New Trends in Cruising

[NLH Arizona]

I feel they always have, we sailed Celebrity the first time in 1994, I was only 40, the wifester was 37. we took our kids 12 & 7. Dec 2000 at 17 for her Christmas gift the DD said she wanted to cruise on the Horizon out of Aruba, this was well before RCCL bought them. So I dont quite get that X has marketed itself to an older passenger.

I don't think it is a mater of marketing to an older demo, I just think that they haven't evolved over the years in an attempt to keep attracting that younger demo. Having the same old same old doesn't make things fresh and modern. I think they are trying now and I appreciate it, even though I'm one of the older demo.

[Beachdude]

That's not true of many Americans. Our #1 priority on vacation is excellent food. We also like dressing up on occasion. .

 

Oh don't misunderstand, there are a lot of us who still prefer a more elegan atmosphere with good food quality. The cruise lines will still provide those choices with the extra cost dinning that will also require a more formal dress code. You only have to read the MDR formal dressing requirements threads to see the change. The discussions on RCCL and Carnival forums are very imformative and entertaining.

 

Burt

[Lsimon]

One myth it clarified is that revenue comes from other then tickets when it states 75% of revenue comes from tickets and single digit revenue from drinks, shore excursions and other ways.

 

This is true and has been evident from their financial reports for some time. However the cruise lines have high fixed costs so the incremental revenue is extremely important to their bottom line profitability.

[tarheelmjfan]

Oh don't misunderstand, there are a lot of us who still prefer a more elegan atmosphere with good food quality. The cruise lines will still provide those choices with the extra cost dinning that will also require a more formal dress code. You only have to read the MDR formal dressing requirements threads to see the change. The discussions on RCCL and Carnival forums are very imformative and entertaining.

 

Burt

 

We don't mind paying extra for food. On Princess we only went to the MDR on the first formal night on a 10 night cruise. The other evenings we rotated between the 2 specialty restaurants, or booked the ultimate balcony dining & Chef's Table. TBH, we felt these meals were similar to X's MDR of old. They didn't even come close to what we remembered having at X's specialty restaurants. Like I said, it's been several years, since we cruised on X though. I'm hoping X's specialty restaurants now will be at least as good or a little better than the MDR back then. I really wouldn't expect the quality that the specialty restaurants once served. Speaking of the dress code, I thought I read that only Le Bistro required formal dress on formal night. It doesn't sound like the specialty restaurants are all that dressy. Have I misunderstood the posts? We don't want to dress formally every night, but we do like to dress up for dinner nightly.

 

Too funny about the other two message boards. We've already discounted Carnival completely. Some of the threads there make us think CCL isn't for us. ;)

[cibumcupio]

Thanks for posting this article. When I saw it on buzzfeed I immediately came here to post it too, and was glad to see that someone already beat me to it. I'm in my 20's and I would say I'm the biggest cruise evangelist among my friends, having been a big cruise nay-sayer before I went on one. The article is pretty dead on in what the millennials' complaints are about cruising, especially if they've never been on one. For most of my friends they look at it as a tacky, boring vacation filled with grumpy old people. And of course, they always think they'll get seasick (and I did too). But always after they tried it, they love it and can't wait to book another cruise.

 

I was on the Reflection in January and I loved what they did with cruising. Of course, not everything is to my tastes either but I liked how they didn't assume they had to keep everything the same cruise after cruise. The ship had a elegant, modern feel to it and the music and entertainment was varied enough that everyone had to have found something they liked. And of course, the food was the best I've ever had at sea, something that makes me loyal to Celebrity for the time being. All in all, it was an experience that I can recommend to my friends without reservations.