Marketing to families and kids

[Noggins]

5 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

With 2770 passengers, I'd say Virgin wouldn't be an option for the Crystal demographic, for sure not THIS Crystal demographic. 🤪Patty

Just a little sheepishly I have to admit we have just booked a Virgin cruise.... (There, I have said it out loud now - no going back.)

 

Last year there was an amazing offer of a 'free' cruise for 2 people for 80k virgin miles. (worth c.£800 depending on your valuation) We sent our son and wife. They had a wonderful time ( our son has cruised Crystal with us) and were amazed at the quality. Furthermore they said we'd enjoy it. 

Well, this year the offer is repeated and we have a 14 day TA for zero £'s in a central standard balcony room.

We have cruised non luxury lines before and adjust our expectations accordingly. This one will be closely followed by our next Serenity cruise - so we might enjoy that even more now as we make up for all the 'luxuries' we will have missed on Virgin!

Reviews of Virgin I have read certainly lead me to expect a different experience but I am hoping we'll find a way of extracting those parts of the Virgin product that will provide us with a perfectly satisfactory fun experience.

I haven't decided whether to report daily as I did on Explora recently. 

The ship will certainly not be full and one other  certainty thing is that we won't have any misbehaving children to contend with. (Hopefully there won't be too many misbehaving adults....)

Adrian 

[dimundsR]

Thank you, Keith that was what I was trying to say. I do like the comment, though that the food options in the specialty restaurants don’t really appeal to children to begin with.  Some parents have brought along a nanny or grandma or an auntie or a teenage relative to look after the children.  I remember on one occasion where my aunt and uncle brought me along on their vacation when I was in high school to look after their young boys while they had their special dinners and time for themselves.  I was happy to do this.

[nnn]

14 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Curious question.  If the parents are having a "special dinner" in Osteria, just a) where are the kids dining, and b) who is supervising/caring for them?

 

I assume that you weren't volunteering.  And Crystal does not provide babysitting services.  So just what are you suggesting?

 

 

 

Crystal actually did, at least in the past, offer babysitting services in your room.  We used it.  Whether they still offer it, I don't know.

 

One night we left the group of kids (all under age 10) in the suite while the adults went to dinner.  Learned the next day from our butler that the kids ordered plenty of room service sushi, were polite and respectful, and finished it all.  They apparently also spilled a drink on the carpet, freaked out about it, and the butler helped them with the cleanup.  😆

[gmarsh]

Cruising with children is an opportunity to teach them about gracious living.

Our family has been sailing Crystal for 30 years since the daughter was 8.

Now we have brought the grandkids on in 2018 and are doing  another family trip in 2025.

Children are the future of Crystal.

 

[Embowaf]

On 5/10/2024 at 8:57 AM, gmarsh said:

Cruising with children is an opportunity to teach them about gracious living.

Our family has been sailing Crystal for 30 years since the daughter was 8.

Now we have brought the grandkids on in 2018 and are doing  another family trip in 2025.

Children are the future of Crystal.

 

Yeah, my first Crystal Cruise was when I was 13, and if my parents hadn't taken me then, I wouldn't be going now. Crystal needs to attract new customers.

But in terms of children being obnoxious, I'm generally pretty quickly annoyed by young children misbehaving in venues they shouldn't be in... Nice restaurants, late at night, midnight R rated movies, etc. And I've never once had an issue on Crystal.

[KenzSailing]

On 5/10/2024 at 2:24 AM, Noggins said:

Just a little sheepishly I have to admit we have just booked a Virgin cruise.... (There, I have said it out loud now - no going back.)

 

 

Adrian 

 

I look forward to your review.  The way Virgin does dining really intrigues me, we are tempted...

[Noggins]

13 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

 

I look forward to your review.  The way Virgin does dining really intrigues me, we are tempted...

Ah - sounds like I might be doing a review.....!🙃

[HUNKY]

For the past ten years or so, EVERY  child has either their phone or Airpad with them.   Quiet, blissful peace. 
 

Unless, they lose their internet connection!

[SusieQft]

If you are looking to Regent for a kids-free experience, you are mistaken.  However, on our multiple Regent and old Crystal cruises, kids have been rare and well behaved, about the same on both.  We are excitedly looking forward to adding new Crystal to our experience in 2025, but can't report on them yet.

 

Regent also markets to families with children, with frequent "kids sail free" promotions.   It seems like these always pop up after final payment, including all 4 segments on our extended b2b with them this summer. Hopefully the onboard experience will not change because of this.  But it does illustrate that you cannot control what marketing effort will be made by either line, even after you are already into heavy cancellation penalties.