Discounts drive Caribbean cruise demand

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Discounts drive Caribbean cruise demand[/size]

Associated Press

MIAMI - Carnival Cruise Lines reported Monday a company-record 28 percent increase in reservations for a six-week booking period, an indication that lower prices have helped the company spur demand in the sluggish Caribbean market.

The world's largest cruise brand said net individual reservations from Feb. 5 through March 18 for its 22 ships were up 28 percent compared to a year ago. Capacity increased 6 percent during the same period, which also saw the highest number of individual reservations received in any other six-week span in the cruise line's 35 years, the company said.

Nineteen of Carnival's 22 ships operate in the Bahamas and the Caribbean, where the cruise industry has cut prices and added incentives amid an overall sluggishness in bookings.

Clearly consumers are taking note of the tremendous pricing available right now on our Caribbean voyages and the inherent quality and value of a Carnival cruise vacation," said Bob Dickinson, president and CEO of the Miami-based line.

Industry executives have said the troubles in the Caribbean are a cyclical problem based on problems in the U.S. economy, specifically the housing market and lending issues, that have cut into consumer travel spending and affected the middle market demographic — which Carnival targets.