Cruise Lines react to the Euro-Travel chaos caused by Icelandic Ash

Oh how fragile we are! The travel industry in Europe was brought to a stand still this past week or so due to the natural occurrence of volcanic ash spewing from one of Icelands active volcano's. The ramifications extended far beyond Europe and the Cruise Industry is also clearly impacted.

A number of Cruise Lines were forced to change their advertised itineraries in order to accommodate passengers who were caught up in delays and cancellations. Some vessels simply received considerably less passengers other others made strategic moves to support returning passengers and to accommodate new arrivals.

For example German Cruise Lines AIDA Cruises and TUI Cruises both had to take proactive counter measures by disembark passengers in Barcelona and busing them back to Germany. New arrivals also had to ensure a bus from Germany to Barcelona.

There is a silver cloud in the Cruise Industry at least to the volcanic dust cloud lining, as both Cunard Line and Princess Cruises, reported a surge in interest concerning  Trans-Atlantic crossings. Cunard in particular stated that, the next four 7-day crossings are completely sold out and that it is even maintaining demand on wait lists.

Apparently the volume of calls to Cunard Line’s central reservation office actually tripled over last weekend. Subsequently Cunard extended weekend hours to receive calls.

Officials at Princess Cruises stated, “we have been receiving unprecedented demand for our Trans-Atlantic cruises departing from the U.S. over the coming days. We do have limited space available. However, they also commented that “the situation remains unpredictable and it is currently impossible to predict how air services throughout Europe will continue to be impacted.”

Clearly the main issue however is the impact of total travel disruption, which has caused havoc and the resulting cost of lost flight revenue, itinerary changes, affected cruises, complex repatriation and passenger compensation will take its toll on Cruise Lines and Airlines alike. The concept of a Cruise vacation however, may be a more viable and attractive option now for Europeans planning their summer holidays. This would be especially true for the Costa Crociere pioneered itinerary concept of multi-embarkation Cruises, whereby passengers have several options to embark in their nearest port city. Such Cruises are particularly common in the Western Mediterranean.