Las Vegas is a cruise hub – and other things we learned this week about holidays at sea

Telegraph Travel hosted 80 guests this week at a cruise event chaired by our travel editor, Claire Irvin. A panel discussion between three industry experts followed by audience questions generated some lively chat about the future of cruising, its environmental footprint and how technology is set to enhance the cruise experience both before and during the holiday.

Panellist Nick Wilkinson, UK and Ireland senior director and general manager for Norwegian Cruise Line said that potential passengers will soon be able to ‘experience’ excursions and tour cruise ships via virtual reality - a technology trialled by Telegraph Travel reporter Soo Kim in New York last week.

“VRT could be a useful tool for attracting the new-to-cruise market,” said Wilkinson, who reminded the audience that cruising is as much about destinations as ships. “The cruise is only one element of the holiday,” he said. “One of the biggest cruise hubs is landlocked Las Vegas. It’s a bucket list destination - from there we send clients on to the port city of New Orleans or to Seattle, for cruises in Alaska.”

Last year 1.9 million UK holidaymakers took a cruise holiday, but that figure is still a tiny percentage of the overall package holiday market. 

Panellists identified several ‘barriers’ to cruise. Lyn Narraway, managing director for luxury line Seabourn, said the “language of cruise,” which falls back on nautical terms, can be baffling for those unfamiliar with cruising. “We should be talking about rooms instead of cabins and floors instead of decks,” she said.

All panellists were in agreement that WiFi bandwidth on cruise ships falls short of requirements. “Most river ships now offer their passengers free, unlimited WiFi,” said panellist Giles Hawke, CEO for Cosmos and Avalon Cruises. “But out at sea when you’ve got minimal coverage and thousands of passengers sharing the bandwidth it can be a problem.”

Wilkinson said the industry is working “really hard” to improve this. Princess Cruises says it has just launched what it calls “the most pervasive WiFi at sea” on Regal Princess. “Other large lines are making similar investments so the days of poor connectivity at sea will soon become a thing of the past,” said vice president UK & Europe Tony Roberts.

Panellists agreed that cruise lines needs to work harder at dispersing passengers in port hubs, whilst also acknowledging that the cruise industry needs to get better explaining what it is doing behind the scenes to reduce cruise-ship emissions. 

The Italian government recently announced that ships over 55,000 tonnes will no longer be permitted to dock in the ancient city. Under the new plan they will have to dock at a terminal in the industrial port of Marghera on the mainland and be ferried to Venice in smaller boats, or in coaches.

Value for money, personal safety on board (particularly for families), high standards of service and the variety of quality dining experiences on board were sited as major plus points for cruising.