No new ships

I see tonight there are reports via Twitter of Mr Pimentel's speech at the CLIA conference in Southampton in which he said that there were too many new ships coming into the luxury cruise market. This would drive prices and profits down and that Azamara won't be adding any ships.

Here is a Travel Weekly report on what Pimentel said at the CLIA conference.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/61697/massive-growth-in-luxury-cruise-market-is-worrying-says-azamara-boss

Here is a list of the new ships on order

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/cruise-ship-orderbook.html

Note the number of new small ships up to 1,000 passengers

These include Seabourn - Viking - Crystal - Silversea - Regent and Ponant

Azamara has well and truly missed the boat - none

Having only two ships also means a lack of itineraries

Azamara may have been hoping by keeping the number of passengers low

They would be able to keep prices high

But the competition will have new ships - lower costs and prices

From the article linked by Mighty Quinn,

"Asked whether Azamara was likely to add capacity any time soon, Pimentel said he was "sad to say the time for new capacity is wrong".

"We have a tiny brand which is very profitable and there is too much capacity coming in [from other lines]. If we do grow it will be by acquisition, not new builds."

This is what Larry said in the interview:

"We have a tiny brand which is very profitable and there is too much capacity coming in [from other lines]. If we do grow it will be by acquisition, not new builds."

Interesting!

This is what Larry said in the interview:

 

"We have a tiny brand which is very profitable and there is too much capacity coming in [from other lines]. If we do grow it will be by acquisition, not new builds."

 

Interesting!

Acquisition means buying somebody else "old" boat and then adding ginger bread and nice trim and some paint. I mean seriously how many refits and extensive dry docks can you do to an old tug to be competitive?

Makes you wonder if RCI will ever spin this cruise line off?

Here is a link to the original article I saw on Twitter:

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/luxury-cruise-boss-warns-of-too-much-capacity-in-market-4917?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Differs slightly from the other report, and the last paragraph is interesting where there's regret in not ordering new builds earlier.

Interesting reading. Thanks for the link. I'm a bit depressed about it to be honest. A lot of gloomy talk from Larry, but I'm heartened to see his statement close to the bottom saying Azamara is a very profitable little company. I guess we just have to put our growth hopes on hold for now.

Phil

Have to agree with you Phil, pending the announcement that's been delayed we will have to see what direction Azamara is going in. I thought they had a nice niche market in what Cruise Critic described as "Luxury Lite" if it is as I fear trying to go for full out luxury with prices to match it might suffer. On the positive side does the acquisition quote in one of the other links mean that they (RCCI) are waiting for one of the newer rapid growth companies to over trade or other wise get into trouble as Renaissance did and pick up the pieces?

We will in the meantime continue to enjoy Azamara and it's thankfully profitable two ship operation.

... if it is as I fear trying to go for full out luxury with prices to match it might suffer.

It can't go for full luxury with its current two ships as there's no way Azamara's cabins can compete with the cabins of the luxury lines. Even a Club Continent Suite on Azamara is (i.m.o.) inferior to a verandah cabin on Seabourn - which rightfully calls all its cabins suites.

Floris

It can't go for full luxury with its current two ships as there's no way Azamara's cabins can compete with the cabins of the luxury lines. Even a Club Continent Suite on Azamara is (i.m.o.) inferior to a verandah cabin on Seabourn - which rightfully calls all its cabins suites

Floris[/quote

 

Floris while I totally agree with you and we are perfectly happy with Azamara's current offerings. Cruise passengers of all lines these days seem to be at the mercy of the aspirations of marketing departments.

I am disappointed that there is to be no new ship for Azamara but I really hope it maintains its current "luxury lite" place in the market. There are many luxury cruise lines out there and imho with two ships, AZ cannot compete with the likes of Silversea, Regent, Seabourn, Crystal etc, especially when it comes to the cabins.

What Azamara does very well is deliver an excellent, unique cruise experience and it has a niche market for that. Stay within that market and keep your prices reasonable. We will all continue to book with Azamara, and enjoy the product very much. If prices increase to Silversea, Crystal or Seabourn level then a lot of people will book with them instead.

One of the reasons that Azamara has so many repeat passengers is that it does what it does so well....as Azamara is now a profitable business then please leave a successful formula alone!

