`We’re out here trying to change people’s perceptions of cruising,” said Rob Wheatley, a thirtysomething cruise director for Celebrity Cruises Inc., who was making the rounds to tout cruising to travel writers. “Many people think that cruising is for older people — and that it’s expensive.”
While there is a truism in cruising that says, “The longer the cruise, the older the passengers,” more and more young people and families with young children are opting for cruise vacations, Wheatley said.
“Almost every ship has youth programs,” he said, adding that high-tech attractions such as virtual reality golf — “You can play any of the world’s great golf courses right on the ship” — are also helping to draw younger passengers.
And new cruisers would seem to be what the industry needs over the long haul. According to Wheatley, only 7 to 8 percent of the traveling public has ever taken a cruise — roughly about 5 million people a year. “And 9 out of 10 of those are repeat passengers,” he added.
But despite the fact that the industry’s target market for growth would seem to be first-time cruisers, Wheatley said most cruise lines focus their promotional efforts on “the repeaters.”
“They don’t have to be educated about cruising. They already know what it’s all about, so you don’t have to beat down barriers of pre- and misconceptions,” he said.
And, partly because they get so much repeat business, the cruise lines continue to expand their offerings, not just by adding more and bigger ships, but also by offering new itineraries and ports of call.
For example, Cunard has added maiden (first-time) calls for its globe-circling Queen Elizabeth II and Royal Viking Sun at places like Lautoka, Fiji; Vung Tau, Vietnam; and Broome, Australia.
Crystal Cruises this year added 24 new ports of call to its ships’ itineraries, including Agadir, Morocco; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Cork, Ireland.
Also, the cruise lines are continuing to add to the growing list of theme cruises. There are golf cruises to the Caribbean and in Europe on which passengers play three or four courses during a week-long cruise. There are big-band cruises, chocolate-lovers’ cruises, cooking cruises, wine-lovers’ cruises.
Clearly, it’s going to take a lot of innovation and a lot of communication for the cruise lines to fill the ships they are bringing on line this year and over the next few years.
Carnival Cruise Lines will bring two new 2,040-passenger ships into service in 1998: the Elation in April, and the Paradise in December. The Paradise will be the world’s first smoke-free cruise ship.
Princess Cruises’ 2,600-passenger Grand Princess will join the fleet in May as the largest and most expensive cruise ship ever built (for awhile, that is). And in November, Princess will add the 1,950-passenger Sea Princess to its floating inventory. Princess has also ordered two additional 2,600-passenger so-called super-mega ships for delivery in 2001.
Royal Caribbean International will bring its 2,000-passenger Vision of the Seas into service in early May. More important, however, RCI has ordered a total of four super-megas (or are they super-super-megas?), accommodating 3,100 passengers each, for delivery between next year and 2002. The ships will be allocated between RCI’s Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises brands.
That’s a lot of luxury coming on line in the near future. But at what price?
“The average cost of a seven-day cruise is $185 per person, per day,” Wheatley said.
While that may seem a tad high to some folks, Wheatley is quick to point out that that figure covers room, seven or eight meals a day, nightly Vegas-style entertainment, a disco (most ships), pool, fitness center/spa (most ships), airfare and transfers between home city and the ship’s home port, and visits to three or four islands or other interesting ports of call. The only extras are beverages and shore excursions.
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According to Wheatley, the cruise lines don’t make much on what you pay for the cruise itself; their profit comes from the ship’s bars, casino, shops (some of today’s mega-ships are virtually floating mini-malls), and the shore excursions the ship sells.
Is there irony in the fact that the industry was promoting February as National Cruise Vacation Month — at the same time “Titanic” was packing movie theaters here and around the world?
“Actually, `Titanic’ has helped us,” Wheatley said. “It’s given a lot of people a chance to see what luxury cruising really is.”
And, too, there are precious few icebergs in the Caribbean.