Is “select” less valuable than it used to be?

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, daiB said:

Whatever people may say on here the vast majority of passengers on P&O are older and generally retired. Who else can go on 2/3/4/5 week and more cruises between Oct and April. Even Iona is doing 14 night winter cruises. The company cannot ignore these cruisers.i am on Ventura at the moment for 2 cruises covering the half term weeks. Its great to see so many children and young people. However the majotity of cruisers are older. Remember they have the time and money to cruise.

All very true,  Dai, but by very definition we are a dying breed! As we go, we will be replaced by a generation with very different attitudes towards life and cruising  and I have no problems whatever with that.

 

P&O are simply and finally starting to move with the times. 

[AndyMichelle]

7 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

All very true,  Dai, but by very definition we are a dying breed! As we go, we will be replaced by a generation with very different attitudes towards life and cruising  and I have no problems whatever with that.

 

P&O are simply and finally starting to move with the times. 

Your dying breed Harry will naturally be replaced by my breed, people in their 50s who can't wait to have the time and money to go on longer cruises. 

I know my generation will not be as wealthy in general, but this should be balanced out by more people living longer and prices coming down. 

The market will still exist and I will still have a reasonable pension and equity to cruise. 

Andy 

[Goosebear Mum]

I see no huge wish by younger generations to not dress up. I’m (just) into my 50s. Ok, we tend to cruise on Aurora,  but when we occasionally use the buffet in the evening, it tended to be the oldest generations in there. On formal nights, those in their 20s to 30s tended to be really dressed up and loving it.  I tend to find it’s the oldest generations (70s+) who do not want to dress as much. Maybe it’s different around Christmas time, with a different clientele getting into the Christmas spirit; but that’s when we mainly go on cruises. We (me included) see cruises as an opportunity we rarely get otherwise nowadays. I hear more long term cruisers saying ‘we can't be bothered’ now, and ladies ‘just’ wearing a skirt and blouse on formal. I see more gowns on ladies of my generation and younger.

 

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

 

 

You do meet many passengers from Yorkshire and Scotland. Presumably they value the coach service but would prefer a Northern departure port. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen

Not really Stephen, since we normally cruise South for the warmer weather, leaving from most northern ports would add at least 2 sea days to the total voyage.   That would result in even fewer ports of call than we get now, especially if P&O stick on one of their pointless, to us anyway, overnight calls. We could end up with only 3 ports and 10 sea days on a 2 week round trip  Med cruise, that's definitely not for us.

Edited November 1, 2019 by terrierjohn

[AndyMichelle]

8 hours ago, Goosebear Mum said:

I see no huge wish by younger generations to not dress up. I’m (just) into my 50s. Ok, we tend to cruise on Aurora,  but when we occasionally use the buffet in the evening, it tended to be the oldest generations in there. On formal nights, those in their 20s to 30s tended to be really dressed up and loving it.  I tend to find it’s the oldest generations (70s+) who do not want to dress as much. Maybe it’s different around Christmas time, with a different clientele getting into the Christmas spirit; but that’s when we mainly go on cruises. We (me included) see cruises as an opportunity we rarely get otherwise nowadays. I hear more long term cruisers saying ‘we can't be bothered’ now, and ladies ‘just’ wearing a skirt and blouse on formal. I see more gowns on ladies of my generation and younger.

 

Our experience is the same as yours, most passengers under 60 seem to like dressing up, especially the younger ones. 

They know what they are booking and enjoy getting into the spirit. 

There will be exceptions of course, but we have met many who still enjoy it. 

Andy 

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

On 11/1/2019 at 8:36 AM, terrierjohn said:

Not really Stephen, since we normally cruise South for the warmer weather, leaving from most northern ports would add at least 2 sea days to the total voyage.   That would result in even fewer ports of call than we get now, especially if P&O stick on one of their pointless, to us anyway, overnight calls. We could end up with only 3 ports and 10 sea days on a 2 week round trip  Med cruise, that's definitely not for us.

Thank you.  An insight for me. Southampton is not super convenient for me. Bristol would be better for me. Imagine we had a ship that could do 30 knots. The western Mediterranean would be a quick jaunt from Southampton. Most of my warmer weather cruises have involved a train to Barcelona, Marseille or Genoa. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen.