New Circle Magazine

[figmentdj]

Not sure if this has been discussed, apologies if it has.

 

Got the new Circle magazine and with the exception of two photos in the whole piece, you can tell Princess is trying to "get younger at that position".

 

Not sure if its just the focus of this edition or if they're really trying to skew their product to a younger/family crowd. It just looked strange. Didn't appeal to me at all (and I'm only 49).

 

You'll notice they even had traditionally older destinations like Europe and South America with contrived family images. Maybe its just me. I don't mind Princess marketing to a younger audience, it just seemed a bit heavy handed. Thoughts?

[easyboy]

You may be right that it is targeting a particular market on that issue, as is usually the purpose of magazines for general circulation. Next issue may focus on another. Just a thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Mindy43]

You are correct (in our opinion ) that Princess seems to be targeting younger families. I tHink they realize that we 'older folks' are the majority on all of their ships! They are looking to the future. However we 'older and retired' are able to cruise more often without work deadlines and school calendars to follow.:)

[cruzrbachoua]

There was a blurb right near the front that said this issue will focus on making memories ie..family reunions, taking little ones on first cruise..etc. That wasn't exact words but the gist of it. So perhaps it is just for this issue that they were focusing on that.

[Mindy43]

There was a blurb right near the front that said this issue will focus on making memories ie..family reunions, taking little ones on first cruise..etc. That wasn't exact words but the gist of it. So perhaps it is just for this issue that they were focusing on that.

 

 

You are correct! We love to see younger families onboard but at the moment, they are in the minority. It is always nice to see several family generations together.

[Tatka]

We always thought it was a family line since we started cruising with Princess in 2006 with our son.

It is also not family enough line like RCCL or NCL, or Carnival as aside from ads you need to have things to make it interesting for families and kids and Princess has removed even minigolf from newer ships. It does provide kids and teens clubs just like others, but they are not active or interesting enough.

 

I am more than ok with this as we are empty nesters. :)

[figmentdj]

We like younger folks as well. Especially late night in the clubs. Hate walking in at 12:00 and it being dead cause everyone's gone to bed.

 

Thanks for pointing out the blurb near the front. I always look forward to the Magazine.

[cruzrbachoua]

I am sure I will be flamed for this...while I do agree we need all generations to keep the line going I like the fact that there is not that many kids on board. We don't have any and don't care to vacation with others kids. The few times we have been on board with lots of kids they have been rude and unruly. I don't mind if they are well behaved but it was like the parents thought that they got a vacay from parenting and that I don't care for. There was a kid in the elevator with sticky hands that kept touching all the buttons...took us forever to get from lower deck to top. He had no parents in there with him. Another time we were coming down the stairs and kids were all over the stairs...we said excuse me several times and they just sat there chatting and looking at us not moving til finally my husband had to get a bit loud and finally they moved. Also we were heading out of an elevator and this kid was literally right at the doors when it opened and just started to push his way in..spilled the lady next to us wine. My husband just kept walking forward essentially pushing him back out and then told him to learn some manners and respect other people and wait his turn. He was about 12 or so and should have known better. That poor lady now had wine on her and was mad she had to now go buy another drink. I like that for the most part princess is an adult line. I don't want to party and drink and act crazy...or need all the family toys, like slides and wave pools and such. If I did I would go to those lines. I like that there is diversity in the lines so those that want simple, elegant and relaxed can get that with some nighttime things to do or not do if you so chose. This is why we picked Princess over say Carnival, RCL or NCL...those environments didn't appeal to us.

[Tatka]

Well, it really depends on particular line too. We found kids on Celebrity for example to be very well behaved and even preppy.

 

To avoid kids in large numbers you can always cruise outside of school vacation time. That's what we are trying to do now.

 

As for Princess and kids.... as I said before it is a family line and nothing new here. Unless it is really exotic or/and long itin they will be there.

