easyCruise average age of passengers down to 33, more than 90 nationalities booked. Caribbean, Greek Islands and Arabian Gulf planned for expansion. Stelios to visit Barbados (Jun. 14, 2005)

easyCruise average age of passengers down to 33, more than 90 nationalities booked. Caribbean, Greek Islands and Arabian Gulf planned for expansion. Stelios to visit Barbados
A month after launch easyCruise remains very encouraged by the level of bookings for the Summer 2005 season.
With passengers now totalling over 90 different nationalities, the largest group of passengers remain the British with the Americans in second place. Western European and other English speaking countries remain significant nationalities on board.
This promising start has lead easyCruise to start planning expansion and so Stelios will be visiting Barbados on 18 June.

For the Winter season, November 2005 - April 2006, the current plan is to base easyCruiseOne in Barbados (Saturday and Sunday) and cruise to nearby islands such as Saint Lucia (Monday), Martinique (Tuesday and Wednesday) which will tap into the French-speaking market and the non-stop flights from Paris, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Thursday) and Grenada (Friday).

With the exception of St Vincent, all islands have non-stop flights from either London or Paris and/or New York. The Barbados base would compete with the possibility of an Antigua base and Stelios will visit Barbados on June 18th for negotiations with the local authorities for access to their ports.

Stelios has always said that further investments in easyCruise will be decided after two full seasons - one summer and one winter. However, anticipating the same success with Winter 2005/2006 that is being experienced by the current Summer season, Stelios is already making plans to add a second ship, easyCruiseTwo, to the fleet for the Greek islands for the Summer of 2006 or 2007.

This would also allow easyCruise to add the Arabian Gulf to the Winter 2006/2007 itinerary. Greek destinations considered are: Athens (Friday), Mykonos (Saturday), Patmos (Sunday), Rhodes (Monday), Heraklion (Tuesday), Hania (Wednesday) and Milos (Thursday). For the Arabian Gulf the destinations being discussed are Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

The average age of easyCruise passengers now stands at 33 years old. This is more than 20 years younger than the average quoted by the rest of the cruise industry who include children in their averages.
In other words, for every 5 year old on board a cruise ship there is another passenger in their 80's. As easyCruise only allows passengers of 18 years old and above, the average age of 33 is a clear and accurate reflection of the age of passengers on board.

From the start easyCruise aimed to attract a younger crowd to go cruising - independently minded people in their 20's, 30's and 40's - and is delighted to have succeeded in attracting this age group who are not conventional cruise passengers.

easyCruise has succeeded in attracting this younger crowd by allowing passengers to board and disembark where and when they chose (with a minimum of 2 nights on board) and by making sure that the ship stays in port every night, allowing passengers to enjoy the glamorous nightlife of the French and Italian rivieras.

"I am very pleased that easyCruise has attracted a younger crowd," said Stelios the serial entrepreneur and easyGroup chairman. "In the future we intend to continue growing this younger cruise market and to offer them a wider choice of destinations in each new season."

(Source: easyCruise)