Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – After filling hotel rooms in Dubai and crowding flights, Brazilians are now also certain clients of the cruise ships to visit the region. Costa Cruzeiros, an Italian organisation that is the leader in the European cruise market, which operates in Brazil, sent, between December last year and March this year, a group of 1,200 Brazilians on cruises in the seas of the Arab world. Early this year, the company opened in the country reservations for the cruises in the new season, to begin in November.
"I believe that we will have the same demand, or more," stated the Costa Cruzeiros Sales and Marketing manager for Brazil, Claudia Del Valle. Departures are not from Brazil. It is necessary to fly to Europe or the United Arab Emirates to board. One of the next routes offered is for 19 days, leaving Naples, in Italy, visiting Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi, in the Emirates, before reaching Dubai. There is another, for example, for seven nights. It leaves Dubai, goes to Oman, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi, Bahrein and returns to Dubai.
The last season was the second opportunity in which Costa Cruzeiros offered Brazilians cruises in the Arab world. In the previous season, from December 2006 to March 2007, some sales were also made, but most of the reservations were in Italy, at the company headquarters, and there were few openings for Brazilians. Starting last year, Costa Cruzeiros Brazil started making reservations directly and promoting more sea trips to that destination.
Costa Cruzeiros Brazil, which is headquartered in São Paulo and has a branch in Rio de Janeiro, does not sell cruises directly to tourists. They are traded by travel agencies, who then either seek the company directly or its representatives in several Brazilian states. The 19 night cruise in the Arab world, for example, costs US$ 1,779 per person, but many agencies set up packages, including other services, like the flight and hotel stays. The price, then, is different.
The seven-night cruise costs US$ 979. These prices include the trip on the ship and services. When the ship stops at different ports, optional land tours are offered to the clients, explained Claudia. The traveller, however, also has the option of getting off at the port and taking care of his own route within the city he stopped at. Costa Cruzeiros, according to the Sales and Marketing manager, is the only cruise company permitted to dock at the ports of Dubai.
Claudia explained that Brazilian clients on the routes in the Arab world are normally cruisers, people who are already used to cruises and want different routes. Many are already faithful Costa Cruzeiros clients and become aware of the new destinations offered. One of the advantages of being on a cruise in the region, she explains, is that on the ship the tourist may consume food that is to the taste of Brazilians. Except for Dubai, in the Emirates, she explains, the other stops do not tend to have many options of world cuisine.
Furthermore, according to her, one more of the advantage of a cruise is the commodity of having your clothes stored in your cabin, being able to visit several regions, not having to pack your bags with each stop. Tourists get off at the port, visit the site, and return to the comfort of the ship, still with several services offered aboard. The ships that are going to operate for Costa Cruzeiros in the Arab world, visiting Dubai next season, can carry 1,680 people and 2,370 people.
*Translated by Mark Ament