[jovisoul]

I am sure I will be flamed for this...while I do agree we need all generations to keep the line going I like the fact that there is not that many kids on board. We don't have any and don't care to vacation with others kids. The few times we have been on board with lots of kids they have been rude and unruly. I don't mind if they are well behaved but it was like the parents thought that they got a vacay from parenting and that I don't care for. There was a kid in the elevator with sticky hands that kept touching all the buttons...took us forever to get from lower deck to top. He had no parents in there with him. Another time we were coming down the stairs and kids were all over the stairs...we said excuse me several times and they just sat there chatting and looking at us not moving til finally my husband had to get a bit loud and finally they moved. Also we were heading out of an elevator and this kid was literally right at the doors when it opened and just started to push his way in..spilled the lady next to us wine. My husband just kept walking forward essentially pushing him back out and then told him to learn some manners and respect other people and wait his turn. He was about 12 or so and should have known better. That poor lady now had wine on her and was mad she had to now go buy another drink. I like that for the most part princess is an adult line. I don't want to party and drink and act crazy...or need all the family toys, like slides and wave pools and such. If I did I would go to those lines. I like that there is diversity in the lines so those that want simple, elegant and relaxed can get that with some nighttime things to do or not do if you so chose. This is why we picked Princess over say Carnival, RCL or NCL...those environments didn't appeal to us.

 

Completely agree with you.

[cruzrbachoua]

Ruth Ann...thank you!

[Potstech]

Princess will advertise to anyone they want to. I know it bothers some, like myself, when there are groups of unruly children on board. i schedule our cruises when they are in school so that is not much of a problem. The reality is that children would rather go on Disney or cruises with many more activities for their age group. Parents will realize that if there are not enough of these types of activities then the children will not enjoy themselves. Princessvwants the younger cruisers as if they like Princess then they will probably be a customer for a longer time. But if they have younger children they will soon realize that Princess does not provide what they need in a cruise line and will look else where. I do not see Princess becoming the cruise to go to for the younger generation.

[OCruisers]

Lots in this latest "Circle" had quite a bit on new activities for children.

Think maybe it was trying to show Princess to be an enjoyable cruise line for you AND your children (or grands). :)

[JimmyVWine]

The reality is that children would rather go on Disney or cruises with many more activities for their age group. Parents will realize that if there are not enough of these types of activities then the children will not enjoy themselves. Princess wants the younger cruisers as if they like Princess then they will probably be a customer for a longer time. But if they have younger children they will soon realize that Princess does not provide what they need in a cruise line and will look else where. I do not see Princess becoming the cruise to go to for the younger generation.

Easy, there. One cannot realistically compare Princess (or Royal Caribbean, or Carnival, or NCL, or HAL, or Celebrity) to Disney. Disney has only 4 ships and sails on very, very limited itineraries and is way, way more expensive than the other lines I mentioned. Had I limited my family to "pixie dust" cruises, I would have cruised one third as much and to one quarter as many places. Any family that is planning a vacation who sees an $8,000 price tag on DCL and a $3,500 price tag on Princess will certainly give Princess a hard look as opposed to realizing that Princess does not provide what they need in a cruise line. To the contrary. It was Disney that did not provide what we wanted in a cruise line. When we want our fill of cartoon and theme park fun, we go to Disney World. And trust me, we have gone a lot. But our family has no interest in Mickey Mouse cruises. Honestly. Of course, the price differential helped nail down the coffin. But for our family "Disney fun" and "cruise ship fun" are two entirely different vacation goals and experiences. We enjoy both but see no reason to try to merge them.

 

So as for Princess' marketing strategy, they would be crazy not to target families who are seeing $8,000 price tags for week-long DCL cruises. Disney, with its pricing, has set itself up to be pilfered. If there are moms and dads out there with Disney sticker shock, they have to be thinking to themselves: "What else is out there?" And if I am head of marketing at Princess, I am jumping up and down screaming "Me! Me! Me!"

[fishywood]

Just received my copy today. I don't find the youthfulness heavy-handed at all. When I have sailed Princess either in the summer or holiday weeks (three times over Easter) there have always been plenty of young families with kids, so no reason for Princess not to try for more.

