Why is the Asia Market Expanding? Do you Support It?

[MrBanana1240]

Don't get me wrong, id love to cruise Asia. I'm going to China next month, but what's the need for the quantum and some other ships that I forgot to be over there? Do you think it is more for Asian guests or to expand our horizons? Is there more history, or more beaches? I'm just getting back into the Royal Caribbean loop with my recent Grandeur booking, but I still want to know, as Costa and Princess both started new Asia service.

 

Do you support this new move? What are your thoughts?

 

Thank you! I love subjective threads!

[CruisinKibble]

It doesn't matter if you support the market expanding. The fact is that Asia is a developing market for many industries. The cruise lines want to take advantage of the new wealth and those with money to spend.

[Lady Chew]

The cruise lines go where the $$$ is. Right now they think they can make more of it from Asia than from other places.

 

We have cruised in Asia and loved it ... hope to go back one day.

[CruisinKibble]

It should be noted that they are not doing this for the pleasure of Americans.... I think that is where the OP is going with this

[LMaxwell]

The emerging middle and affluent classes in China and other Asian regions out numbers and outspends Americans. The ships are not being sent there to entice US cruisers to fly over, they are being deployed there to catch the luxury spending segment of the market. The world is going to look massively different 20 years from now and RCI wants in NOW as these markets emerge. There is huge pent up demand for luxury goods and services and RCI do not need to discount or throw tons of perks to get the business.

 

The U.S. might get Oasis 3...but we will not be keeping three Oasis-class ships. The Asian market is not going to be satisfied with Vision-class cast offs either; they want the latest and greatest.

[SPacificbound]

The bottom line always comes back to $$$$$$$

[jstraw20]

As everyone else has said, it's because they have all the money :-D

[Evangaline]

There is an element of gamble for these cruise lines as to whether cruising is where the Asians with disposable income will want to spend their vacation dollars. I suspect it will be more complicated that dropping an American product into Asia. Tastes and interests from entertainment to cuisine aren't likely to be the same. As well, Asia is not like the Mediterranean. In China, the ports of call that can take these ships are quite a distance from each other with a lot of sea days of most itineraries. So the question is whether Asians with new money want to explore the own continent which was not possible for most a short while ago, or do they want to spend the time floating out at sea on an American ship. Shall see. My observation is that the cruise lines are over eager, but not overly prepared.

[AussieVisi2r]

It doesn't matter if you support the market expanding. The fact is that Asia is a developing market for many industries. The cruise lines want to take advantage of the new wealth and those with money to spend.

 

 

As well as being a huge market it has just been announced that Australia is the most cruising nation. Having that massive market only a 7 or 8 hour flight away is huge for the cruise lines. As said. They go where the money is.

 

Raina

 

 

 

 

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[MADflyer]

You mention the Carnival Corp. deployment in the first post with the focus on their Costa and Princess brands.

 

Carnival's Press Release last month gives some interesting insight into what is going on in Asia and specifically China to warrant the move of ships to the region.

 

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/05/12/carnival-corp-china-idUSnPnc4vVTC+87+PRN20140512

[CruisinKibble]

As well as being a huge market it has just been announced that Australia is the most cruising nation. Having that massive market only a 7 or 8 hour flight away is huge for the cruise lines. As said. They go where the money is.

 

Raina

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Interesting, I had no heard that about the Aussies. Where did you see that at?

[woodyren]

Interesting, I had no heard that about the Aussies. Where did you see that at?

 

It was not total numbers. It was the largest percentage increase in cruise participation.

 

I love the fact that the one of newest is getting a gig in Asia. It will give greater choice and is far closer and cheaper for the locals to get to . Same goes for Aussie and NZ customers. I also look forward to what will obviously be a different style of cruising and different menus.

 

You never know even the trivia questions might not be written assuming everyone on board is from the USA.:p

 

What I don't understand is the sense of entitlement that some from the USA feel. Time to share the love.

[MADflyer]

Interesting, I had no heard that about the Aussies. Where did you see that at?

 

It is market penetration of potential leisure travelers. The same thing is happening in Germany among others.

