Are Millennial and Gen Z abandoning Celebrity?

[rmalbers]

I didn't read all the comments but I'll just add  (without any real proof), I think X has more short sailings than they have ever had before.  As many have said, length of cruise is a big factor with working people and having a younger crowd.  Last cruise I met 2 couples on their honeymoon, I've never run into that before.  I'm also in the 'marketing' camp on this one, they are marketing to a younger crowd for sure and I guess it's workign.

[AbbyCruiser45]

Young millennial here (30th coming up in a few months). Celebrity is the cruise line of choice for me and my partner. We were just on the Beyond and there were a good many people our age. We also saw a few young couples with their under 1 year olds. It’s a great line for those of us who don’t want the party vibes!

[markeb]

34 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

I think you missed my point. 😉

I was trying to say that the Oldsmobile, despite their original problems are valuable now. Boomers are still valuable too as they have the most free time to cruise and the funds to pay for them. (And everyone is subject to attrition at some point.)

My point is they’re not valuable to Oldsmobile. They don’t exist. One of many reasons being they didn’t attract new, younger buyers who would present repeat business. They even tried the “not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign. GM failing to clearly differentiate their product lines didn’t help either. But ultimately their buyers would have attrited if 2008 hadn’t happened and solved the problem. By killing the patient. 

 

Boomers will decrease in importance to the cruise lines over time. There are already more millennials in the population than either boomers or X. And some groups are apparently splitting boomers into two groups, which makes sense as it is a huge age range. The older members of Gen X are rapidly approaching traditional retirement age. So they’ll have time and money to cruise. 
 

As stated by millennials in this thread, to attract them they need to offer interesting itineraries that fit their work schedules. Not the long itineraries so many here want. Probably other changes as well. And it’s interesting to hear @keysey222’s comments on the short Caribbean itineraries. 
 

Back to Oldsmobile, value on the resale market is only important if you’re in the resale market. It doesn’t help GM. Celebrity doesn’t want to be Oldsmobile. 
 

Anyway, that’s probably an aside for another day. 

[keysey222]

4 hours ago, alsleeper said:

Elder millennial here, and I agree with @keysey222.  We like X for their international itineraries (Norway/Fjords, Australia & New Zealand, etc.), but if we're going on a basic Caribbean out of Florida, we prefer NCL.  IMO, we are super casual people and NCL leans more than way.  Our next X cruise is in The Retreat, and I'm interested in experiencing that compared to The Haven.

NCL has a few cruises that have really piqued my interest. There's a few heading to Madagascar/Seychelles/South Africa that are really intriguing and a few cool ones in the South Pacific. All under 14 days. 

[Lena11033]

17 minutes ago, keysey222 said:

NCL has a few cruises that have really piqued my interest. There's a few heading to Madagascar/Seychelles/South Africa that are really intriguing and a few cool ones in the South Pacific. All under 14 days. 

 

My neighbour behind me just came back from a NCL South Africa cruise - she really enjoyed it

[Stem to Stern]

2 hours ago, rmalbers said:

Last cruise I met 2 couples on their honeymoon, I've never run into that before.  I'm also in the 'marketing' camp on this one, they are marketing to a younger crowd for sure and I guess it's workign.

We had three on board weddings last month on our 4-night Silhouette weekend cruise.  I would say one group was 100 strong with nightly themed attire.  Needless to say the Martini Bar was loud and not just in a decibel sense.🤣

 

2 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

We also saw a few young couples with their under 1 year olds.

Same on our Summit 5-night in December.  One couple had their toddler in The Retreat Sundeck jacuzzi. 🙄

Going forward we are sticking with 8-night and longer sailings.  Pickings are slim when it comes to finding a longer sailing on Celebrity, but a ghost booking or two reveal plenty of cabin availability on them.

[broadwaybaby123]

Millennial here brought up on Celebrity and going again in January.

 

It all depends on what you want out of your cruise. I prefer to be a little on the adventurous side and do things I don't get to do at home. That said, I'm one of the most laid back people you'll ever meet, so I don't need a party vibe to be happy (though I certainly won't turn down a party either).

[Lena11033]

7 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

Same on our Summit 5-night in December.  One couple had their toddler in The Retreat Sundeck jacuzzi. 🙄

 

Gross factor aside for everyone else, pretty certain toddlers are not supposed to be in a jacuzzi due to the heat and their skin sensitivity at that age, plus dehydration. 

[Tom and Ingrid]

10 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

It all depends on what you want out of your cruise. I prefer to be a little on the adventurous side and do things I don't get to do at home. That said, I'm one of the most laid back people you'll ever meet, so I don't need a party vibe to be happy (though I certainly won't turn down a party either).

