In a surprising move, Norwegian Cruise Line announced today that the Epic will sail in the Caribbean in 2010, but rather than sail the Caribbean year round, the ship will head to Europe in May 2011 and spend the season there through October. The ship will sail a seven-day Western Mediterranean itinerary from Barcelona, Spain from May through October 2011. Ports of call include: Florence/Pisa (Livorno); Rome (Civitavecchia); Naples, Italy; and Palma, Majorca, Spain, along with two full days at sea. Fares for Norwegian Epic’s Mediterranean itinerary are from $699 per person. The ship will then return to the Caribbean for 23 seven day cruises from November 5th, 2011 through April 7, 2012.
Bookings for the NCL Epic 2011 and 2012 cruises are open to NCL past passenger on January 27th, 2010, and to the general public the next day.
This is the first time I have scene the trend reverse. With the slower economy, several cruise lines were leaving ships close to home, so this is a good sign that companies are banking on growth in oversees travel. I can report that our company has seen a 45% increase in sales to Europe over past 3 weeks. We attribute much of that to great 2 for 1 airline promotions and aggressive early booking discounts offered by tours operators such as Globus tours, Trafalgar tours and Insight Vacations.