 

Even with 'higher' fares, cruises prove to be even more of a VALUE than other travel options. This results in higher market penetration.

 

Specialty restaurants, Broadway Shows and drink packages have even more 'perceived value' in more expensive markets.

 

As more 'mass market' inventory is readily available, the result is higher market penetration.

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/11215-clia-more-australians-are-cruising.html

[faithwins]

I have lived in Shanghai for two years now ... Demand for these ships is insane, and these cruises command much higher premiums for sailings than US based cruises (from 150% to 200% of US prices).

 

On top of that, onboard spending seems to be far greater with Chinese demand for tax-free luxury goods (discount stores are being taken out for high end brands). Additional high gambling revenue also adds to the incentive.

 

As of last year the Chinese beat out the Americans as #1 spenders while traveling (per person).

 

What is interesting is that these cruises don't operate like US based cruises in that you book the cruise through a "tour group" and you travel with that "tour group". So on the cruise there will be 20-30-40 etc. tour groups all arranging their own separate activities as opposed to one "unified" ship environment.

 

They are NOT catering to foreign clientele on these ships (out of mainland China, I can't speak for other asian ports), so unless you have experienced a "Chinese tour group" environment, I recommend looking elsewhere.

 

:)

 

Makes complete sense for the ships to be out here, even if it is a bit of bummer for the US market.

[tomatosauce]

If you look at the cruises coming out of Singapore most of them are designed to be 3-5 night shopping trips, a floating version of the typical day trip to KL. It is also worth reading some of the reviews of the Asian based ships for some perspective.

[Evangaline]

Costa should deploy its entire fleet over there. No one will know any better.

[The_Big_M]

There is an element of gamble for these cruise lines as to whether cruising is where the Asians with disposable income will want to spend their vacation dollars. I suspect it will be more complicated that dropping an American product into Asia. Tastes and interests from entertainment to cuisine aren't likely to be the same. As well, Asia is not like the Mediterranean.

 

Indeed.

 

RCL already tried this a couple of years back, where Voyager was launched primarily to target the Asian market. However, Australia was added in as the market was booming there too, so they thought they'd get a few premium benefits there - but also with the aim that they could get Chinese travellers to follow it down to Australia.

 

They did a massive hiring binge of Asian speakers - to the extent that many couldn't speak English well (as distinct from other nationalities that they routinely hire.) They put their efforts into Asian promotion.

 

And what happened? They found an even greater uptake in the Australian market. And the Asian results were... disappointing. They were surprised to find they got more international travellers onboard. But they put off their majority English speaking customers due to poor experiences with the Asian crew.

 

Nevertheless they persist in the hope that it's the next big thing that will one day come good.

 

Perhaps it will this time.

[The_Big_M]

It is market penetration of potential leisure travelers. The same thing is happening in Germany among others.

 

Even with 'higher' fares, cruises prove to be even more of a VALUE than other travel options. This results in higher market penetration.

 

Specialty restaurants, Broadway Shows and drink packages have even more 'perceived value' in more expensive markets.

 

As more 'mass market' inventory is readily available, the result is higher market penetration.

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/11215-clia-more-australians-are-cruising.html

 

There's a lot more detail, and stats in this release:

http://medianet.com.au/releases/release-details?id=803902

 

The key figures are Australian cruise market penetration is leading the world. It is now (last year) at 3.6%, v 3.3% in the US. Other markets are lower e.g. Germany is barely half that at 2.1%

 

The growth rate was 20%, more than double Germany at 9%, and the much more mature US at 3%.

 

Of course, we don't have as large a population as China, which is where the cruise line is looking for absolute numbers. To date, it's been too early, but maybe that will change by the time Quantum arrives there.

[MADflyer]

Costa is the wing of Carnival Corp now running the very successful Aida Cruises in the German market and the Ibero Cruises brand which competes in the Spanish market with RCCL Pullmantur.

 

While they have had some recent incidents under Carnival, they have one of the greatest positions historically in the cruise industry. While currently operating only 15 ships under the Costa brand, they have a retired fleet of over 25 ships compared to the 8 former RCI ships, showing how big a player they have been in the development of the modern cruise industry.

