Cruise destinations challenged on quality of product and price

Caribbean destinations must look at the quality of their product and the costs involved, according to the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association. 

President of the association, Michele M. Paige, told the Compass these were the main two issues to come from the annual cruise conference, which was held in Puerto Rico in October. 

“The conference is the continuation of dialogue and communication,” she said. “It is a time to take advantage of opportunities to strengthen the Caribbean market. It was established that there are only two elements that the destinations have control of in order to remain competitive: cost and product. 

“That is pretty much working with the tour operators and working with the governments and that is the framework within which we conducted the conference,” Ms Paige said. 

Although all destinations in the Caribbean are unique, these concepts apply across the board, she said. 

“Some destinations were saying that they have fewer ships, especially during the summer and the response from the cruise industry was that destinations can improve their product and be more competitive,” Ms Paige said. “Make it a demand destination; make the consumer want to come [throughout the year] and not just look at it as a cold weather destination. That this is a place where the product is high, that the service is high, that there are a lot of things to do. Somewhere that even if you have been there once you would [want to return].” 

Tendering inconvenient There is a perception that once a cruiser has visited a destination, they have ‘been there, done that,’ but by changing things it may be more attractive to return tourism in the cruise sector, she said. 

Ms Paige said although the association had not seen actual plans, it was still pleased to note Grand Cayman appeared to be moving ahead with infrastructure projects, including the proposed and potential improvements to the alternative landing area in Spotts.  

Premier Bush previously told the Compass he hoped a final agreement could be approved by Cabinet and signed ‘some time in November’, with a December start date for construction. 

“Basically passengers don’t want the inconvenience of tendering,” Ms Paige said. “It is an extra expense and an extra inconvenience.” 

The cruise industry, she said, is resilient. 

“We position our ships where the market is best and where we can make more money,” Ms Paige said. “[Upcoming regions are] Australia, Brazil and Asia. New experiences and we are also sourcing passengers from those regions. They are willing to spend more. “It’s been evolving, it didn’t happen overnight. We have been encouraging the Caribbean to not be lazy in terms of re-evaluating and re-energising their product.”