Imagine sitting in a bathtub with one rubber ducky. You have the equivalent of the cruise industry in 1966, defined by one ship capable of carrying 600 passengers, Now dump in another 125 rubber duckies in your bath (that’s the number of ships currently operated by the three largest North American-based cruise companies). Suddenly you’re getting a feel for what the cruise industry today is experiencing. But there’s more. The newest rubber duckies are more like floating turkeys. We don’t mean that negatively, but if these bigger birds were in your tub, displacing a lot more water, your bathroom floor would be awash by now. The obvious solution: Find a few more tubs and disperse your rubber duckies.

That’s precisely what is happening today in the cruise world. Eager to diversify their products, cruise lines are increasingly exploring new cruising regions, taking cruise passengers to places previously not charted for cruise vacations.

One Ship, Two Ship
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the nascent years of the cruise industry, the formula was simple: Put a passenger ship in Miami and point it toward the Bahamas. Multitudes would flock to put themselves on board. No one succeeded better at the formula than Israeli entrepreneur Ted Arison, who, in 1972, relaunched a retired ocean liner to start what would become the world’s largest cruise company. On its maiden voyage, however, Carnival Cruise Lines’ Mardi Gras did something few other cruise ships since then have done: She got stuck on a sandbar just outside the Port of Miami. In the years since, the cruise industry has done anything but run aground. In fact, the industry is running full sail. With so many ships charged with filling their berths week after week, and with so many big ships on order, new ports of call are needed.

Emerging Options
The winds of change are blowing. Windstar Cruises, for example, is charting less-cruised Caribbean destinations. Operating a fleet of three motor sailing yachts that carry from 148 to 312 passengers, the company’s Caribbean itineraries list such idyllic isles as Bequia, Dominica, Nevis, St. Barts, Guadaloupe, the Grenadines and Tobago.

Cruise lines also are looking beyond the Caribbean for their new horizons. Carnival Freedom, which launched in March, will sail through October not in the Caribbean, Carnival’s stomping grounds, but in the Mediterranean. And when launched in July 2008, Carnival Splendor will operate the company’s first-ever Northern European itineraries.

Some cruise lines are looking toward horizons even more distant. Australia/New Zealand cruises will experience a record number of ships beginning in November of this year, and nearby, Asia cruises are on the upswing.

“Asia is one of the hottest travel destinations of the 21st century,” says Rick Meadows, an executive vice president for Holland America Line, which bumps up its Asia deployment from four ships in 2007 to five ships in 2008. Among the highlights: overnight stays in Tokyo, Xingang, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Padang Bai, Indonesia. European rivers are bobbing with ships that are selling out a year in advance, prompting river cruise companies to build more ships. Companies also are extending the river cruise season by offering Christmas Market cruises.

Cruising now offers ample opportunity to see the world, but eventually even the less-cruised regions will become more visited, more developed, and more like the rest of the world. Contact us to plan your voyage now: Brave new worlds await.

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