Virgin Voyages announced they’re pulling out of Australia permanently after just one season. The company cited “challenging market conditions” which translates to “not enough people wanted to pay premium prices for our adults-only product down under.”
This leaves Australians with fewer options for edgier cruise experiences. Virgin’s departure also shows how tough the Australian market can be for new players trying to compete with established brands like Royal Caribbean and Princess.
Royal Caribbean revealed their Icon of the Seas broke the record for highest single-day booking revenue in cruise history during its recent wave season launch. People apparently cannot resist the world’s largest cruise ship despite complaints about overcrowding on mega ships.
The booking frenzy suggests travelers still want the biggest and newest ships regardless of size concerns. Expect Royal Caribbean to keep building bigger as long as people keep paying for bigger.
Several cruise lines updated their beverage package policies for 2024. Norwegian now requires all guests in the same stateroom to purchase beverage packages if one person wants one. Carnival made similar changes to prevent package sharing.
These policy changes mean higher costs for couples where only one person drinks alcohol. The cruise lines are clearly tired of people gaming the system by sharing packages between roommates.
If you want help sorting through policy changes and finding the right cruise for your situation, that is literally what we do.
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