Larry Pimentel's mention of growth by acquisition reminded me that Crystal is in the midst of a major upward repositioning to the top of the luxury segment. Their new ocean ships will have minimum 400 sf suites and a staff-to-passenger ratio of 1-to-1. It may be hard to market their older ships at the same time, so might they be interested in selling them? They have been very well maintained and updated, so they would require far less than what Oceania had to do with Princess' old R-ship. Azamara Serenity is an enticing prospect to me. :)

Hi Everyone,

Always great to hear Larry Pimentel's insights. I think Larry is spot on about capacity etc. Further, I worry that many world economies are in trouble, and things may get worse before it gets better. I'm sure many of us agree, that we wished Azamara had pushed the newbuild button sooner. However, in fairness to Larry and his management team, it may or may not have been their sole decision. I suspect newbuild decisions go all the way to the top at Royal Caribbean. Only Larry can answer that question.

On the positive side, I'm pleased that Azamara reimagined Journey and Quest, as they did a wonderful job on the updates. With that said, I'm disappointed that at least 1 new ship is not in Azamara's current plans, which may make it challenging for them to compete with the new ships. Cuba might be a very interesting option for Azamara, as their ships are right sized for that destination, and I'm sure they would provide a fantastic experience.

I sincerely hope things work out for Azamara, especially for their incredible officers and crew, whom have so much of their lives invested in the brand.

IMO, if anyone can get them through what may be difficult times, Larry is the right person to lead the charge. Hopefully, there's plenty of good news to come, though the wait will apparently be longer.

Having experienced and thoroughly enjoyed the development of Azamara for the last four years, they do now seem to be making a profit, but for how long? Prices continue to rise, with little additional benefits for passengers, year after year it is the same itineraries, regular charters and cancelled cruises and disappointment for ordinary passengers.

The one huge benefit Azamara has is the the wonderful crews on both ships, but whilst they continue to nickel and dime with onboard charges for dining, and internet etc., and upselling of bar packages, they are now becoming too expensive with regard to the aggressive pricing of Oceania, and the reducing prices of Viking and others with sparkling new ships in a market geographically constrained by the fear of travel because of the perceived threat of terrorist threats.

Perhaps now a bit too complacent that passenger loyalty will overcome the wider choice and value for money that now exists in the the area of the market that Azamara helped create.

Let's hope they do continue to flourish, but it needs more that a refurbishment of two aging ships to do so, and requires management innovation and creativity to re-establish the individual Azamara niche that created such a loyal band of regular repeaters.

We've been on Azamara 5 times - one of our favorite cruise lines. Very sorry to hear they're pulling the plug on any expansion for the foreseeable future. They've been talking about it for years. A new ship would have been very nice, similar in size to what they have now. "You snooze, you lose" as they say! And Azamara snoozed while everyone else in the luxury and luxury lite segments has added or will add tonnage, including new players. Opportunity lost.

Everybody is getting new ships...except Larry:

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/15000-royal-orders-oasis-five-two-more-ships-for-celebrity.html

Profitable or not lack of growth could see Azamara go backwards, as much as we appreciate having longer stays and overnights you can only visit the same ports so many times. Two ships can't provide the variety of itineraries we want, this will drive passengers to other lines, we have already booked three other lines just for the itineraries they provide as Azamara may never do those. Will we like the others as much as Azamara? Don't know, but if we do then we might not be back, and I am sure the same applies to many others.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread about the increasing competition for passenger business in the upper end cruise market, and Mr. P. recently expressed concern about volume driving down prices.

Saw a couple of excellent cruises for late autumn on Seabourn at prices much better than Azamara especially when comparing inclusiveness, but when about to book this morning was astonished to find that Seabourn seem to allow smoking on many places on board ship, and many reviews complain re smoke on balconies and public areas.

End of booking for us then, and a very close escape from what would have been an intolerable experience.

Once again Azamara have created the right balance to satisfy all passengers, and all the more reason we all want them to continue, but how about some new itineraries as we and lots of others have done many of them both ways, just for the ambiance on board.

It is a little bit funny, we brag to everyone how much we love Azamara(say it is our number one choice), but we have only taken 2 of 14 cruises on Azamara. The cabin size is a big problem as well as itineraries. We are now exploring Viking Ocean - a place holder Azamara should have slid into. Would love to see new itineraries , that is how we select cruise line. It is strange that RC (nothing is more mass market) can do a better job on itineraries than Azamara.

Let me expound.... Everyone I have met on Azamara is well traveled. Your fans are frequent travelers, yet their itineraries are plagued by the same old ports with main attractions. How many times can you go to Ephesus (4 so far) or Monte Carlo, Barcelona, etc. And yes, I know I am lucky to see these wonderful places, but you continue to go back to the same places leaving nothing for your devotees.

I totally agree there is a lack of imagination in the cruises for the rest of this year. Not only are the ports the same but there are more 7 day cruises which are not appealing with air travel issues of the world today. Been on 5 of 18 cruises with Azamara but going forward not much to get overly excited about at this time.