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Cruise watchers looking back at the industry’s past year say the Concordia disaster affected everything from prices to safety drills to first-time cruisers, but bookings appear to be picking up as the 2013 cruise booking season gets under way.
The first three months of each year are known as “wave season,” a period when many cruisers book trips as they plan ahead for summer vacations. The Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 people just as last year’s wave season began. Experts have blamed the captain for the disaster, saying he took the ship off course in a stunt. The wrecked ship is still lying on its side in waters off Tuscany, Italy.
“In hindsight the market took a bigger hit than anticipated,” said Michael Driscoll, editor of the industry newsletter Cruise Week. “First-time business (from people taking their first-ever cruise) was off in particular.”
Driscoll said a gradual recovery for the cruise industry began to emerge in the fourth quarter of 2012, and now, said Driscoll, “top travel agents are reporting a surprisingly strong winter season bookings for sailings that depart in later 2013, not great, but good.”
Heidi Allison-Shane, spokeswoman for CruiseCompete, said booking activity picked up on CruiseCompete in January of this year, about 7 percent overall but even more for premium and luxury cruises, “but we are still seeing some lower prices as a result of lower sales in 2012 as the lines have more promotions.”
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com, said “we’re definitely seeing everything rebounding. I see advertising is going back to appeal to first-time cruisers. And we’re seeing more fresh sign-ups” on CruiseCritic.com.
