Themed cruises and shorter voyages for American lines

While the general slump in spending doesn’t seem to have hit the cruise industry yet, there’s some evidence that certain cruise lines are planning to offer shorter cruises – perhaps because they fear cruise passengers may not be able to afford longer holidays in the next couple of years.

For example, Carnival Cruise Lines will be offering a new seven-day itinerary from Carnival Conquest sailing out of Galveston, Texas, that will include port calls to Key West, Florida, and Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas. The new week-long cruise option will be offered approximately monthly from February 2009 until April 2010.

Similarly, MSC Cruises has planned a cruise around the theme of baseball greats on the 13th December 2008, sailing on MSC Lirica. This seven night Western Caribbean roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale is squarely aimed at the fans of Major League Baseball as seen through the eyes of some of the greats of the game. Special guests will be Bob Feller, Dave Campbell, Tommy Davis, Jeff Torborg and Stan Bahnsen and the theme cruise includes free interactive guest/player activities, including a player-hosted trivia game in which guests can test their baseball knowledge, question-and-answer sessions with the players, a passenger pitching contest and a session in which the players share revelations about some of the characters of the game. Players will also host pitching, hitting, fielding and base running clinics as well as an autograph session.