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Carnival Cruise Lines is reporting record wave season bookings, with strong reservations activity for 2010 departures.

Published: 26 Feb 2010

Carnival Cruise Lines is reporting record wave season bookings, with strong reservations activity for 2010 departures.

Wave season typically runs from about mid-January through early spring and is traditionally the busiest, most important booking period in the cruise industry.

The company shared that for the period of January 1 through February 21, 2010, “bookings were at unprecedented levels for the line’s 22 ships which operate three- to 15-day voyages from a variety of convenient North American home ports”.

Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill said, “We’re seeing significantly increased volume as consumers are taking advantage of the incredible value that a Carnival cruise provides. And while pricing hasn’t fully recovered to 2008 levels, we are increasing prices and will implement an across-the-board increase effective March 22.”

As a result of the strong booking volumes, a general price increase will be implemented effective March 22 for all summer sailings in June, July and August.

The price increases will vary by departure date but will be up to 5 percent.

Cahill attributed the record booking activity to a wide range of factors, including strong travel agent partner support, targeted marketing initiatives, itinerary enhancements and the wide variety of close-to-home departure points.