Carnival reports record sales
Carnival Cruise Lines set a one-month reservations record, taking net bookings (new reservations minus cancellations) for more than 565,000 guests between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31.
The record number of reservations was 17% higher than the same one-month period a year ago. Additionally, traffic to the cruise line’s web site carnival.com also reached an all-time high with 13 million visits during the one-month period.
Bookings were at unprecedented levels across the line’s 24-ship fleet, which operates three- to 23-day voyages from a wide range of convenient North American homeports as well as cruises from Australia.
Carnival president and CEO Gerry Cahill attributed the record booking activity to a number of factors, including continued product enhancements and innovations being introduced across the Carnival fleet, attractive promotions in the marketplace, strong support from travel agent partners, and a new “Moments that Matter” advertising campaign launched last fall, which is currently in heavy rotation in broadcast and digital channels.
“Now is the time of year when many people focus on their upcoming vacation plans and the cruise industry typically sees an escalation in booking activity. We are definitely observing a strong uptick in reservations with bookings coming in at unprecedented levels,” said Cahill. “We are seeing heavy sales growth in all channels, particularly via our travel agent partners, and we would like to express our tremendous appreciation for their support.”
