Cruise Pricing Trends Going Back on Even Keel in Caribbean, Report Says

Caribbean cruise pricing is showing slow improvement, while Alaska pricing is down and Europe remains strongest, according to a report from investment firm AG Edwards.

Leisure analyst Tim Conder, in looking at pricing trends for the third and fourth quarters of 2007, wrote that Caribbean pricing “appears to be stabilizing and continues to slowly improve” and that “pricing for both short and long itineraries appears to be bottoming based on our pricing surveys.”

Mr. Conder noted that the widening price and value of cruises “relative to other land-based vacation alternatives for the consumer is putting a floor under pricing.”

He said that Caribbean cruises occupy 40 percent of Carnival Corp’s and 54 percent of Royal Caribbean’s 2007 capacity; as the industry leader, Carnival’s price stabilization likely bodes well for the rest of the industry in the region, he added.

The report noted that Alaskan pricing continues to be weak, with prices there for Carnival in May and June down approximately 20 percent. Europe remains the strongest geographic market.