 

Princess is run by Carnival UK that markets Cunard and Princess brands.

 

What might be happening with time is the development of an Asian / Chinese division of Carnival, something that can not be ignored by any other major player in the industry.

[MADflyer]

There's a lot more detail, and stats in this release:

http://medianet.com.au/releases/release-details?id=803902

 

The key figures are Australian cruise market penetration is leading the world. It is now (last year) at 3.6%, v 3.3% in the US. Other markets are lower e.g. Germany is barely half that at 2.1%

 

The growth rate was 20%, more than double Germany at 9%, and the much more mature US at 3%.

 

Of course, we don't have as large a population as China, which is where the cruise line is looking for absolute numbers. To date, it's been too early, but maybe that will change by the time Quantum arrives there.

 

Thanks for the additional data.

 

While not being very clear in my point, I was thinking there are many other nearby options competing for the leisure market. The German and US markets have certainly hit more maturity with Germany having a wide range of offering across sectors, from low-end to high luxury. Germany does not participate in the 'mass-market[ to the extent of US. Growth obviously is related to market offering.

 

While the size of the Australian market is not large, what is very interesting in Europe is their booking of multiple sailings often going B2B and then doing a land segment and then returning to a ship. A fantastic segment, that is for sure.

[FLACRUISER99]

How long is it going to take the Chinese to copy the cruise ships and start their own cruise lines.

[MrBanana1240]

How long is it going to take the Chinese to copy the cruise ships and start their own cruise lines.

 

 

 

There are a couple Chinese cruise lines, the biggest right now is Star Cruises. They take most of the retired Norwegian ships if they don't go to Louis. They get okay buisness I guess. They get enough to continue and get more ships.

 

But it wont be long until China makes some huge ship with everything on it. They just need to find out what the Chinese like on a cruise vacation, and we will see another ship on the seas.

[dorisis]

Don't get me wrong, id love to cruise Asia. I'm going to China next month, but what's the need for the quantum and some other ships that I forgot to be over there? Do you think it is more for Asian guests or to expand our horizons? Is there more history, or more beaches? I'm just getting back into the Royal Caribbean loop with my recent Grandeur booking, but I still want to know, as Costa and Princess both started new Asia service.

 

Do you support this new move? What are your thoughts?

 

Thank you! I love subjective threads!

 

We all support the Asian market when we buy goods produced there. The money we spend on those goods enables those that make them to have the money to cruise. Cruise lines are anxious to get some of that money and stockholders can see how profitable it can be.

[masspector]

The emerging middle and affluent classes in China and other Asian regions out numbers and outspends Americans. The ships are not being sent there to entice US cruisers to fly over, they are being deployed there to catch the luxury spending segment of the market. The world is going to look massively different 20 years from now and RCI wants in NOW as these markets emerge. There is huge pent up demand for luxury goods and services and RCI do not need to discount or throw tons of perks to get the business.

 

The U.S. might get Oasis 3...but we will not be keeping three Oasis-class ships. The Asian market is not going to be satisfied with Vision-class cast offs either; they want the latest and greatest.

 

No offense to Maxwell, but I find this post humorous and extremely entertaining.

 

If there is so much demand then why can't any Asian companies fill it? Why do the US and Europeans have to build the ships? Because the Asians can't. They still need the West to design and build it. Heck the Chinese finally built an aircraft carrier that is still not operational based on a cast off Russian ship, only about 100 years after the first aircaraft carrier.

 

Sure, run off chasing the new money but do not come back to us with your tail between your legs when it does not work out for you.

[FLACRUISER99]

There are a couple Chinese cruise lines, the biggest right now is Star Cruises. They take most of the retired Norwegian ships if they don't go to Louis. They get okay buisness I guess. They get enough to continue and get more ships.

 

But it wont be long until China makes some huge ship with everything on it. They just need to find out what the Chinese like on a cruise vacation, and we will see another ship on the seas.

Isn't NCL under Star Cruises umbrella?