Cruise holidays still on the agenda for dedicated sailors
If evidence is needed of Australians’ dedication to cruise holidays in the wake of COVID-19, the Juniels are it.
If evidence is needed of Australian travellers’ dedication to cruise holidays in the wake of COVID-19, Sandra and Norm Juniel are it. The retired couple from Glen Alpine in southwestern Sydney embarked on their first cruise on a Princess ship in 2011 and have been on 10 voyages since. Before the coronavirus struck, the pair was booked on two cruises this year: one, a Carnival jaunt to the South Pacific; the other, part of a 35-day package that included sailing Athens to Dubai with Silversea. Offered the option of refunds, the Juniels insisted on rescheduling for next year.
Sandra Juniel says she doesn’t want to wait for a vaccine to become available before setting sail again. Once government and border restrictions are lifted, new health protocols are in place and she is advised by her travel agent Cruise Express that cruising is safe, she and her husband will be packing their bags.
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“Do you put your life on hold for that? No, you go, you have fun and explore the world and come back to our wonderful country,” she says.
More than 1.3 million Australians took cruises in 2018. Travel agents are reporting that, far from being deterred by COVID-19 outbreaks on some ships, customers are overwhelmingly deferring rather than cancelling this year’s bookings. Meg Hill, managing director of Cruise Express, says the sentiment of return clients is “incredibly positive”, and about 75 per cent of bookings are being rescheduled. “Cruising is a lifestyle for many of them,” Hill says. “In some cases they’re taking multiple cruises a year.
Australia’s largest tour operator, APT, estimates river and small-ship ocean cruising accounted for 70 per cent of its 2020 business and says “a good proportion” of customers are deferring until next year. Justine Lally, general manager of product and marketing, says the overall sentiment is positive for future travel and the “majority of our guests are sticking with the same destination [and] travel style they originally had booked”. The group is also getting new bookings for 2021, albeit in much smaller numbers than usual.
“[Customers] know there will be a high level of guests who will be deferring from 2020 to 2021 and that will of course impact our availability,” Lally says.
In anticipation of a surge in domestic tourism when borders reopen, APT is “working hard to expand our domestic offering where possible”, especially in the Kimberley, Tasmania, South Australia and the outback.
Hill says it is logical that operations in local waters will be the immediate focus for the industry, with New Zealand and the South Pacific the next cabs off the rank, but she issues the following caveat: “The greater challenge for our entire industry is its ability to bring ships back [to Australian waters].”
The federal government has suspended cruise ship operations off Australia until June 15, and cruise lines across the board are in shutdown, some recently announcing extensions of the hiatus to August 31.
Barry Downs, sales and marketing manager for cruise specialists Bicton Travel in Fremantle, has witnessed a “green shoots” change in consumer attitude in recent weeks. The onset of COVID-19 saw the agency’s usual 1500 bookings a month dry up, but his customers are “definitely getting itchy feet” and he is fielding about three inquiries or bookings a day.
He attributes the change to consumers having time on their hands to consider their travel options and a more positive outlook due to Australia’s apparently successful containment of the virus.
He says customers are expressing interest in shorter cruises in December and January calling at domestic ports, while diehard cruisers are even considering land-based tours to sate their appetite for travel. Asked about consumer confidence in Princess Cruises, Downs says: “Princess has got a very, very strong following here. I think our clients will go back to Princess, no problem.”
Nonetheless, he anticipates greater interest in river, small-ship and expedition cruising than the large ships. He also says that while 70 to 80 per cent of his customers are return cruisers, those who have never been on a cruise will be harder to win over.
For seasoned campaigners such as the Juniels, there’s no debate. The variety of
activities on board, the opportunity to meet different people, the care taken by crew, and range of entertainment and dining options are all aspects that lure them back to sea.
“It’s the ease of cruising,” Sandra Juniel says. “You put your bags at the turnstile, they take it, it’s in your room. You just unpack … You pull up at a port and there are buses waiting to take you wherever you want to go.”