Hot Topics
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 26th July 2009
The countdown, converse and cruise app is now available for download in iTunes.
Named “Always Be Cruising” it is part fun, part function for fans of cruising.
Adam M. Goldstein, President & CEO Royal Caribbean International calls the app “the marriage of the cruise countdown clocks.”
The app includes not just a countdown to cruise timer with over 200 ship images, but also a “who is cruising” social feature. You can make friends before you even start the cruise by creating your “cruiser” profile and exchanging messages and helpful tips for the best cruise experience. The countdown clock also makes a ship horn sound when launched, followed by the soothing sound of seagulls and ocean waves.
Thomas Troward (1847-1916) said “The law of flotation was not discovered by the contemplation of the sinking of things.”
And likewise idea of creating the first app for cruisers was contemplated in an early Cruise Market Watch post. It grew into a full-blown goal after talking over the concept with Yachts of Seabourn Vice President of Marketing, Adam Snitzer. Thanks to a lot of help and partnership with mPlugged, cruisers around the world can now enjoy its functionality.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 23rd June 2009
What do you call a 335-Day circumnavigation of the world visiting 242 Ports of Call, 14 Oceans & Seas, 52 Countries and 85 UNESCO World Heritage sites besides the journey of a lifetime? Marketing geeks like me call it a creative and unique response to emerging trends.
Voyages of the Great Explorers from Cruise West is meeting these trends head on. Future Brand recently invited Rossitza Ohridska-Olson to be part of an expert panel discussing future trends in travel. Two of Rossitza’s five trends were experiential and creative tourism.
Experiential describes our growing hunger for authenticity, discovery and sense of adventure – one that will push further the geographical boundaries of tourism by seeking out more destinations. We blogged here last December that authenticity was a scarcity in 2009, and as such a sought after luxury. Cruise lines like Cruise West have defined what is scarce and unique by introducing the opposite of anything that has already become too affordable, accessible or well-known.
“No other cruise line – big or small — offers a journey as long or as varied as Voyages of the Great Explorers,” said Richard West, managing director and chairman of Cruise West.
Another trend, creative tourism, means engaging in and learning about the cultures and communities being visited. A hallmark of the Cruise West experience is thought-provoking presentations by local experts and onboard Exploration Leaders who expand upon the significance of the cultural and historical highlights.
Departing Singapore on March 6, 2010, Cruise West’s flagship, the 120-guest, all-suite Spirit of Oceanus will sail westward, following the sun, to return to Singapore on February 3, 2011. Book the entire voyage starting at $233,995.
Here is a link to the eBrochure for the Voyages of the Great Explorers World Cruise.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 20th June 2009
According to Friday’s Chicago Sun Times Oprah is taking her entire staff and their families on a Mediterranean cruise vacation. They leave Chicago for Spain today, with port stops in Italy, Turkey, Greece and Malta. The cruise, which also included three days at the Poble Espanyol resort, is valued by Chicago’s Best Travel at $5,400 a person on the Norwegian Gem.
This story is a nice lead into my upcoming series of posts about the market for corporate meetings and events on cruise ships. Our discussions about specific market niches where cruise lines can increase penetration, grow market share and revenue began in January 2009 with the spa market.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 7th June 2009
Coco Chanel said “in order to be irreplaceable one must always be different” and when it comes to world cruises, Hurtigruten couldn’t agree more. Why cruise around the world in the conventional West to East mode when you can do it longitudinally by going North to South!
If people aren’t going to talk about your product, then it’s not good enough. - Jeffrey Kalmikoff
Hurtigruten understands a journey that begins in Reykjavik, Iceland September 23 and continues for 67 days plying the coasts of the U.K., Canada, U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama (including a transit of the Panama Canal), Ecuador, Peru and Chile is unique and extra-ordinary enough to get its pod chirping.
Travelers aboard the MS Fram (a custom-designed ship for cruising Arctic and Antarctic waters) will have a chance to see everything from a chinstrap penguin rookery and the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station to a jungle boat ride down the flora- and fauna-rich Costa Rican Tortuguero Canals.
If you start feeling to far from home or need a break from the exhilarating excursions, the MS Fram features and Internet café, sauna and two heated outdoor Jacuzzis.
As Seth Godin puts it “If the marketplace isn’t talking about you, there’s a reason. If people aren’t discussing your products, your services, your cause, your movement or your career, there’s a reason. The reason is that you’re boring.“
The only longitudinal cruise of world, that’s not boring. That’s pod-chirping excitement.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 21st March 2009
These days are, to borrow from a cruise marketing program in Hamburg, Germany “Cruise Days.”
