Whatever the differences among their products on offer, including new itineraries and deployments, the higher-end lines seem likely to increase their attempts to curry favour among many of the same customers.
As if to prove the point, some lines straddle the ocean cruise-river cruise divide. Late in 2011, Viking River Cruises placed an order for two oceangoing ships for its new cruise brand, Viking Ocean Cruises. If river and ocean cruise carriers compete for, even cross-market to and cannibalise, many of the same guests, so do the better cruise lines generally.
While net capacity growth peaks, the higher-end’s increasingly particular clientele yearn for both more special and more authentic journeys. Thus, the task of building a profitable higher-end cruise line has never been more challenging and faceted for cruise line executives.
Increasingly, the lines aim their products at age groups other than, and mostly younger than, the baby boomers. “I think that luxury cruises are becoming more and more interesting for younger travellers,” says Wolfgang Flagel, managing director, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Hamburg, Germany.
“Certainly we will address a new target group with the commissioning of the EUROPA 2 in the spring of 2013 – and that will further enhance our leading role in the luxury segment. The EUROPA 2 will be a lifestyle-oriented, casual 5-star alternative to the existing EUROPA. Onboard, the focus will be modern rather than traditional entertainment. In summer, it will ply 7-day combinable cruises to the Mediterranean; in the winter, it will visit faraway destinations. Thus, it will primarily meet the requirements of working couples and families in the luxury segment,” says Flagel.
“Our appeal has a universal authenticity that transcends borders and ages,” says Stein Kruse, CEO of Holland America Line (HAL). “That only reinforces our dedication,” he adds.
This approach – a broader outlook, rather than something more boomer-centric – can also be seen at AIDA Cruises in Germany. “Ten years ago, cruise companies focused their products more or less on only one customer group,” says AIDA’s president, Michael Ungerer. “Today, aboard our ships you can meet three different generations. That’s only one example of how our target groups self-differentiate…the so-called Best Agers are very active and communicative; they want to gain new experiences and they’re willing to pay for them. But this 50-plus generation is joined by others…this is a far different situation from 10 or 20 years ago.”
That sentiment is largely echoed by Richard Vogel, CEO of TUI Cruises: “Our product doesn’t just target baby boomers but reaches out to couples and families who value diversity and individuality, as well as service and quality,” he says. He places particular emphasis on the overall inspiring breadth and growth of the German source market, which he expects to grow 11 per cent by 2015. “This boom, undoubtedly, is down to the fact that cruises today offer a huge diversity of activities, options and opportunities. Hence they attract a broad audience.”
Of course, only a fine line separates those seeking a younger, more contemporary market and those more accurately targeting the family market. In any case, the new marketing emphasis, toward multigenerational products, is understandable. The lines can attract and satisfy more warm bodies, and do so at a premium that still offers value for a family, depending on size.
Perhaps the ultimate master of family cruising is Disney Cruise Line, whose CEO, Karl Holz, points to two watchwords in addressing the family market: trust and value. “Families come to us trusting us as the world’s best-known entertainment company to supply an excellent, finished experience; in turn, that compels us to give more value – to continually innovate and surprise our guests.”
That effort, says Holz, runs from installing special additional luggage compartments in staterooms; to equipping inside staterooms with cool, virtual (digital video) portholes; to adding a host of Disney-style onboard activities for kids; and to allocating certain areas and activities as adult-, teen- or ’tween-only.
For its part, it’s always possible that HAL will make a more concerted effort to attract families. At the very least, although no new ship orders are imminent, it appears Kruse and other HAL executives are considering larger new vessels for the future – some that would match or exceed the Nieuw Amsterdam’s fleet-leading specifications (2106 passengers and 86,000 gt). HAL’s current vessels, meanwhile, have their own array of multigenerational onboard features, such as the feisty Club HAL for kids and edgy The Loft, for teens.
Hapag-Lloyd’s own new orientation to younger customers and families doesn’t stop with the activities onboard the new EUROPA 2, says Flagel. He points out that itineraries on the new craft will be shorter, 7-day cruises, better suited to family cruising.
Meanwhile Disney Cruise Line, says Holz, also gears itineraries to the family market, offering a wide selection of mostly shorter ones. These run from 3-, 4- and 5-night voyages on the Disney Dream; to 7-night voyages on the Disney Fantasy; to 2-, 5- and 8-night cruises on The Disney Magic and Wonder. “The two-night getaway cruises from New York this summer in particular were a great way for many families who live in the Northeast U.S. to experience Disney Cruise Line for the first time,” says Holz. “Generally, our guests are very enthusiastic about telling us where they want to go. That’s an important part of our itinerary planning.”
For its part, TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 2, says Vogel, will for the first time head out to Dubai during winter 2012/2013. “In sending the vessel there, we want, above all, on behalf of our repeat passengers, to continue to offer novel attractive routes,” he says.
Ungerer confirms that a cruise line in today’s market has little choice but to open up new markets and destinations: “In 2010, AIDA went to South America and the Amazon River for the first time. In 2011, the Black Sea was a new destination. This year we offer a new itinerary in the Adriatic Sea and from the Canaries to the Cape Verde Islands. We accept it as a given that we must continually offer new itineraries and destinations,” he says.
“The quest for self-realisation is one of the trends among cruise consumers today – especially on vacation,” says Ungerer. “They use their spare time to test something new, in their choice of holiday as well as onboard activities and destinations. And they want to do it all with adventurousness. Cruise guests look for individualised experiences – ziplining the canopy in the rainforest, a biking tour in New York, special cooking workshops with well-known chefs, and so forth.”
Vogel emphasises that “today, passengers have more focused expectations of how they want to spend their holiday time. They seek experience of a special kind…So, to begin with, they not only expect cruises to take them along interesting routes to exciting destinations, but to offer diversity and freedom of choice in activities on board. Customers seek holidays as individual and diverse as they are. Onboard, on the one hand, passengers want to be entertained and engaged; on the other, they want to be able to withdraw into a private place whenever they choose.”
This is an abridged version of an article that appeared in the Autumn/ Winter 2012 edition of International Cruise & Ferry Review. To read the full article, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats.