Are Millennial and Gen Z abandoning Celebrity?

[mcatmcat]

Hi 🖐️

 

I joined celebrity last year, we sailed from FL☀️ and went to Equinox x2 and silhouette once. I know X 👔is not royal🏄‍♂️ and I was scared since all my friends were telling me that celebrity is for seniors and thats all I was going to find.

 

It wasnt that bad, I saw plenty of Millennial👫🏻 and Gen Z ⛹🏻‍♂️in most activities and walking around the ship. However, a friend who went to Relection like 3 months ago noticed less young people👵🏻. Another friend went to the beyond this month and he told me is was packed🚦 with seniors. Lastly, I watched a youtube video 🎟️of a couple bbaoring the beyond last week and they uploaded almost 2 hours of video for day 1🧳, showing diferente places of the ship🚢 at different time without much editing or effect and I only saw 4 young people. 🗣️

 

Do you think are giving up with celebrity or do you think it is just coincidence? 💬

[markeb]

I suspect it’s complicated. Like most things. I’m actually more curious about Gen Z and cruising in general. Probably millennials as well. 
 

Celebrity’s more or less professed target segment would include both groups. Especially the ability and willingness to spend and a pursuit of experience. Are they cruising as a group, or are they getting those experiences elsewhere? Don’t know. The challenge for a company like celebrity is to attract that group without throwing away boomers and X’ers too soon. 
 

Once upon a time there was Oldsmobile…

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, mcatmcat said:

Hi 🖐️

 

I joined celebrity last year, we sailed from FL☀️ and went to Equinox x2 and silhouette once. I know X 👔is not royal🏄‍♂️ and I was scared since all my friends were telling me that celebrity is for seniors and thats all I was going to find.

 

It wasnt that bad, I saw plenty of Millennial👫🏻 and Gen Z ⛹🏻‍♂️in most activities and walking around the ship. However, a friend who went to Relection like 3 months ago noticed less young people👵🏻. Another friend went to the beyond this month and he told me is was packed🚦 with seniors. Lastly, I watched a youtube video 🎟️of a couple bbaoring the beyond last week and they uploaded almost 2 hours of video for day 1🧳, showing diferente places of the ship🚢 at different time without much editing or effect and I only saw 4 young people. 🗣️

 

Do you think are giving up with celebrity or do you think it is just coincidence? 💬

So many things affect the ages of passengers including: itinerary, length of cruise, dates, ship etc it's virtually impossible to compare one cruise with another.

On 3 successive departures from Southsmpton Silhouette ( we were B2B) cruise 1, 8 nights, 2000 passengers 80 kids, cruise 2, 12 nights 800 passengers, zero kids,  the next cruise (thankfully we has disembarked) 2800 passengers and 400 kids.

[Georgia_Peaches]

At the age of 56, I’m considered a senior 😳, I dare say I can hang with the “young” people and give them a run for their money both in the martini bar and on the dance floor. Frankly, I rarely notice the age demographics when I cruise. As long as there aren’t too many “young” ones, I’m good……kidding of course! 😊

[Lena11033]

23 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

At the age of 56, I’m considered a senior 😳, 

lol my husband is 60 next year (not that you'd know it).

 

I'm a millennial technically on the high end as I was born in 81. I think the penguins is correct its not a simple answer they do cater to both but its going to depend on itinerary and length of cruise.

My Beyond cruise was a mix and had kids (10 days in the summer), my summit one last year I'd say 40's (4 days in spring) and up but my constellation I would say mostly older and I'm talking 60 plus (12 days in Feb).

 

As much as people don't like the 7 day cruises I can see why X did them, depending on jobs people my age may not have a lot of vacation to use so 7 days is more likely to attract them. When I moved from the UK to Canada my first job I only had 2 weeks vacation it was a shock coming from a country when legally I was entitled to 4 weeks. I've been at my company now 16 years so have 5 weeks vacation but I'd say most people I work with only have 3 weeks unless they've been with the company over 5 years then they have 4. So if someone jumps job to job they may have around 3 weeks (this is based on where I live I can't speak for US vacation)

 

After vacation allowance I'd say cost comes in of how often people are traveling, I've had a few trips booked because I booked 2 years ago when prices were lower but now one cruise I have for next year I'll be cancelling due to interest rates being high and my mortgage coming up for renewal its just not reasonable to do a 2 week cruise.

[horseymike]

complicated question for sure . X is not really a cruise line for small kids , hence people who have them usually gravitate  to other lines. the other side of the coin is the timing and price of the cruise when the potential cruiser has the window of opportunity to go, they will usually seek out the best option for the best price depending on their personal situation.

I have done several X cruises and seen a mix of all ages on all of them.

Finally , older / retired people usually have more free time to travel than people who are still working full time, obviously that is a factor.

[TeeRick]

In general you will have different populations of cruise demographics based on a number of factors.

 

Longer cruises and unique itineraries tend to attract more seasoned passengers without small children in tow.

