Cruise Outlook: Industry Hopes for Stability

After being battered by safety issues in 2013, the cruise industry and cruise-selling agents see 2014 shaping up to be a strong year.

Among positive forces they cite are multigenerational travel, ship upgrades that should appeal to a far more multifaceted and diverse array of cruisers than in the past, and the continued popularity of river cruises.

In ocean cruising, pricing continues to be the overriding challenge, exacerbated this year by heavy capacity in the Caribbean.

Travel Market Report spoke with industry leaders to learn more about the opportunities and challenges for cruise lines and cruise-selling agents in 2014.

Opportunity: Focus & specialize
“Multigenerational travel is really emerging with the new builds that allow everyone to go off on their own. The key opportunity [for agents] is to really focus and specialize this year. These ships aren’t for your grandmother’s cruise anymore. Adventure travel and food travel are also focuses. Families are looking to enjoy more active activities on and off the ship. Families are traveling and have money to spend. The best thing we can do is to get out there and tell the story that cruising is the best vacation out there.” – Michelle Fee, president, Cruise Planners

Opportunity: Better trade relations
“2013 was a huge year in terms of rebuilding Carnival’s relationship with our travel partners. We’ve made many changes, from simplifying our fare structure to bringing back our brochure. In 2014, we look to see a bit of a recovery in our brand and that our advertisements will send more business to travel agents. Agents need to create their own marketing plans and reach out to the BDMs for resources.” – Joni Rein, vice president, worldwide sales, Carnival Cruise Lines

Challenge: Low prices
“We need to get people to pay more for our product, because we offer an experience that is priced far too low. There is so much value we are not being paid for. It’s definitely a consumer’s market. Agents who are able to take advantage of any bouncing back on pricing will be well-positioned.” – Vicki Freed, senior vice president, sales, trade support and service, Royal Caribbean International

Opportunity: River cruise pricing
“Booking for river cruising is done way out. It’s extremely popular and the demand is exceeding supply. We come out with our best offers early and then pull back. We’re no longer going out and discounting to fill the space. We learned this from the large cruise lines.” – Gary Murphy, vice president of sales, AMA Waterways

Challenge: Differentiating products
“We now have a lot of capacity in the Caribbean, and that is going to keep prices down and make it hard to differentiate between cruise segments. Hopefully we will see the average yield or pricing go up, and I would love to see more ships move to Alaska. Our challenge as agents this year will be to tell clients the difference between similar cruise products in the same region.” – Matthew Eichhorst, president, ExpediaCruiseShipCenters

Opportunity: Tons of tools
“Agents need to get educated and get in touch with their local salespeople because there are tons of marketing tools to support you. One of the things that surprised me the most is how little some agents talk to their clients. Keep touching your accounts, even if it’s just once a month, and be more proactive. The challenge for us is to reach out to agents, especially home-based agents, and figure out how to touch them in ways they want to get touched.” – Michele Saegesser, vice president of sales for the Americas, Viking Cruises

Opportunity: Growth markets
“Group business and multigenerational travel are especially important areas.” – Joni Rein, Carnival Cruise Lines

Opportunity: Loyal customers
“Agents need to make cruising their priority in 2014; it gives the best ROI and highest customer satisfaction of any type of vacation. When an agent can articulate that, they are going to have a cruiser that is loyal.” – Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean International

Opportunity: Value-based offers
“This year, the cruise lines have a good mix of offerings going into Wave Season. There are a lot of promos that aren’t focused on price but consumer value, gratuities and onboard credits.” – Matthew Eichhorst, Expedia CruiseShipCenters

Opportunity: Popular river cruises
“There is curiosity in the marketplace about river cruising, and the travel public doesn’t really understand what’s involved. I’m always surprised to find that many agents have not taken advantage of this market. Book a group for 2015 now; once that group goes, the returns are huge and the experience becomes an annuity for the agent.” – Gary Murphy, AMA Waterways