Photo credit: Gene Sloan, USA Today
For the past few years, airlines have been cutting back on flights, choosing to put their older model planes in the desert until they sell or until air traffic comes back. Ships, on the other hand, have been turning out an average of 24,000 new beds a year.
That’s about to change. Come next season, there will be fewer and, in 2013, fewer still.
Royal Caribbean is a good example, with no ships on order once Allure (above) — the twin sister to Oasis — is launched in November. While Chairman and CEO Adam Goldstein knows there will eventually be ships to add to his fleet of 22, STX Finland has no orders from Royal, a company that almost always has something either under construction or on order.
However, it’s not like the company has completely stopped adding ships. It owns Celebrity, which has one more Solstice Class ship arriving next year and one more in 2012.
This new era is a pause to develop a new class of ship. Meanwhile, I’m sure STX’s shipyard in Turku, Finland will be sharpening the pencils to come up with an attractive price when the time comes to fire up its team for another new Royal Caribbean ship.
Phil’s Picks
• A 9-day cruise, round-trip from Baltimore, on the Enchantment of the Seas to Canada and New England, departing October 7.
• Starting price is $599US (pp, double occupancy) and does not include fees and taxes. It was available at writing.
• Ports include Portland and Bar Harbor in Maine, Saint John, Halifax and Boston.
More details at Royal Caribbean’s website or from your travel cruise agent.
If you need any help there, let me know at portsandbows@gmail.com.
All for now.
