Cruise bargains: lines offer freebies and more to get you aboard
20.05.12
Cruise lines are using two-for-one deals, onboard ship credits, discounted airfares, “free” gratuities, even chocolate-dipped strawberries to jump-start business as they cope with a tsunami of bad news this year.
First came safety fears raised by the January shipwreck of the Costa Concordia in Italy, then a fire aboard a sister ship, the Costa Allegra, in the Indian Ocean in late February.
An outbreak of the norovirus forced a Princess Cruises ship to return to port. A group of cruise-ship passengers were robbed while on a nature hike near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Meanwhile, summer airfares to Europe are soaring and riots in Greece are giving travelers the jitters, cutting into European cruise sales.
As “wave season,” the January-March period when cruise lines offer their best deals, draws to a close, lines are replacing across-the-board sales with what Rich Skinner, co-owner of Cruise Holidays, of Woodinville, calls “the special du jour.”
Source: Toronto Star