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Homeland Cruising
Homeland Cruising, by Cindy BertramTwenty years ago, anyone interested in taking a cruise who wanted to avoid flying had extremely limited choices. Theprimary option was driving to Florida. But as demand for otherports and places of embarkation grew, along with the effects of9/11, cruise lines made a major push to develop alternatives.Today, Homeland Cruising is an integral part of the cruiseindustry.During the earlier days of the cruise industry in the 1980s,ships normally departed from the Florida ports of Miami and FortLauderdale. Port Canaveral then became a mainstay, thanks to Premier Cruise Lines innovative Big Red Boat concept, which isreally credited for developing Port Canaveral and making it aconvenient option for Orlando visitors. The Port of New York wasanother seasonal option, and a few cities in California such asthe Port of Los Angeles rounded out the choices.Even before 9/11, cruise lines were viewing the development ofalternative ports as a way to expand their markets. NorwegianCruise Line (NCL) once again took the lead. A veteran when itcomes to pioneering new areas in the cruise industry, NCL canreally be credited with developing the homeland cruising conceptwhich it aggressively launched in late 2001, focusing onoffering more roundtrip cruises out of new cities in the U.S. In2001, for instance, NCL sailed from six ports, but by 2003 theywere sailing out of 16 ports located in the U.S. and Canada.By 2003 most major ports in the U.S. showed strong increases inship tonnage, with important growth seen in ports not usuallyconsidered as major cruise hubs-Galveston, Baltimore, NewOrleans, Norfolk, Va., Mobile, Ala. and Charleston, S.C., aswell as Long Beach, Calif. and Jacksonville, Fla.The increased interest in these cruise ports was a result of a few key factors. There was anincreasing popularity of the drive market. Just as important wasthe explosion of new ship tonnage along with the introduction ofeven faster ships these elements were both forcing and allowingcruise lines to come up with new alternatives to the traditionalports of departure and more innovative itineraries.In the case of Galveston, Texas, which is conveniently locatedon the Gulf Coast, the city developed a topnotch cruise terminaland then began to expand it by working on a partnership with theCarnival Corporation, which currently owns 7 different cruiselines. As a result, Galveston is one of those second-tier cruiseports that is evolving into a main port by offering cruisesyear-round. Princess Cruises, for instance, moved the GrandPrincess to Galveston in 2004.A cruise port overlooked for years by cruise lines that has seenresurgence in interest is Seattle. For years, cruise lines haveused Vancouver for Alaskan cruises and bypassed Seattle, eventhough Seattle had a good location and major airport. Many evenused the Seattle Airport over the Vancouver Airport for theirflights and then transported cruise passengers to Vancouver viamotorcoach shuttle, which could easily take four hours. Backthen the drawback to using Seattle was the distance factor.Slower sailing ships could not feasibly sail to destinations inAlaska if they departed from Seattle, but that has sincechanged. NCL was the first to rethink using Seattle for Alaskancruises and now other cruise lines, including Celebrity, HollandAmerica Line and Princess Cruises all have ships departing fromSeattle to AlaskaSource: Group Travel Blog
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