the product proposition. Our buyer satisfaction scores are one of the best they’ve ever been and we all know that immediately pertains to higher retention. If we will get prospects coming again, that’s the primary purpose that can drive all different measures.”
Excerpt from the Cruise Trade Information Quarterly Journal Summer season 2024