Carnival tells agents it’s pulling out of Europe
Carnival has told agents in a letter that it has decided to pull out of Europe blaming rising air fares and market conditions.
The cruise giant said it had made the decision to base Carnival Legend in Australia next year and keep the rest of the fleet in US ports.
It added that given the current market conditions, increasing air fares, and the fact that most of its guests are from the US, it had decided not to deploy a Carnival ship to Europe in 2014.
But the UK trade sales term, commercial terms and marketing funding will remain in place during 2014.
Adolfo Perez, managing director, UK & Ireland said in a letter sent out: "This was a difficult decision for us, as we realise our guests truly love sailing with Carnival in Europe, largely because we provide great holidays at great value for money. We are hopeful we will return in the future.
"Carnival continues to be committed to the UK and Irish markets. Whilst we have relied on you all for our European deployment in 2013, you continue to bring guests to Carnival in the Caribbean…and they love it.
"In fact, the majority of our UK customers choose a cruising holiday that departs from North America."
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