Rising fuel costs not expected to affect city cruise ship schedule

CORNER BROOK - Fuel costs may have some cruise line companies rethinking their itineraries, but some involved in the industry locally remain confident western Newfoundland will continue to be a choice destination.

Late this summer, Royal Caribbean confirmed it has made some changes to its 2009 itineraries in Eastern Canada. The changes, blamed on high fuel costs, will affect four calls each into Sydney and Charlottetown in the fall of 2009 by the 3,000-passenger ship Explorer of the Seas.

The decision will also affect the port of Quebec City.

Earlier in the summer, Royal Caribbean cut about 400 shore-based jobs after reporting sharply lower second-quarter earnings, also attributed to fuel expenses.

"Cruise lines have been doing things to deal with fuel costs for quite a long time now and this is just one more thing they're doing," said Jackie Chow, manager of the Corner Brook Port Corporation. "It is a concern. If there are fewer cruises going to Quebec and that region, then those are some opportunities we would lose to have vessels calling in here."

Despite typically being part of itineraries that also visit these affected eastern Canadian ports, the changes do not directly impact Corner Brook's 2009 schedule. Chow doesn't think the extra-long distance to get to Corner Brook will make it a casualty of future cost-cutting measures.

"We have to make sure we have a destination that is worthwhile and passengers want to come here anyway, so the cruise lines will still feel it's in their best interests to keep us on the itinerary even though it may cost a little extra to get here," she said.

Canadian Sailing Expeditions used Corner Brook as a home port for its tall ship Caledonia for more than a month this past summer. Doug Prothero, the company's president and chief executive officer, said jumps in fuel prices don't have the same impact on their sailing ships as they do on the mammoth luxury liners.

"We won't say we're not affected by the price of fuel but, if - and this is an extreme example - the price of fuel doubled, it still wouldn't mean the end of things for us in any manner," said Prothero. "If that happened, though, it might be the end for some of these bigger guys.

"We have not had to implement fuel surcharges, like some of them have, and we don't anticipate having to do that."

Like Chow, Prothero said there are good reasons - like a different cultural experience in a location less affected by the Atlantic hurricane season - why even the much larger vessels will hopefully continue to choose to come to western Newfoundland.

"You have to have enough variety and enough interesting places on a cruise," he said. "Diversity of program is real important and that is something Newfoundland offers in spades. I don't know how you would avoid going to Newfoundland altogether and, for that reason, I think Corner Brook is well-placed.

"If we see significant changes in fuel prices, we'd probably see some significant changes in itineraries (of big ships), but the prediction for the time being is fuel prices will stabilize a little bit."

Corner Brook's 2009 cruise schedule has five confirmed calls and one tentative call, according to Chow. The port is expecting more bookings, including Canadian Sailing Expeditions, to be confirmed in the spring. Next year's schedule includes an overnight call by the Deutschland, which carries more than 900 passengers and crew.

Chow also reported there are already six confirmed bookings for 2010, including visits by the Maasdam and Eurodam and four calls from the Crown Princess.