Carnival Cruises 2008 Annual Report Download - page 12

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12
Costa Asia began in July 2006 with the Costa Allegra being homeported out of China to
cater primarily to the Chinese and surrounding markets. Costa was the first international
cruise line to homeport a ship in China. The Chinese vacation market is highly seasonal. In
the peak Chinese vacation seasons during part of February and May, and from July through
mid-October, the Costa Allegra sails from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, China, for 5-day
cruises, with guests primarily sourced from China and surrounding markets. During the
remaining non-peak vacation months, the Costa Allegra sails 14-day Far East cruises sourcing
guests principally from Europe. In April 2009, Costa Cruises will deploy a second ship, the
1,302-passenger capacity Costa Classica, to Asia for 4-day and 5-day cruises sailing from
Tianjin and Shanghai during the peak Chinese vacation seasons and 14-day and 15-day cruises
sailing out of Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai during the remaining non-peak vacation
months. The addition of Costa Classica will more than double Costa's capacity in this
market.
V. South America
Cruise vacations have been marketed by Costa in South America, principally to Brazilian
and Argentinean-sourced passengers, for many years, although cruising as a vacation
alternative remains in a relatively early stage of development in the region. Approximately
380,000 Brazilians and Argentineans took cruise vacations in 2008. Cruises from South
America typically occur during the Southern Hemisphere summer months of November through
March. Our presence is primarily represented through the Costa brand, which will operate
three vessels in 2009 in this region, Costa Magica, Costa Mediterranea and Costa Romantica,
collectively offering 6,160 lower berths. These ships primarily offer seven to 14 day
cruises visiting ports primarily in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. In addition,
Ibero currently time charters two ships to an unaffiliated Brazilian tour operator and is
directly offering three ships to this market for November 2009 through March 2010 cruises.