Ideas to restart people cruising over coming months

[Wehwalt]

7 hours ago, kennystwin said:

I could see  a waiver of PVSA for scheduled cruises impacted by the current port closures. But a repeal, No! Yes, it would allow HAL to cruise Seattle to Alaska bypassing Victoria, but it would also allow any foreign flagged vessel access to the US market with minimal regulation. We would be swamped with older ships doing cruises to nowhere/booze cruises/gambling junkets from any coastal city. I imagine they could even compete with US firms running passenger ferries. No thanks.

I don't say a full repeal. I suspect Congress could be clever enough to modify it in a way to avoid the ills you mention, if it wanted to.

 

On another note, someone mentioned NYC. I'd like to see more cruises out of Baltimore. There's a demand, evidenced by RCCI being able to fill the Grandeur of the Seas out of there despite cookie cutter itineraries.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Wehwalt

[Mosaic]

People will need money.  I for one, do NOT want to cruise with people paying only $100.00 for a balcony cabin..... I prefer quality.  The cruise industry is in a major world of hurt.

[Roger88]

Those who wanted to go on a cruise will do so as soon as their favourites routes will be availble again. As for those who got their money back, well, they will also book a cruise of their dream as soon as things settle down. The prices will rise by the way because the demand will increase. I am sure people will book cruises years ahead and buy full insurance packages just in case. So, basicly its a win-win for everyone

[wesport]

I just hope the cruiseline industry survives. 

[iancal]

I believe that low fares will be the most effective incentive.  Cash is king.

[ShipWalker]

11 minutes ago, iancal said:

I believe that low fares will be the most effective incentive.  Cash is king.

 
How about a discount for those who pay fares in cash? (Small unmarked bills) 💰

[AV8rix]

10 hours ago, john2003 said:

As a Canadian I am disappointed at the underlying thinking here. Seattle is a hotspot.

I live here (Seattle metro area).  And I'd been thinking the same thing since the start of this.  Why would ANYONE want to be in our cruise terminal JAMMED together with 1000+ folks including locals who may have been exposed?  My own Alaska cruise in May hasn't yet been officially cancelled but will be soon.  It's okay, at least I'll live to cruise another day.

[cruisemom42]

I think the intent of the OP was how to encourage cruisers to come back once it is safe, not before then...

 

I like the solo supplement idea as it is a market that often doesn't realize the benefit of other "specials" or incentives.

 

Another idea: how about a "book more cruises get a higher discount" promotion. E.g., if you book 1 cruise you get 5% off lowest fare, two cruises 10%, three 15%.  (If cruises were later canceled, the higher percentage would be reapplied....)

 

I am not a fan of the $100 balcony cabin approach -- cutting costs through past crises has already led to a huge degradation in HAL's product (and same with other mass market lines).  I'm afraid a $100 balcony would also come with unpleasant side effects like lowering the quality of MDR food, more begging for folks to spend $$$ in other areas, reduction in cabin services (including discontinuing free delivery of MDR items to cabin) and so on....

 

 

[drowelf]

7 hours ago, marion10 said:

Contain COVID-19. Develop a vaccine.

I fully believe that will happen, but it will just take some time. The first human trials started yesterday here in the US. 

[Donald]

Let's have a look at these "out of the box" ideas, while bearing in mind that the mass market lines do not make a penny of profit by selling cruises. They only make profit from selling things to people who go on cruises.

 

1.  How about single supplements of 125% on a wide variety of cruises instead of 200%?  Lots of singles would probably jump at the opportunity.

Single cruisers on average spend less money per person, per day, than other cruisers. Why would a cruise line lower fares (thereby lowering revenues) to get more people onboard who spend less money (lowering profits)?

2.  How about running alaska cruises from San Diego or San Pedro to alaska and back via ensenada to get around PSA act.  If alaska ports and some west coast ports remain open it could combine alaska with a coastal voyage into two week itineraries...since canada ports are blocked til july 1 this could hopefully provide some much needed $$ to alaska, west coast and cruise ships who otherwise sit idle in may and June or perhaps beyond....example san diego to san pedro to portland to alaska 7 days  to san francisco to ensenada to san diego type itinerary

You don't work in the cruise industry, so are probably unaware that cruisers who sail out of Southern California spend fewer dollars onboard, per person, per day, than just about any other demographic. Why would a cruise line encourage lower spending guests in an attempt to recover from massive financial losses? San Diego-San Pedro-Portland-Juneau would take 6 days of high speed (high fuel cost) cruising with mostly sea days, short port stops, and one day in Alaska. Then 7 more days of expensive high speed cruising at sea, with a very short (and expensive) port call at San Francisco, to get down to Ensenada and back to San Diego in 14 days. This makes no sense.

