P&O trying become a holiday company

I just received this from a travel agent friend, it is from an industry publication ( Travel Weekly ) and thought it interesting to know where P&O are headed :

Alex White, P&O Cruises sales vice president, said itineraries, particularly those in Dubai and Arabian Gulf, in the brochure are aimed at enticing new-to-cruise customers onboard its ships.

The brochure is currently being distributed to the trade ahead of the launch of the winter 2019/20 programme on March 21.

The winter 2019/20 programme includes a full season of Dubai and Arabian Gulf cruises, an extended Caribbean season and a new Northern Lights sailing.

White said he hopes P&O Cruises will be seen as a holiday company not just a cruise line by offering “more choice of destination”.

White said: “I think offering more choice of destination absolutely plays into that.

Surely any holiday company has to constantly entice new customers? The only way cruise companies can do it is to vary the offer of ports.

We haven’t considered P&O for years because their choices have been very poor, especially for families who want something other than a school holiday trip to the Med with 600 children on board.

No two week Fjords, no Iceland, no Scandinavia, no Baltics. All their rival companies have offered these for many years in school holidays.

Some of the reasons P&O end up with huge numbers of children on board in the summer holidays is the relatively cheap prices but I also think that they do not coordinate their cruises very well with the minor school holidays. In my opinion this tends to push the family market into a shorter sales period. If they offered cruises that fitted half-term breaks much better and a full range of itineraries at this time as well as summer holiday period they would increase sales to families but spread them over a wider period of time.

There was a time when P&O were almost exclusively devoted to Southampton round trip cruises with a Caribbean Fly-Cruise season and world cruises. As the number of ships allocated to them by Carnival Corporation has increased they added Mediterranean Fly-cruises, initially on Oceana size then moving up to Ventura size. There is always a limit to how much you can sell of anything and you need to look at enhancing it and moving on to adding something different. So Dubai round trip was the next move. Adult-only ships are another niche market. Opening up their Caribbean cruise operation to US and Canadian bookings is another new venture they seem to have launched. This foreign operation might work well with different ports, mainly avoiding US islands and the 18+ alcohol rules could be very successful if handled properly.

You cannot add significant numbers of extra cruisers with traditional products and have to expand the market with new products, innovations etc. To do this you have to understand how people holiday, why they go there, what they do and why they have never cruised before. Once you establish why they have never cruised before, you have to overcome peoples objections by changing your product or perception. Establish what people really like and incorporate the things they like into your product.

Regards John

How well does the current TV advert meet the intention of attracting new cruisers? From our recent experience, new cruisers are unlike those shown in the film.

I have the impression that Carnival HQ, determines where its various brands can market. For example, on a recent QM2 cruise, future cruise sales' dept. had as many brochures in German as in English.

Some of the reasons P&O end up with huge numbers of children on board in the summer holidays is the relatively cheap prices but I also think that they do not coordinate their cruises very well with the minor school holidays. In my opinion this tends to push the family market into a shorter sales period. If they offered cruises that fitted half-term breaks much better and a full range of itineraries at this time as well as summer holiday period they would increase sales to families but spread them over a wider period of time.

 

There was a time when P&O were almost exclusively devoted to Southampton round trip cruises with a Caribbean Fly-Cruise season and world cruises. As the number of ships allocated to them by Carnival Corporation has increased they added Mediterranean Fly-cruises, initially on Oceana size then moving up to Ventura size. There is always a limit to how much you can sell of anything and you need to look at enhancing it and moving on to adding something different. So Dubai round trip was the next move. Adult-only ships are another niche market. Opening up their Caribbean cruise operation to US and Canadian bookings is another new venture they seem to have launched. This foreign operation might work well with different ports, mainly avoiding US islands and the 18+ alcohol rules could be very successful if handled properly.

 

You cannot add significant numbers of extra cruisers with traditional products and have to expand the market with new products, innovations etc. To do this you have to understand how people holiday, why they go there, what they do and why they have never cruised before. Once you establish why they have never cruised before, you have to overcome peoples objections by changing your product or perception. Establish what people really like and incorporate the things they like into your product.

 

Regards John

A major difficulty with offering cruises to fit the half term holidays is that they vary throughout the country. If they were fixed nationally, this would not be a problem but as they are locally fixed, national planning becomes impossible.

A major difficulty with offering cruises to fit the half term holidays is that they vary throughout the country. If they were fixed nationally, this would not be a problem but as they are locally fixed, national planning becomes impossible.

In practice they tend to cover a two-week period, so it wouldn't be that difficult for P&O to cover them. The February half term varies as much due to when Easter falls as for any other reason. Private schools and some church schools do differ - private schools often get 2 weeks rather than one. I like going away somewhere warm in the October half term, particularly if we've had a lousy summer; sets me up for the long, dark winter days.

In practice they tend to cover a two-week period, so it wouldn't be that difficult for P&O to cover them. The February half term varies as much due to when Easter falls as for any other reason. Private schools and some church schools do differ - private schools often get 2 weeks rather than one. I like going away somewhere warm in the October half term, particularly if we've had a lousy summer; sets me up for the long, dark winter days.

In any year there will be no holiday period which is constant over All of England. It has been a constant problem for teachers for years as often they do not teach in the LEA that their children go to school. Eg. Easter has been at the beginning in the middle and very rarely at the end of the two week holiday.

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In any year there will be no holiday period which is constant over All of England. It has been a constant problem for teachers for years as often they do not teach in the LEA that their children go to school. Eg. Easter has been at the beginning in the middle and very rarely at the end of the two week holiday.

 

 

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In the past when this was an issue for me, I found that in a fortnights school holiday period. P&O offered a 14 day cruise starting before they break up school, ending half way through the period followed by a 14 day cruise which over ran. If you look at all the regional variations and concentrate more on South of England and Wales you are going to be more successful. It is also a better marketing strategy to go for 7 - 10 cruises as they are more likely to fit in with different regional holiday allotments.. I have seen Canaries 9 night cruises in the past, off season, at a low price which would be good at half-term.

I have got past this issue now but in the past during half-term due to awkward dates we did fit into the dates, a round trip ex-Copenhagen on Royal Caribbean one year, a world cruise sector on Cunard and another year a Princess repositioning cruise from Hong Kong to Yokohama with a few days stay there to fill out the holiday.

Regards John

When researching cruises we often find that they start the same day that the schools close or the day before. Not very helpful if you work in a school as you can't get the day off for a holiday as in industry. Can't tell you how many holidays we have not been able to book for half terms or longer holidays ..

P&O are becoming more of a holiday company than cruise line? While TUI are changing Marella (Thomson) into a cruise line with an adults only ship based in Italy next summer and fly cruises to Thailand this coming winter. They are all aiming for the same market sector, new younger cruisers who spend more money aboard and want to try new exciting destinations, not just the same old tired plod from Southampton. With all ships being AI and tips in the fare they will have an attractive package for 'new' cruisers, watch out P&O ;)

I thought a cruise was a holiday ?