This week’s broadcast of Eye on Travel  comes from Seatrade in Miami, Florida, the annual global summit of all things cruise, with every industry leader in attendance. Guests on the show include Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, Richard Fain, CEO of Royal Caribbean, Tom Wolber, CEO of Crystal Cruises, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO of Celebrity Cruises. Carolyn Spencer Brown, Editor-in-Chief of Cruise Critic discusses the surprising cruise markets that are on the rise again, including Istanbul and a few others not on your radar. And of course, we’ll have our continuing update on the investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX. There’s all this and more as Eye on Travel  broadcasts from Seatrade in Miami, Florida.

Click here to listen to the show streaming live from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 27, 2019.

Have a travel question? Then ask Peter. E-mail him at peter@petergreenberg.com, or tweet your questions to @petersgreenberg (include #AskPeter).

 
Carolyn Spencer Brown, Editor-in-Chief of Cruise Critic, speaks about her favorite part of Seatrade. Some surprising markets are on the rise again, including Istanbul. As baby boomers start to travel more, they are going places that have not traditionally been on bucket lists. According to Carolyn, the Caribbean is always hot thanks to the number of different locations you can travel to there.

Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, talks about how even though there is exponential growth in the cruise industry, some of the actual numbers may surprise people. All of the cabins across all of the cruise lines add up to only about 2% of hotel room inventory worldwide. When you add up all of the passengers across all cruise lines globally, the number is still only 28 million. This is a number that is very small when you look at the travel industry as a whole, which means that cruise lines have a lot of room to grow.

Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, speaks about how people have moved away from wanting to buy things to being more interested in experiences. Cruise lines have developed new ways to meet those experiential demands. As demands and desires change, the industry evolves to meet those expectations. He also speaks about staying ahead of what people want because they don’t always know. If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse, instead he moved ahead of them and gave them a car.

Tom Wolber, CEO of Crystal Cruises, talks about the recent dry dock and remodeling of the Crystal Serenity. Unlike many cruise line companies that expand the number of rooms offered, Crystal actually reduced the number of cabins on the Crystal Serenity. The only thing he would have changed about this remodel would have been to update it more. That was not possible though because of the enormity of the project.

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO of Celebrity Cruises, speaks about Celebrity Cruises, the innovative design of the Celebrity Edge and how it’s a game changer for the cruise industry. She talks about some of the most noteworthy aspects of the new ship, the Magic Carpet. This venue hangs off the side of the ship and can be placed anywhere from the 2nd to 11th floor on the Edge. This was not designed as an experiential one upsmanship, but rather it was out of a need to keep its passengers engaged. She also talks about Celebrity Cruises pushing towards more higher ranking women in its company, such as Captain Kate McCue who will be helming the Edge starting this year.

Kelly Craighead, President and CEO of Cruise Lines International Association, and Cruise Lines International Association’s Global Chair Adam Goldstein, explain what CLIA is and that it is the largest cruise travel association in the world. The association represents 95% of cruise lines. It’s an advocate for the cruise line industry and is working towards growing the cruise industry as a whole. Thirty million people will cruise in 2019. This is still only a small amount of travelers.

Francesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises, expounds on the history of MSC and how this family run cruise line has had a seafaring tradition for over 300 years. It is the largest privately owned cruise line in the world. One of the biggest difference this makes is that it’s not beholden to shareholders for decisions. He speaks about that freedom has allowed it to recently expand into the U.S. market with the 2017 launch of the MSC Seaside. This was a ship specifically and innovatively designed for the Caribbean market with an emphasis on giving passengers the most outdoor space possible.

Navin Sawhney, CEO, Americas, PONANT, talks about how this French based company has a focus on destinations. It wants to keep its ships small and take passengers to new and non-traditional locations. The company is even working on a ship that will take people to the geographical North Pole.