3.  Offer extra special senior discounts.  Retired seniors have the time and most the money to go on longer cruises.

Ask the revenue people at Holland America why they have the lowest profit margins in the Carnival Group. Their demographic is heavy with retirees on fixed incomes who spend less per day than younger passengers. They may have plenty of money. They just prefer not to spend it onboard.

4.  Try and schedule as many cruises as possible that pax can drive to and from ports instead of flying.  Consider offering free/discounted parking at ports or even free bus transfers from select cities.

Cruise Line revenue people will tell you that passengers who drive to the cruise port are trying to save money on air fares. Those same people also try to save money onboard, by spending less per day than the passengers who fly. Generally speaking, the most profitable cruises (mass market or otherwise) are those requiring long flights.

5.  Consider offering at least one basic shore excursion per port that is not marked up 300%.  A simple 3 hour half day bus tour does NOT have to cost $100.

Most cruisers do not realise that Shore Tours are 1) the highest revenue producer for mass market lines, and 2) the highest cost % for mass market lines. The massive liability insurance policies that cruise lines are forced to pay for to avoid all the lawsuits from North Americans, effectively wipes out most of the profits from Shore Tours. Offering discounted Shore Tours will not help cruise line financials.

6.  Increase special offers for interline, travel agent rates, military rates etc.  These highly discounted rates are normally more last minute filler business and the rates are not published to the general public.

Remember that the mass market lines only make profit from selling things to people onboard. Generally when you offer incredibly discounted fares, you attract people who normally could not or would not afford to take a cruise. These people are very happy to get a very cheap cruise - and even happier not to spend any money onboard.

I am sure there are many many more possible promos...not all will work but please do something other than drink packages and free internet.....the key is to get people cruising again and to fill every cabin possible.

The key is to get the right people cruising again. Adopting the Walmart market business model will get you plenty of "Walmartians". It's bad enough to have to spend a few hours in a Walmart with those freaks; who wants to spend a week with them, 24/7 ? It may seem counter-intuitive, but filling every cabin possible is not the way to make money in the cruise industry.

[dockman]

21 minutes ago, Donald said:

Let's have a look at these "out of the box" ideas, while bearing in mind that the mass market lines do not make a penny of profit by selling cruises. They only make profit from selling things to people who go on cruises.

 

1.  How about single supplements of 125% on a wide variety of cruises instead of 200%?  Lots of singles would probably jump at the opportunity.

Single cruisers on average spend less money per person, per day, than other cruisers. Why would a cruise line lower fares (thereby lowering revenues) to get more people onboard who spend less money (lowering profits)?

2.  How about running alaska cruises from San Diego or San Pedro to alaska and back via ensenada to get around PSA act.  If alaska ports and some west coast ports remain open it could combine alaska with a coastal voyage into two week itineraries...since canada ports are blocked til july 1 this could hopefully provide some much needed $$ to alaska, west coast and cruise ships who otherwise sit idle in may and June or perhaps beyond....example san diego to san pedro to portland to alaska 7 days  to san francisco to ensenada to san diego type itinerary

You don't work in the cruise industry, so are probably unaware that cruisers who sail out of Southern California spend fewer dollars onboard, per person, per day, than just about any other demographic. Why would a cruise line encourage lower spending guests in an attempt to recover from massive financial losses? San Diego-San Pedro-Portland-Juneau would take 6 days of high speed (high fuel cost) cruising with mostly sea days, short port stops, and one day in Alaska. Then 7 more days of expensive high speed cruising at sea, with a very short (and expensive) port call at San Francisco, to get down to Ensenada and back to San Diego in 14 days. This makes no sense.

3.  Offer extra special senior discounts.  Retired seniors have the time and most the money to go on longer cruises.

Ask the revenue people at Holland America why they have the lowest profit margins in the Carnival Group. Their demographic is heavy with retirees on fixed incomes who spend less per day than younger passengers. They may have plenty of money. They just prefer not to spend it onboard.

4.  Try and schedule as many cruises as possible that pax can drive to and from ports instead of flying.  Consider offering free/discounted parking at ports or even free bus transfers from select cities.

