BOOKINGS for Iceland sailings aboard Norwegian Prima are performing very strongly in the Australian market, according to Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) Senior Director Sales, Strategy, and Operations Asia Pacific Damian Borg.
Speaking at a press conference during Norwegian Aqua’s debut voyage in Europe, Borg said the spike in Aussie interest for Prima class sailings in Northern Europe had been achieved despite the ships being more suited to warmer climate destinations.
“Strangely, this class of ship, when you look at it, is built for warmer weather, so it is a little at odds taking it all the way up to Iceland…but people love the fact they can take a new ship up there,” Borg said.
He added that fellow Prima class vessel Norwegian Viva had also performed really well in the Mediterranean, and the challenge now is to convince Aussies to book cruises in the Caribbean aboard Aqua when she arrives at Port Canaveral in Apr.
“We want to find a way to make the Caribbean more attractive to Australians because it’s not really a top 10 destination of choice at the moment,” he conceded.
“Perception-wise, it has been seen as [being] just too far, but we know there’s a lot to offer.
“The family market can dip in and out of that, there’s the Disney World experience, air is now starting to open up as well with Fiji Airways hubbing through Texas making it a little bit easier to get to that part of the world – there’s a lot to offer, albeit a little bit farther away,” Borg concluded.
VP & MD of the Asia Pacific region Ben Angell added that a shift in perception around cruise holidays will also help boost bookings aboard Prima ships like Aqua in the Caribbean.
He said NCL is starting to see distribution patterns in Australia that show people are realising the benefit of extending holidays with a seven-night cruise.
“It used to be you either wanted a cruise holiday or you didn’t,” Angell said, adding that Aussies going on a cruise for seven nights are now asking what else they can do on land to supplement the holiday experience.
Norwegian took delivery of Aqua in Europe earlier this month (CW 14 Mar). AB