Low-cost easyCruise begins leisure trips to Caribbean
easyCruiseOne
Thursday, November 17, 2005
ATHENS, Greece (AFP): No-frills cruise
operator easyCruise has launched a Caribbean service that covers six islands
for as little as 15 dollars per person daily, the company said on Wednesday.
The cut-price operator offers an itinerary that takes in the islands of
Barbados, St Vincent, Martinique, Grenadines, Grenada and St Lucia over the
space of one week, and is available until April 26.
The company's bright orange boat, the 'easyCruise One', can accommodate 170
passengers and 54 crew. The new service
follows in the tracks of an existing summer-time package from St Tropez to
Porto Fino in the Cote d'Azur. Most of the
cabins on board have a size of 10 square metres, are simply furnished with two
beds and storage space, and have a bathroom with shower but no windows.
EasyCruise One's maiden Caribbean voyage included Virgin group founder Sir
Richard Branson, who has also expressed an interest in trying his hand at the
cruise boat industry. Stelios Haji-Ioannou,
the founder and chairman of the Britain-based operator's holding company
easyGroup, is also in negotiations with Greece's merchant marine ministry to
bring easyCruises to the Greek islands in the summer of 2006.
A sample cruise could start from the Athens port of Piraeus and include the
islands of Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, the port-cities of Iraklio and Chania on
Crete, and Milos. A second boat could be
added for journeys to the Gulf States in the winter of 2006, the company said
in July. Aimed at a younger brand of
passengers, Haji-Ioannou's cruises have so far attracted a clientele aged 32
on average, 20 years less than the industry norm, the company statement said.
The son of a wealthy Greek-Cypriot shipowner, Haji-Ioannou began his empire 10
years ago through the creation of no-frills flight operator easyJet, and has
since expanded the "easy" brand to over 15 sectors including Internet cafes,
hotels, cinemas, car and DVD rentals, men's toiletries and pizza delivery.
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