Cruise Line revenue people will tell you that passengers who drive to the cruise port are trying to save money on air fares. Those same people also try to save money onboard, by spending less per day than the passengers who fly. Generally speaking, the most profitable cruises (mass market or otherwise) are those requiring long flights.

5.  Consider offering at least one basic shore excursion per port that is not marked up 300%.  A simple 3 hour half day bus tour does NOT have to cost $100.

Most cruisers do not realise that Shore Tours are 1) the highest revenue producer for mass market lines, and 2) the highest cost % for mass market lines. The massive liability insurance policies that cruise lines are forced to pay for to avoid all the lawsuits from North Americans, effectively wipes out most of the profits from Shore Tours. Offering discounted Shore Tours will not help cruise line financials.

6.  Increase special offers for interline, travel agent rates, military rates etc.  These highly discounted rates are normally more last minute filler business and the rates are not published to the general public.

Remember that the mass market lines only make profit from selling things to people onboard. Generally when you offer incredibly discounted fares, you attract people who normally could not or would not afford to take a cruise. These people are very happy to get a very cheap cruise - and even happier not to spend any money onboard.

I am sure there are many many more possible promos...not all will work but please do something other than drink packages and free internet.....the key is to get people cruising again and to fill every cabin possible.

The key is to get the right people cruising again. Adopting the Walmart market business model will get you plenty of "Walmartians". It's bad enough to have to spend a few hours in a Walmart with those freaks; who wants to spend a week with them, 24/7 ? It may seem counter-intuitive, but filling every cabin possible is not the way to make money in the cruise industry.

 

  Better to have empty cabin not paying tips with zero chance that an empty cabin will spend anything?  Other than food the incremental cost of another passenger on ship is negligible. Nothing more worthless than an empty airplane seat or hotel room and not far behind is an empty cruise ship cabin.

 

So exactly what are YOUR ideas other than a vague "get the right people"?  

 

 

[wearesiamese]

57 minutes ago, Donald said:

The key is to get the right people cruising again. Adopting the Walmart market business model will get you plenty of "Walmartians". It's bad enough to have to spend a few hours in a Walmart with those freaks; who wants to spend a week with them, 24/7 ? 

 

Quote

 Wow! Elitist much?That generalization about Walmart shoppers is not only offensive but uncalled for. Many of us, for various reasons, do not have or earn a lot of money, but do work hard to take cruises and or land based vacations, and I ,for one, sometimes shop at Walmart ..as do  people of many income  brackets! .Money does not buy class or manners. 

P.S. The vast majority of cruisers are not the 1% and  the cruiselines cannot fill the ship with just the  wealthy!!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by wearesiamese

[Nachosdelux]

9 hours ago, marion10 said:

Contain COVID-19. Develop a vaccine.

 

 

this right here.  you are not going to see a return of prior passenger numbers until they develop a vaccine or cure.  

 

The majority of cruise ship passengers happen to be the same age as those with the highest death rate from COVID-19.

 

not a good mix.

[St Pete Cruiser]

20 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

Nice list and good things to start thinking about.......

 

For us, it's all about price......If I can book a balcony on HAL for $100/day/per person (cruise fare) we are onboard.......Forget all the glitter and distractions of drinking packages, Club Orange, OBC, pre-paid tips, gift cards, free shore excursion, free massage...LOL...whatever....just give me a $100/day balcony and I'm onboard.

 

 

Great point.  There were so many promos before all this happened were they gave you everything, except the fare was jacked up to cover it.  

[Donald]

42 minutes ago, dockman said:

 

  Better to have empty cabin not paying tips with zero chance that an empty cabin will spend anything?  Other than food the incremental cost of another passenger on ship is negligible. Nothing more worthless than an empty airplane seat or hotel room and not far behind is an empty cruise ship cabin.

 

So exactly what are YOUR ideas other than a vague "get the right people"?  

 

 

We need to realise that most of the mass market cruise operators are far from homeless. They possess massive assets and extremely deep pockets. They are not panicking, nor grasping at "last ditch" hare-brained schemes to get back into the game. They have been through situations like this before, and they made calculated, sensible plans to recover. Those plans were very successful in the past; they will be equally successful now.