 

And dead center of the frame of the cover shot: a woman's bikini-clad tush. Something new and different? No, not for Princess or anybody; just basic Marketing 101. A shot so ubiquitous as to not merit a second glance. (Well, maybe a good first one :o)

[JimmyVWine]

Just received my copy today. I don't find the youthfulness heavy-handed at all.

And just by way of comparison, we all know what HAL's reputation is in terms of demographics (deserved or not). Here is an ad that they released in January. Would you say that this is targeting their stereotypical demo, or a much younger one?

[Thrak]

I am sure I will be flamed for this...while I do agree we need all generations to keep the line going I like the fact that there is not that many kids on board. We don't have any and don't care to vacation with others kids. The few times we have been on board with lots of kids they have been rude and unruly. I don't mind if they are well behaved but it was like the parents thought that they got a vacay from parenting and that I don't care for. There was a kid in the elevator with sticky hands that kept touching all the buttons...took us forever to get from lower deck to top. He had no parents in there with him. Another time we were coming down the stairs and kids were all over the stairs...we said excuse me several times and they just sat there chatting and looking at us not moving til finally my husband had to get a bit loud and finally they moved. Also we were heading out of an elevator and this kid was literally right at the doors when it opened and just started to push his way in..spilled the lady next to us wine. My husband just kept walking forward essentially pushing him back out and then told him to learn some manners and respect other people and wait his turn. He was about 12 or so and should have known better. That poor lady now had wine on her and was mad she had to now go buy another drink. I like that for the most part princess is an adult line. I don't want to party and drink and act crazy...or need all the family toys, like slides and wave pools and such. If I did I would go to those lines. I like that there is diversity in the lines so those that want simple, elegant and relaxed can get that with some nighttime things to do or not do if you so chose. This is why we picked Princess over say Carnival, RCL or NCL...those environments didn't appeal to us.

 

I don't put up with that stuff. I speak out sharply. My children were not allowed to act in that way and they have since thanked me for not letting them be a$$h0|3$. I'm glad that in the second instance your husband spoke up.

 

We had 3 children of our own and took in another as a young teen. In my past life I drove school bus for 4 years and my wife ran a daycare for 20 years. I worked for her daycare full time for 4.5 years. The local schools loved it when the kids from her daycare started school as they were well mannered children. It isn't that hard to teach kids how to behave but it isn't automatic for them. People who have ill mannered children are almost always at fault as the parents.

 

We also enjoy not having a ton of kids onboard but have met a few very nice young people on Princess cruises. Nice kids are a pleasure and a joy. Rotten kids make me want to slap the crap out of the parents.

[Thrak]

And just by way of comparison, we all know what HAL's reputation is in terms of demographics (deserved or not). Here is an ad that they released in January. Would you say that this is targeting their stereotypical demo, or a much younger one?

 

Wowie Zowie!

 

 

While it is not exactly accurate the way I first heard it was: Carnival = Board Shorts, Princess = Dockers, Holland America = Depends. Like I said, not really accurate but the ad you referenced does seem to indicate much more in the way of "night life" than I have ever heard referenced in regard to Holland America. Princess isn't exactly known for the night life and everything I have ever read indicates that Holland America is more sedate than Princess. Of course this is all hearsay on my part as I freely admit I have never sailed on Holland America. The ad definitely looks good and appeals to a younger demographic than I have heard associated with that line.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Not sure if this has been discussed, apologies if it has.

 

Got the new Circle magazine and with the exception of two photos in the whole piece, you can tell Princess is trying to "get younger at that position".

 

Not sure if its just the focus of this edition or if they're really trying to skew their product to a younger/family crowd. It just looked strange. Didn't appeal to me at all (and I'm only 49).

 

You'll notice they even had traditionally older destinations like Europe and South America with contrived family images. Maybe its just me. I don't mind Princess marketing to a younger audience, it just seemed a bit heavy handed. Thoughts?

It's funny you mention this. I looked through the whole thing, closed it and thought, "Hmph. That wasn't interesting at all." I felt like it was totally catered to newbies. The articles were short blurbs to hold the attention of millennials. I threw it away.

[JimmyVWine]

I am sure I will be flamed for this...The few times we have been on board with lots of kids they have been rude and unruly.

