The mass arrival in Europe in summer 2008 will be something to behold: cruise line after cruise line is committing additional tonnage to Europe, both in the Mediterranean and ex UK. This is an interesting phenomenon, and worth looking at just why so many lines believe that Europe is the way to go. They could be chasing the not insignificant growth in European cruisers – but after all, just because you are European, it does not mean you have to cruise in Europe. Certainly ex UK programmes are all about capturing the British market. Mainstream cruise lines have blamed falling 2nd and 3rd quarter results on the weakness of their summer Caribbean programmes for a couple of years now, and without doubt yields in Alaska and Europe are far higher. Likewise for the American customer wishing to visit Europe, the current weakness of the dollar against both sterling and Euro means that touring by dollar based cruise ship is relatively inexpensive.

But can Europe really bear the additional capacity? Quite apart from the challenges of filling the ships, there are the secondary challenges of inadequate infrastructure. In Barcelona the other weekend, Sharon and Emma were amazed at the number of ships in port on turnaround days Friday and Saturday. But only some ports are able to accommodate thousands of passengers at a time, and anyone who has summered on the French Riviera will easily imagine how another few dozen shore excursion coaches will fare on already traffic-clogged roads.

There is a very strong argument, therefore, not to run with the herd next summer. Sure, plan a cruise in the Mediterranean, Baltic, or Scandinavia, but pick one of the smaller ships with more unusual itineraries, able to operate away from the crowds and call at more isolated ports. Ships to look at include not only the luxury vessels of such lines as Silversea, Seabourn and Regent, but also quality premium product such as Fred. Olsen (whose new ship Balmoral has a good fly-cruise programme for summer 2008), Oceania, or the ships of newly-founded Azamara, a Celebrity spin-off.

And watch this space for the possible re-birth of Swan Hellenic. I jumped, not necessarily correctly, to conclusions when NCL announced the sale of the single Orient Lines ship Marco Polo last week, stating it would be likely to operate in 2008 ‘under an established brand’. Time is of the essence for Lord Sterling if this is his acquisition, as sales for summer 2008 are already well under way.

We have had a busy May as the ships begin to return to Europe, with staff on Silversea, SeaDream, Wind Surf and the newly refurbished Crystal Symphony, so reports on these will be coming up. For personal views, call and ask to speak to someone who has been on board any one of these lines. We have also enjoyed the opportunity to meet many of you face to face at various events. We were delighted with the highly successful visit to Shakespeare’s Globe with Regent Seven Seas, which all of us who attended will remember for a long time. It was a pleasure to meet many of you at our much loved ‘favourite’ hotel Hambleton Hall, where charismatic owner Tim Hart creates an embodiment in hotel form of everything we believe about good service and personal attention. At Nobu in Park Lane we recreated a very special dining experience in Silk Road on board Crystal Serenity. And by the time you read this, many of you will have seen us at The Luxury Travel Fair at Olympia. Our autumn programme of events is being worked on right now, so keep reading Cruise News for details.