I'm quite sure that your suggestions and ideas were made with the very best intentions. I'm sure that these ideas would be great for someone like you who wants to take an inexpensive cruise (and coincidentally help the cruise lines recover). Unfortunately they do not make any sense to the people, like me, who actually are required by the owners to operate the vessels at a reasonable profit.

My ideas for recovery really do not matter. People with much higher pay scales than mine have already made those decisions.

Let's just relax and watch the experts make it happen. 

[kazu]

2 hours ago, Donald said:

Ask the revenue people at Holland America why they have the lowest profit margins in the Carnival Group. Their demographic is heavy with retirees on fixed incomes who spend less per day than younger passengers. They may have plenty of money. They just prefer not to spend it onboard.

 

I will always dispute this.  I guess we are “officially” seniors now as are my friends that we cruise with and we spend plenty of money on board.

My last two cruises were filled to the max with Mariner credits (not that I need them).

 

In any case, back to the OP’s question.  Nothing needs to be done to make me cruise but fair pricing ( I mean fair, not giveaway) and good itineraries and we will be happy to be back on the high seas again if it is safe 🙂 

[dockman]

1 hour ago, Donald said:

 I'm sure that these ideas would be great for someone like you who wants to take an inexpensive cruise (and coincidentally help the cruise lines recover). Unfortunately they do not make any sense to the people, like me, who actually are required by the owners to operate the vessels at a reasonable profit.

 

So an " inexpensive cruise that help the cruise lines recover"  does not make sense to people like you.

 

Yeah lets hold out for the right people and see how happy the owners are if the "right people" decide to take a year or two off from cruising.

[Dunelm]

What if some of the small, isolated communities in Alaska would not welcome masses of cruisers?   Their health may mean more to them that their economy.

[sevenseasnomad]

I have three cruises booked with HAL right now.  First is set for July 4 Canada/New England.  Second, Christmas Panama Canal.  Third, next April 2021 Mexican Riviera from San Diego.  Worried about the July 4 B2B one.  Time will tell if I get to go or not.  I'm more concerned about an economy sliding toward an abyss.  

 

Meanwhile, my school system is closed for two weeks, and I watch the stock market each day as my 401K loses hundreds of thousands, which will force me to continue working if it doesn't snap back.  Of course, I'm in better shape than others who are wondering how they'll buy groceries this week.  I doubt many Americans right now are thinking about vacations.  Millions are wondering how they'll stay afloat financially.

[Dunelm]

2 hours ago, Donald said:

Let's have a look at these "out of the box" ideas, while bearing in mind that the mass market lines do not make a penny of profit by selling cruises. They only make profit from selling things to people who go on cruises.

 

1.  How about single supplements of 125% on a wide variety of cruises instead of 200%?  Lots of singles would probably jump at the opportunity.

Single cruisers on average spend less money per person, per day, than other cruisers. Why would a cruise line lower fares (thereby lowering revenues) to get more people onboard who spend less money (lowering profits)?

2.  How about running alaska cruises from San Diego or San Pedro to alaska and back via ensenada to get around PSA act.  If alaska ports and some west coast ports remain open it could combine alaska with a coastal voyage into two week itineraries...since canada ports are blocked til july 1 this could hopefully provide some much needed $$ to alaska, west coast and cruise ships who otherwise sit idle in may and June or perhaps beyond....example san diego to san pedro to portland to alaska 7 days  to san francisco to ensenada to san diego type itinerary

You don't work in the cruise industry, so are probably unaware that cruisers who sail out of Southern California spend fewer dollars onboard, per person, per day, than just about any other demographic. Why would a cruise line encourage lower spending guests in an attempt to recover from massive financial losses? San Diego-San Pedro-Portland-Juneau would take 6 days of high speed (high fuel cost) cruising with mostly sea days, short port stops, and one day in Alaska. Then 7 more days of expensive high speed cruising at sea, with a very short (and expensive) port call at San Francisco, to get down to Ensenada and back to San Diego in 14 days. This makes no sense.

3.  Offer extra special senior discounts.  Retired seniors have the time and most the money to go on longer cruises.

Ask the revenue people at Holland America why they have the lowest profit margins in the Carnival Group. Their demographic is heavy with retirees on fixed incomes who spend less per day than younger passengers. They may have plenty of money. They just prefer not to spend it onboard.

4.  Try and schedule as many cruises as possible that pax can drive to and from ports instead of flying.  Consider offering free/discounted parking at ports or even free bus transfers from select cities.