Not going to flame you. Don't really believe in it. But I think this just points out that when enough people collectively take enough cruises, eventually every situation will have arisen. My personal experience is that Princess tends to attract a certain type of guest and the atmosphere is, for the most part, polite, genteel, well-traveled and sophisticated without being stuffy. And I find that the children of said crowd tend to be likewise. I haven't run into any "reform school drop-outs" on our cruises, but I am not doubting that others have. I am just relating that the behavior of the children who we have seen reflected the overall behavior on the ship as a whole. I will add that the rudest, most entitled, obnoxious louts we have run into on Princess cruises have all been over the age of 70. There haven't been many such incidents thankfully. But the incidents that we observed put the behavior of children to shame.

[JimmyVWine]

Wowie Zowie! The ad definitely looks good and appeals to a younger demographic than I have heard associated with that line.

Exactly! A cruise line would be nuts not to target younger cruisers, with or without kids.

[DrivesLikeMario]

...Also we were heading out of an elevator and this kid was literally right at the doors when it opened and just started to push his way in..spilled the lady next to us wine. My husband just kept walking forward essentially pushing him back out and then told him to learn some manners and respect other people and wait his turn. He was about 12 or so and should have known better...

 

What is it with elevator manners? It's not the kids' fault, it's their parents that don't teach them to wait until people have left the elevator before entering! It's simple courtesy. I can understand other cultures not understanding our custom, but kids should be taught by their parents to wait, then board.

[Tatka]

Exactly! A cruise line would be nuts not to target younger cruisers, with or without kids.

They have to. They are future adult cruisers. Attract them while they are young.

Our son loves Celebrity and Princess since he started cruising (although when he was a teenager he liked RCCL more).

[nimiq]

I am sure I will be flamed for this...while I do agree we need all generations to keep the line going I like the fact that there is not that many kids on board. We don't have any and don't care to vacation with others kids. The few times we have been on board with lots of kids they have been rude and unruly. I don't mind if they are well behaved but it was like the parents thought that they got a vacay from parenting and that I don't care for. There was a kid in the elevator with sticky hands that kept touching all the buttons...took us forever to get from lower deck to top. He had no parents in there with him. Another time we were coming down the stairs and kids were all over the stairs...we said excuse me several times and they just sat there chatting and looking at us not moving til finally my husband had to get a bit loud and finally they moved. Also we were heading out of an elevator and this kid was literally right at the doors when it opened and just started to push his way in..spilled the lady next to us wine. My husband just kept walking forward essentially pushing him back out and then told him to learn some manners and respect other people and wait his turn. He was about 12 or so and should have known better. That poor lady now had wine on her and was mad she had to now go buy another drink. I like that for the most part princess is an adult line. I don't want to party and drink and act crazy...or need all the family toys, like slides and wave pools and such. If I did I would go to those lines. I like that there is diversity in the lines so those that want simple, elegant and relaxed can get that with some nighttime things to do or not do if you so chose. This is why we picked Princess over say Carnival, RCL or NCL...those environments didn't appeal to us.

 

 

I totally agree with you I don't mind we behave families and kids but not when it's the majority.

This is one of the reason why we have pick most often from the other lines.

If I want more a family kids oriented cruise other lines do it better.

 

As long as Princess doesn't become like Holland dead after 10:00PM this line suites me good.

 

We like the relax, classic atmosphere they have going. We also like to take an after diner drink in a bar and a few nights during the week go to the club. My least favorite dance club on Princess ironically are on our two favorite ships Royal and Regal.

 

Thanks

Sea ya

 

Éric

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[flamomo]

It's funny you mention this. I looked through the whole thing, closed it and thought, "Hmph. That wasn't interesting at all." I felt like it was totally catered to newbies. The articles were short blurbs to hold the attention of millennials. I threw it away.

 

 

I agree with you. It was the least interesting and informative "Circle" magazine I have ever seen, and quite disappointing. As far as I was concerned it was a waste of paper and ink, and it quickly went into the recycle bin, where, at least, it can be repurposed into something useful.