Gerd Drossel, Managing Director of the Hamburg Cruise Center (a port that has increased its cruise passenger traffic nearly 700% in just nine years) told me about their terrific marketing program. Complete with fireworks and harbor tours the event alone attracts 1 million people. What a way to get the word out about the cruise product! According to Mr. Drossel “the whole thing was also televised and viewed as far away as China.” The event was highlighted by a parade of ships that included Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and AIDA’s Aura which, according to Drossel, will join Hapag-Lloyd’s Columbus and QM2′s sister ship Queen Victoria during Cruise Days 2010 (July 29-31).
Here in the U.S. we have been participating in something of a Cruise Days of our own. With the 
Cruise Shipping Miami Conference having been completed March 16-19 it is being followed by a television special, Cruise, Inc. airing on CNBC and hosted by Peter Greenberg. Greenberg’s seven day cruise includes “all-access coverage” and examines the impact of the economy on the industry. The program premieres Tuesday, March 24 at 9p ET. View the sneak preview here.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 18th February 2009
Last week I heard an amazing story. Evelyn Thaw, a Delray Beach, Florida Cruises Inc. travel agent, shared with me one of her clients encountered and elderly lady onboard a recent cruise.
That in of its self isn’t so amazing, what was striking was the lady was on her 87th cruise – in a row! As it turns out, she continues booking 7 day cruises week after week because she finds it not only less expensive, but more socially engaging than moving into a retirement home. She is living onboard! At first, it was simply a story that illustrated cruises terrific value. I was a bit slow to see it for what it really is – a marketing opportunity.
Waterfront Lifestyles International wasn’t so slow. Coming across my Cruise Industry Wire this morning was the story “Retire on a Cruise Ship? New Concept Creates Boutique Housing Idea for Florida’s Seniors.”
The company has started taking reservations for retirement condos aboard the 300-foot Alegria.
The Alegria appears to be the 224 passenger Cape Cod Light from the old American Classic Voyages. That ship, and her sister the Cape May Light, completed constructed by Jacksonville, Florida Atlantic Marine Inc. in 2001 for $38 million per vessel, the same year American Classic Voyages went bankrupt. They were designed to resemble the classic coastal ships of the late 1800s. The U.S. Maritime Administration sold both ships on June 18, 2008 for $9 million apiece to two Florida companies. Voyager Owner LLC bought the Cape May Light, and Discover Owner LLC bought the Cape Cod Light. At least for a time, they appear to have been considered for use as coastal cruisers by American Coastal Voyages.
Alegria has the amenities of the major cruise lines (minus perhaps pool and theatre) and you actually own 1/100 of the entire ship, not just a single condo unit. For less money than many senior independent-living facilities charge, retirees may now live on a cruise ship. Prices for individual condo cabins on range from $159,000 for a single room to a larger suite for $399,000. In case you need a break from your neighbors, there is always subleasing. No word on Freddie/Fannie financing.
A monthly “Resident’s Care” fee is assessed each stateroom for the operation of the ship and all its expenses, including all meals port fees, the medical center, and housekeeping. Ownership also includes a golf and tennis membership at a nearby country club. Residents will only pay for cocktails, casino charges, spa fees, and purchases in the gift shop.
Alegria will make weekend cruises each month to regional attractions such as shuttle launches, shopping excursions to Palm Beach, and trips to the Bahamas, and once a year it will take a week long trip to Central America.
While the ship in Port Canaveral is the company’s first vessel, it expects to locate additional retirement ships in Tampa, Jacksonville, Palm Beach, and Sarasota.
I think there is a viable niche market for this in the cruise business, particularly with the aging boomer population. If the room sizes and business model of the Alegria specifically will appeal to enough retirees, we shall see.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 12th February 2009
Recently gathered responses from over 300 randomly selected travel agents point to luxury cruise as the “least hot” of the cruise segments.
This is in contrast to previous speculation about economic recessions – the idea that “wealth would hold up.”
In October, when the ugly face of the economic crisis was peaking out from around the corner, Cruise Market Watch predicted changes in consumer behavior, including “the new cool” among wealthy would be to “show restraint, not flaunt.”
Indeed “There’s a sense of there being a gaucheness in spending in excess and coming home with a Louis Vuitton or Chanel bag,” Lucyann Barry.
However, cruising on a luxury ship is hardly conspicuous, in fact the contrary. It would seem the perfect place for wealthy to get-away and be able to enjoy a good pampering without worry about a reprimanding public (think auto executive jets to D.C. or bank CEO office remodeling).