 

Standard 7-night cruises out of FL particularly in vacation/holiday periods will attract younger passengers and more children.  Same can be said for Europe and Alaska in the summer.

 

You can choose to categorize these folks by whatever popular terms of demographic cohort that you wish, but people are not so easily classified IMO.

[Tom and Ingrid]

6 hours ago, markeb said:

I suspect it’s complicated. Like most things. I’m actually more curious about Gen Z and cruising in general. Probably millennials as well. 

I'm guessing it's the exact same questions folks asked about Gen X and before them Baby Boomers 😄. The wheel of time keeps on turning. ⏱️

[Water_Baby_]

I’ve got a different take. Finances are tight for almost everyone. But Boomers and Gen X tend to have more disposable income. Plus more vacation time, some being retired, fewer at home responsibilities like kids. 

[jelayne]

In the past 2 1/2 years we have primarily sailed on E class ships and had seen more Millennial and Gen Z passengers on those ships than we have sent on either the S or M class ships.  

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Fiancé and I are mid-twenties and Celebrity is our preferred line.  Plenty of millennials and gen z'ers on our recent Mediterranean cruise on the Ascent.  

[C-Dragons]

7 hours ago, markeb said:

I suspect it’s complicated. Like most things. I’m actually more curious about Gen Z and cruising in general. Probably millennials as well. 
 

Celebrity’s more or less professed target segment would include both groups. Especially the ability and willingness to spend and a pursuit of experience. Are they cruising as a group, or are they getting those experiences elsewhere? Don’t know. The challenge for a company like celebrity is to attract that group without throwing away boomers and X’ers too soon. 
 

Ounce upon a time there was Oldsmobile…

Have you seen the prices some of those Oldsmobiles are selling for now? 😳

IMO, X will always need Boomers and Gen X'ers. 😎

[Tom and Ingrid]

45 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

IMO, X will always need Boomers and Gen X'ers. 😎

Sadly, as a Gen Xer, I've hit the halfway point on my journey through life, so Celebrity, for NOW is safe relying on me, but since I remember when Gen X was the Gen Z crowd that confused the older Boomer and even earlier gens, I know these newer gens will "age up" into the new normal for Celebrity.  In no time, they'll be regaling the next gen about how "when we were kids, you played video games on a TV or phone!" to the wonder of those youngsters.  "Uncle Dave, what's a TV?"  😂

[Jeremiah1212]

With this last iteration of branding they did a pretty sizable shift in their marketing approach. I would say the opposite is true. Millennials and Gen Z have a lot of customer life left in them and are showing up in significant numbers. Boomers+ will start to dwindle sooner than later. 

 

But all in perspective - of course if you take a 12 day cruise on an old M class ship to Canada the average age is going to climb way up there. 

[markeb]

27 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

Have you seen the prices some of those Oldsmobiles are selling for now? 😳

IMO, X will always need Boomers and Gen X'ers. 😎

Have you seen an Oldsmobile dealer lately? 
 

There were lots of problems, but not being able to explain why they were different from Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and Pontiac didn’t help, and being best identified as your grandfather’s or crazy aunt’s car just made it worse. 
 

Statistically, millennials are the largest generation. Boomers are attriting to be impolite. If they always need Boomers (including me) they have a corporate shelf life…

[KKB]

10 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

Hi 🖐️

 

I joined celebrity last year, we sailed from FL☀️ and went to Equinox x2 and silhouette once. I know X 👔is not royal🏄‍♂️ and I was scared since all my friends were telling me that celebrity is for seniors and thats all I was going to find.

 

It wasnt that bad, I saw plenty of Millennial👫🏻 and Gen Z ⛹🏻‍♂️in most activities and walking around the ship. However, a friend who went to Relection like 3 months ago noticed less young people👵🏻. Another friend went to the beyond this month and he told me is was packed🚦 with seniors. Lastly, I watched a youtube video 🎟️of a couple bbaoring the beyond last week and they uploaded almost 2 hours of video for day 1🧳, showing diferente places of the ship🚢 at different time without much editing or effect and I only saw 4 young people. 🗣️

 

Do you think are giving up with celebrity or do you think it is just coincidence? 💬

IMPOSSIBLE to make such a generalization based on a handful of anecdotal evidence.

 

Now, we know that Millenials & Gen Z r more likely to be on Carnival, NCL & RCCL--marketing ensures that.

 

We also know that Celebrity Eclass was created somewhat to bring more of that demographic.

 

And as said before--the things that affect demographics of a particular sailing the most are itinerary, length of cruise, timing of cruise & price.

 

You will find more of these demographics on any line in the Caribbean, 7 days or shorter, Spring Break, summers & holidays (works around their college breaks or their chidren's school breaks), and lower price points.

 

After 40 cruises over 20 years on most mainstream lines, my anecdotal evidence supports these. Not a scientific study to be sure. But that in addition to other's anecdotal evidence (which I have gleaned thru exhaustive cruise research here & elsewhere over 20 years), these are pretty good generalizations.