Cruise Line revenue people will tell you that passengers who drive to the cruise port are trying to save money on air fares. Those same people also try to save money onboard, by spending less per day than the passengers who fly. Generally speaking, the most profitable cruises (mass market or otherwise) are those requiring long flights.

5.  Consider offering at least one basic shore excursion per port that is not marked up 300%.  A simple 3 hour half day bus tour does NOT have to cost $100.

Most cruisers do not realise that Shore Tours are 1) the highest revenue producer for mass market lines, and 2) the highest cost % for mass market lines. The massive liability insurance policies that cruise lines are forced to pay for to avoid all the lawsuits from North Americans, effectively wipes out most of the profits from Shore Tours. Offering discounted Shore Tours will not help cruise line financials.

6.  Increase special offers for interline, travel agent rates, military rates etc.  These highly discounted rates are normally more last minute filler business and the rates are not published to the general public.

Remember that the mass market lines only make profit from selling things to people onboard. Generally when you offer incredibly discounted fares, you attract people who normally could not or would not afford to take a cruise. These people are very happy to get a very cheap cruise - and even happier not to spend any money onboard.

I am sure there are many many more possible promos...not all will work but please do something other than drink packages and free internet.....the key is to get people cruising again and to fill every cabin possible.

The key is to get the right people cruising again. Adopting the Walmart market business model will get you plenty of "Walmartians". It's bad enough to have to spend a few hours in a Walmart with those freaks; who wants to spend a week with them, 24/7 ? It may seem counter-intuitive, but filling every cabin possible is not the way to make money in the cruise industry.

Oh, dear!  I know people who are wealthy and shop at Walmart.  In fact, I would guess that people in Walmart are very diverse.  I just do not like to read such stereotyping.  Did you write about supposedly "right people" and "freaks" because you simply wanted to provoke others?

[dockman]

12 minutes ago, Dunelm said:

What if some of the small, isolated communities in Alaska would not welcome masses of cruisers?   Their health may mean more to them that their economy.

 

That is true.  All the more reason for cruise lines to start sorting all this out asap to see what ideas may or may not have merit.

 

Of course it could all be a mute point if alaska ports or ensenda or more american ports don't allow cruises during may and june. If that turns out to be the case I suppose all those ships that normally head for alaska will just anchor somewhere and wait it out.

 

  I do hope and fully expect that there are a lot of very serious conversations going on in cruise line headquarters these days to try and come up with plans a, b, c.

[Heartgrove]

One thing that does not need to happen is a bailout from the US Government for the cruise ship companies. Other than NCL's Pride of America, all of the cruise ships from the various corporations are flagged in other countries. That means they are not paying their fair share of corporate taxes and should not be expecting the US taxpayer to bail them out. Some pay 1% or less on their earnings. An example of this would be like the US taxpayer bailing out the Russian airline Aeroflot! 

 

The latest estimates may have this crisis lasting eighteen months. The Covid virus still is not under control - anywhere!

[cruisemom42]

37 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

 

The latest estimates may have this crisis lasting eighteen months. The Covid virus still is not under control - anywhere!

 

You do not think the virus is under control in China, where they have been reporting fewer than 50 new cases per day for the past 7-10 days?  (As compared with Italy's 4,000+ today, or nearly 3,000 in the US...)

[CruiserBruce]

46 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

The latest estimates may have this crisis lasting eighteen months. The Covid virus still is not under control - anywhere!

The source for that is a planning document, not a scientific prediction. It COULD go that long, which would somewhat replicate the Spanish flu epidemic. But they can't scientifically say it WILL go that long.

[DeeniEncinitas]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I will always dispute this.  I guess we are “officially” seniors now as are my friends that we cruise with and we spend plenty of money on board.

My last two cruises were filled to the max with Mariner credits (not that I need them).

 

In any case, back to the OP’s question.  Nothing needs to be done to make me cruise but fair pricing ( I mean fair, not giveaway) and good itineraries and we will be happy to be back on the high seas again if it is safe 🙂 

I so agree with you Jacqui!

I am sorry you too were affected by the mass canceled cruises across the board!

I received today from my navigator app a reminder from The Rotterdam about our reservation at 5:30 for dinner at Sel de Mar! I felt sad 😞 because we would of been cruising out of Hautulco ! I still feel 

empty but safe to be home! I guess I will say A Happy Anniversary to you and Jose in advance that you were going to celebrate on your cruise!

Denise😊