Speaking at the trade body’s Forum in Windsor on Tuesday (19 December), Bouldin predicted a positive 12 months ahead for the cruise sector. However, he laid bare the capacity challenges agents must help the sector overcome, with 20 new ships across both the ocean and river sectors entering the market next year.
“Looking ahead for the next 12 months, it’s going to be action packed,” said Bouldin, who is also Royal Caribbean’s EMEA vice-president. “We’ve got 20 new ships – 14 new river ships and six new ocean ships – launching.”
He noted how the US market’s “confidence” levels around booking a cruise were “extraordinary”. “The propensity of people in the US to cruise has never been higher,” he told Forum delegates, adding: “It does put pressure on us to pull our socks up, but we have a slightly different economic backdrop than they [the US] do have right now.
"That propensity to cruise is really turning a corner. Cruise is very quickly becoming the hottest holiday ticket in town.”
Bouldin insisted new markets would emerge, stressing customer demand to take a cruise was at “an all-time high”. “It’s only right that we have massive expectations,” he added. “We’ve got the momentum behind us and the economic situation is the UK is slowly improving.”
He said he had already seen several travel companies, including cruise operators, air their turn-of-year ads. “[It’s] great to see,” he said. “It’s the cruise industry that is investing in the travel sector more than anyone else. It’s the cruise industry that is powering the sector forward as it recovers. We’ve weathered a lot and we’ve come out fighting.
"We’re starting to see the rewards for all of our hard work. There is no doubt that there are challenges ahead and more speed bumps to get over. We’ll all just crack on and achieve all of our goals, I am very confident of that.”
