A New Alaska for Carnival

Carnival Spirit departs Vancouver, bound for Alaska

Photo ©2009 Aaron Saunders

If Carnival excels in one area, it's fleet deployment.  The line is careful to never over-saturate one area, and even plays its cards close to its heart in the already over-saturated Caribbean, choosing to offer cruises of varying lengths operating on a series of different ships from multiple homeports.

Another more cautious destination for Carnival is Alaska.  Ever mindful of customer comments, the line announced last year it would be moving the 85,920-ton Carnival Spirit from its usual alternating Northbound and Southbound Alaska runs - moving instead to more generic seven-day roundtrips from Seattle.

Passengers traveling from the United States cited high airfare costs into Vancouver and Anchorage as the main reason for hesitating to book an Alaskan cruise, and Carnival listened.  

While this is not new news - the original press release came through last year, after all - it is worth noting since the 2010 Alaska season is about to kick off at the end of next month, and will prove to be a defining year for Alaska as a destination.  Prices are still relatively high as of this writing, but if the same sort of discounting that went on last year happens again this year, the fleet heading north will continue to shrink from both Vancouver and Seattle.

Carnival withdrew - temporarily - from Europe a few years ago after it was revealed that a majority of their passengers either couldn't or had no interest in flying to Europe.  This was juxtaposed with the news that Europe was exploding as a major destination of interest for many North Americans, and reveals the extent to which fleet deployment at the major cruise lines is largely dependent on their passenger base.

So why the change in Alaska for Carnival?  For the cruise line, the decision was a no-brainer: not only is it less expensive for their passenger base to fly to Seattle, but Seattle-Tacoma Airport is only roughly 20 minutes from the port.  It allows Carnival to continue to have an edge over the competition even in this tight economic market.  

Just how low were prices to Alaska last year?  Shoulder-season sailings on Holland America's Statendam were going for $299 - in an oceanview.  A great deal for passengers, but hardly a sustainable fare, and certainly one that no cruise line wants to see this year.

We will have extended coverage of the Alaska season here in Vancouver once it kicks off at the end of April.  In the meantime, to check out Carnival's new Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay sailings roundtrip from Seattle, head on over to Carnival's website.