I think this remains the "core" point regardless of a needless "generational tag".  Long before there even existed the Gen Z, cruise lines (or car companies) had to decide on their target audience(s) and also on a long term growth strategy.  There will always be NEW 50 (or 40 or 60) year olds being created simply via aging. The kids in grade school become HS kids become college kids become young professionals become parents become... older folks with disposable income.  It is never ending, and cruise lines just need to decide if the historic main target group of 50-70 is better expanded to 40-80 and how to do that. Does courting the 30-40 crowd chase away the VERY LUCRATIVE 50+ crowd?  Can you balance younger interests and older interests on a medium sized ship or do you need a larger ship with more "tiers" to differentiate the groups?  My bet is that as RCL group builds out their corporate plans - using X and RCL as distinct and mildly overlapping options - X moves upscale (if possible) and RCL focuses on the younger folks and families and mid-aged folks interested in a more active environment.  

Add in there is a difference between the E class ships and the M & S class ships already.  This video - a little dated with the whiplash from price changes - shows how both traditional older cruisers and younger cruisers are wondering where they fit in to X right now. Both have places, but there is some self-awareness required to think through what "vibe" you're looking for in any cruise, vacation, tour, movie, concert, whatever before clicking "buy".  

 

 

[Vagabond Knight]

Somewhat younger-ish Boomer here who's been sailing on Celebrity for some years and has also dabbled in sailng NCL, RCCL and Carnival (which is now on our "never again" list). In my experience, Celebrity usually has a generally older average age than the others, but the average age varies with itinerary, length of cruise, and possibly with the ship size and departure port, but still usually has a mix of age groups.  It also seems that one may not be able to generalize completely about "sailing out of Florida," because our experience out of Tampa this year was wildly different than what we've seen out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

 

We took the Constellation out of Tampa a couple of months ago and it was like a floating nursing home. At times it felt like 2/3 of the passengers had walkers or scooters.  When we went to dinner, the entire hallway leading into the MDR was solidly lined with walkers. The smaller, odd shaped elevators that were closest to our cabin would only take a very few people once a scooter had entered and so we often found ourselves waiting for elevator after elevator before we could board. Our group was somehow bumped from our early dinner time that we'd booked last year and it took all day to get that straightened out after boarding.  We were told, "Look, everyone on this ship wants early dinner." Heck, these folks were lining up for the early seating 30-40 minutes before it started!  If you like quiet in the evening, this was the ship/sailing for you, as the place seemed deserted shortly after dinner and we usually had Cafe Al Bacio to ourselves.  It was a very different feel than what we've experienced on prior Celebrity cruises. 

 

Honestly, we live in a 55+ community and our age demographic isn't even close to what the average age was on that cruise. We asked a few people if that was a typical cruise out of Tampa and were told that Celebrity inherited a lot of the  Holland America crowd when Holland stopped sailing out of Tampa, and that the Holland  average guest age tended to be a lot higher than that of Celebrity's. One guy said he used to sail Holland a lot and recognized many of the  "Holland regulars."

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

Boomer, Gen X, millennials, who cares?  
 

I couldn’t tell the age range of any of them if I had to.  

[PTC DAWG]

7 hours ago, Vagabond Knight said:

Somewhat younger-ish Boomer here who's been sailing on Celebrity for some years and has also dabbled in sailng NCL, RCCL and Carnival (which is now on our "never again" list). In my experience, Celebrity usually has a generally older average age than the others, but the average age varies with itinerary, length of cruise, and possibly with the ship size and departure port, but still usually has a mix of age groups.  It also seems that one may not be able to generalize completely about "sailing out of Florida," because our experience out of Tampa this year was wildly different than what we've seen out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

 

We took the Constellation out of Tampa a couple of months ago and it was like a floating nursing home. At times it felt like 2/3 of the passengers had walkers or scooters.  When we went to dinner, the entire hallway leading into the MDR was solidly lined with walkers. The smaller, odd shaped elevators that were closest to our cabin would only take a very few people once a scooter had entered and so we often found ourselves waiting for elevator after elevator before we could board. Our group was somehow bumped from our early dinner time that we'd booked last year and it took all day to get that straightened out after boarding.  We were told, "Look, everyone on this ship wants early dinner." Heck, these folks were lining up for the early seating 30-40 minutes before it started!  If you like quiet in the evening, this was the ship/sailing for you, as the place seemed deserted shortly after dinner and we usually had Cafe Al Bacio to ourselves.  It was a very different feel than what we've experienced on prior Celebrity cruises. 

 

Honestly, we live in a 55+ community and our age demographic isn't even close to what the average age was on that cruise. We asked a few people if that was a typical cruise out of Tampa and were told that Celebrity inherited a lot of the  Holland America crowd when Holland stopped sailing out of Tampa, and that the Holland  average guest age tended to be a lot higher than that of Celebrity's. One guy said he used to sail Holland a lot and recognized many of the  "Holland regulars."

