Royal Caribbean to pull back from Europe

The Royal Caribbean cruise line said trips in Europe would be curtailed in 2013 as demand for tickets has been slack. USA Today reported Friday that the cruise line said it is sending nine ships to Europe for the travel season next year, whereas this year it is sending 12. Next year, the company plans to offer 276 trips in Europe running 58 different routes. Three ships will be based out of Britain and will managed trips to the Baltics, the British Isles, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands, the newspaper said. Other northern routes will head for the Norwegian Fjords, Russia, Copenhagen and Stockholm. The cruise line will also be busy in the Mediterranean. Five ships will be based out of Barcelona, Civitavecchia (near Rome) and Venice, the newspaper said. The sluggish economy in Europe has also caused rival cruise line Ocean Cruises to cut back on trips in Europe. In March, Ocean Cruises said it would pull some vessels out of the European market and deploy them in Alaska for the summer of 2013.