Cruises Execs Give Wave Season Passing Grade

Speaking at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention in Miami Beach on Tuesday, cruise industry leaders characterized the 2006 Wave Season as good—but not great. Many executives were unable to discuss specifics due to U.S. S.E.C. financial disclosure rules, but two executives offered a glimmer of the strength of the season. Rick Sasso, president for North America said his line was having a "good wave but not a tremendous wave." One reason, he said, might be that significant industry advertising and marketing in the fourth quarter of 2005 may have sopped up some demand for the first quarter. Still, he said, his brand has seen sales growth and rate increases. Colin Veitch, president and CEO, Norwegian Cruise Line Group, said: "Wave Season is not as strong as we had hoped but, nevertheless, reasonably good. We're slightly behind in load factor compared to last year, but we're seeing increased per diems and our guidance is that net yields for the year will increase."