 

 

I have heard that on the M ships out of Tampa..really anywhere on the M ships from what my friends that also cruise celebrity tell me..

[PhillyFan33579]

I cruise fairly often on Celebrity and over the years I have always found the passenger makeup to be on the older side. So far this year I have sailed on Constellation, Apex and Reflection. We are in our late 50s (very late 50s) and we were definitely on the younger side on all three cruises. 

[zitsky]

On 5/30/2024 at 3:56 AM, Lena11033 said:

 

Gross factor aside for everyone else, pretty certain toddlers are not supposed to be in a jacuzzi due to the heat and their skin sensitivity at that age, plus dehydration. 

 

Exactly.  Some parents think the hot tubs are kiddie pools.  It's not safe to leave them in a hot tub for 15-30-45 minutes.

 

Lena, you said your partner was 60.  I never would have guessed that Jason Momoa was that old!

 

Anyway, who are these "younger" cruisers who think the rest of us *don't* want interesting locations or think that all of us are sitting on 180 day cruises?  My partner is retired, but I have a job.  Even though I get 5 weeks of vacation after 10 years I have to break it up into multiple trips.  I want a cruise with some (non-screaming) kids, younger people, 50 somethings and older.

 

I do agree with the younger folks on one thing.  If we could please get rid of the 70s music, I would be so happy.  Everyone knows the best music came out in the 80s.  😁

[ldubs]

As long as my fellow old folks behave themselves, I am OK having them on board! 

 

Oh, to be 60 again!  😀

[Stem to Stern]

27 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Everyone knows the best music came out in the 80s.  😁

^^^^^^^ T H I S ^^^^^^^
😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[Lena11033]

50 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Exactly.  Some parents think the hot tubs are kiddie pools.  It's not safe to leave them in a hot tub for 15-30-45 minutes.

 

Lena, you said your partner was 60.  I never would have guessed that Jason Momoa was that old!

 

Anyway, who are these "younger" cruisers who think the rest of us *don't* want interesting locations or think that all of us are sitting on 180 day cruises?  My partner is retired, but I have a job.  Even though I get 5 weeks of vacation after 10 years I have to break it up into multiple trips.  I want a cruise with some (non-screaming) kids, younger people, 50 somethings and older.

 

I do agree with the younger folks on one thing.  If we could please get rid of the 70s music, I would be so happy.  Everyone knows the best music came out in the 80s.  😁

 

ha my husband doesn't travel, he's the dog sitter.

 

Not unhappy with people more unhappy with the length of the cruises, I get when you are retired you can take longer cruises but people tied to jobs not so much. So I get where X are going with the 7 days they are trying to attract new people. Although personally I wouldn't fly all the way to Europe for a 7 day cruise, I'm going that far I want a longer one - I haven't looked at European routes so not sure if a lot were cut down also.

 

I'm ok with 70's music I prefer 80's. But I can't do anything before 70's or rap or hip hop or country lol

 

 

 

Edited May 31 by Lena11033

[Stem to Stern]

3 minutes ago, Lena11033 said:

Although personally I wouldn't fly all the way to Europe for a 7 day cruise, I'm going that far I want a longer one - I haven't looked at European routes so not sure if a lot were cut down also.

My cousin did a 7-night on Royal with her husband and two teenage children.  I don't get it.  Maybe they could not take off from their jobs for two weeks?  They are doing another 7-night again this summer.  Personally, I need a minimum 9-night cruise with two or three nights on each end if I am going to spend all that time on an airplane to get there.  My first Med cruise was 12-nights, but it flew by with only two sea days to unwind.  In Barcelona, we did two nights precruise and one night post, but should have done more.  I really do not even want any sea days on a European cruise.  I recently saw an AWESOME 14-night Norway itinerary on Celebrity.

[NutsAboutGolf]

While I personally never thought there were too many in the first place, it's somewhat a moot point since X is adding CocoCay, has opened a lot more short sailings and will sail out PC later this year; these probably will change the whole dynamic

 

I'm GenY, all but 7 of my 155 nights on X were after the restart.  Overall, the average age has been fairly predictable as the longer the sailing the higher the average age, and the Euro sailings which often have only one or two sea days per sailing tend to be younger

 

The current X offering isn't what the generation is looking for, very few want "relaxed luxury".  Most want: Experiences, free fast wifi, to visit a different restaurant every night, a restaurant first come first serve waitlist vs making reservations weeks in advance and great food

[zitsky]

I suppose young people (20-30) should be allowed to cruise, but do they have to be so obnoxious about it?  Sitting by the pool all day.  Quietly partying by the pool after I go to bed at 6pm.  Walking faster than me on the rain forest hikes.  Playing pickle ball?!
 

Who can I write to at Celebrity to get them to stop marketing to young people?  I can’t keep up and that’s just not fair.