The luxury industry as a whole is predicting a difficult year. Bain & Company estimates worldwide sales of luxury goods will decline from 3-7% from 2008.
Other luxury market reports include:
So what’s one to do?
Pricing: Upscale chains such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus are stocking less merchandise to maintain some price integrity. But luxury cruise lines don’t have the option to scale back inventory. In fact, the segment is projected add ship capacity at a higher rate than the overall cruise industry.
So there are luxury cruise markdowns. For example, Silversea offered 50% off a 7 day Mediterranean cruise departing Barcelona, Spain on May 14. Seabourn offered 60% off it’s 13 day Portugal Passage, leaving out of Fort Lauderdale to Lisbon March 18.
Grow markets: Another strategy is to grow share in other geographic markets. This may be part of the motivation behind Seabourn’s move to operate year-round in Asia starting in 2010-2011. By adding many new and exclusive ports of call, Seabourn will likely help attract unique port destination collectors.
I have started a monthly series here about how to tap other non-geographic markets and believe those strategies are applicable.
Marketing Communications: Focus marketing on providing comfort, practical, grounded and authentic experiences.
Long-term luxury cruises are very secure. Luxury – the seeking of the scare and extremely unique – is an innate a trait of human civilizations – from ancient Mesopotamia to central Mexico. Those things aren’t likely to change.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 1st February 2009
The recently completed Cruise Pulse travel agent survey panel analyzed responses gathered January 24 – January 30, 2009 from 330 travel agents. Findings provided insights into early wave season cruise booking trends.
Based on the analysis, Cruise Market Watch is revising 2009 worldwide revenue and passengers carried estimates. Current projections are for worldwide revenue at $24.9 billion (down -9.5% vs. ’08) and total passengers carried at 16.0 million (+2.6% vs. ’08).
The economic impact of the recession is being felt in the cruise industry. How did we get here? A least three former sources of travel and vacation spending have been impacted:
1) During the boom, as much as 10% of U.S. GDP was being generated from accessing home equity through refinancing.
2) Spending from an increasing number of employees who have lost their jobs is gone.
3) Among those with the ability to spend, heightened fear for their jobs and the feeling of significant wealth loss from dramatic declines in home values and stock portfolios have contributed to strong consumer fear and cutbacks in spending.
The new corporate motto is “stay alive until 2011 and you will be in heaven.”
Optimistically, due to the cruise value proposition relative to other vacation options, there is evidence of growing market share for cruise within the total travel market. While revenues will be down, there will still be more passengers carried in 2009. A large portion of this increase is by getting former cruisers to take another cruise at bargain prices.
The Cruise Pulse travel agent panel survey covers wave period booking trends, price discounting, cancellation levels, earnings impact and what cruise segments and destinations are heating up.
Both a full and sample versions of the Cruise Pulse survey panel are available on the website at www.cruisemarketwatch.com
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 23rd January 2009
Chinese moviegoers have been abuzz since the Dec 18, 2008 premier of famed director Feng Xiaogang‘s movie “If You Are The One . ” It quickly became the highest grossing Chinese language film in Chinese movie history.
Success has been accredited to Feng Xiaogang’s reputation and an appeal to audiences by commenting on major current events like the Wenchuan Earthquake and world financial situation.
Some of the movie’s financial success is also rooted in flourishing product placements. Movie producer Wang Zhongjun said, “We made about 50 million yuan through advertising in the movie. That is a record-breaking figure in China‘s movie industry.”
I blogged here about the potential of seeing cruise line product placements in movies and it seems Costa may have taken heed.
After the lead romantic interest attempts suicide, character Qin helps her recover by taking her on an expensive cruise. From there, the love interest ensues. In the end, they live happily ever after. And so might Costa in the growing Chinese cruise market .
Interestingly, the only other movie that has grossed more in China – Titanic.
Posted By Cruise Market Watch / 19th December 2008
A close-up of Norwegian Epic's water slides. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But it will be one ship, not two as originally planned. After speculation around F3 events at Cruise Market Watch back in early October the news is now official - there will be one next generation mega-ships (dubbed F3). STX Shipyards (formerly Aker Shipyards) and NCL just announced they reached an agreement to keep the project moving forward.
NCL and STX Europe revised the F3 order and are now building one 4,200 passenger berths F3 ship that will represent the largest of NCL’s fleet. The original hull currently in construction is set for final delivery as originally scheduled, May 2010.
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