[BobbM81]

I’m a millennial that loves Celebrity. For me, the ships are nice and there aren’t a lot of small children running around. We took our last RC cruise in 2020

[AstoriaPreppy]

11 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

It wasnt that bad, I saw plenty of Millennial👫🏻 and Gen Z ⛹🏻‍♂️in most activities and walking around the ship. However, a friend who went to Relection like 3 months ago noticed less young people👵🏻. Another friend went to the beyond this month and he told me is was packed🚦 with seniors. Lastly, I watched a youtube video 🎟️of a couple bbaoring the beyond last week and they uploaded almost 2 hours of video for day 1🧳, showing diferente places of the ship🚢 at different time without much editing or effect and I only saw 4 young people. 🗣️

 

 

I'd note that some of the "there are no millennials" reports come from friends, not your first-hand experience. As a millennial, I'd say that it tends to be highly dependent on timing and or itinerary. On some of our Celebrity cruises, we've had tons of people our age... other times (patagonia/South America in February) were the youngest passengers. It's hit or miss, but I'd say Celebrity definitely skews younger than Princess/HAL in our experience. 

Edited May 29 by AstoriaPreppy

[Cap_D]

Not that a lot of this would be apparent  before sailing, but a lot of the Celebrity experience is dated and fixed at the time of the original deployment.  For some that is a source of comfort, but for others it's not going to appeal.  And, it's not Disney classic, but rather at this point just dated.  Like walking around old department stores.  For example, many of the background music soundtracks, theater shows and their music, visible technology (or lack of it, like the crude thermostat on older ships), decor, cabins, bathrooms, etc.  Younger passengers (of which I am one) want newer and fresh, or at least updated.  So, depending on the ship, one could be very disappointed or get the feel of hotel past its prime.  Venues like Cellar Masters (and the 70s soundtrack) seems like it an old 80/90s Marriott or Steak n Ale's pub (if it were still in business).  Not everything needs to be Virgin, which is its own to vibe.  But, the vibe on some Celebrity ships is without question unrenovated and fixed in time.  Edge class will likely have the same fate unless they have a different maintenance and refresh schedule.  Hyatt's,  Ritz Carltons, Fairmonts, Marriotts, and Westin renovate from time to time, update lobby music and not default to Sweet Caroline or similar tunes no matter how classic, etc.  Fully realize cruise ships are not often updated, and that's the nature of the business.

Edited May 29 by Cap_D

[alfiemom]

And what’s wrong with us “older” folks?  We’ve cruised X for well over 20 years.  We’ve seen babies, toddlers, young couples, middle age couples, single females (of all ages), single males and those with white hair like mine.  There’s all sorts of things to do on board and in ports that would appeal to any age group.  And if you’re sitting at the martini bar of an evening, perhaps start a conversation with one of us “older folks “.  You may find us interesting, well traveled and even humorous.

 

[TeeRick]

Older Folks.  Generation OF. 😁

[Tom and Ingrid]

12 minutes ago, alfiemom said:

And what’s wrong with us “older” folks?  We’ve cruised X for well over 20 years.

Using "generation" groups is sort of the wrong approach to this topic.  Millennials in their 40s now, are far different than the younger group of Millennials still in their 20s!  It's probably makes more sense to think along the line of 18-24, 25-30, 31-39, 40s, 50s, etc..

 

I'm thinking all of us were demonstrably different in our late 20s vs early 40s, so grouping folks spanning age 11(!) up to age 43, sure seems like a REALLY broad group for Celebrity to try to focus on. 

 

On Celebrity, you'll certainly see the late 30s and early 40s folks, and many of the Z folks will be with their parents, not as paying guests in large enough numbers yet for Celebrity to be chasing them with advertising dollars.  

[keysey222]

1. My husband and I are "old" Millennials bordering on Gen X. We like sailing Celebrity, but we don't chase ships, we chase locations. The more we travel, the more we seek out unique/exotic ports. We have limited vacation time, so we won't waste it on Caribbean itineraries that include stops at places like Nassau, Bahamas or Coco Cay, etc. I think Celebrity does a decent job targeting our demographic by offering cruises 14 days or less that tackle some unique ports (Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Brazil, Morocco, Japan, etc.) Many of the other cruise lines that sail to more exotic ports have itineraries that are simply too long for those of us without unlimited vacation. We simply can't do more than 2 weeks on a ship and I think Celebrity has always been a good line to accommodate this. I can only speak for myself, but I think their attempt to lure my generation and younger by shifting towards shorter, basic Caribbean runs to Coco Cay is a miss. We are all on social media and see people visiting more exotic destinations and far away lands. We want that too. We're willing to take a long flight to do it. Give us an adventure in 14 days or less. If I want a short run (I don't..) to the Bahamas and Coco Cay, I can sail Royal or literally ANY other line.
2.  

[alsleeper]

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.

[C-Dragons]

5 hours ago, markeb said:

Have you seen an Oldsmobile dealer lately? 
 

There were lots of problems, but not being able to explain why they were different from Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and Pontiac didn’t help, and being best identified as your grandfather’s or crazy aunt’s car just made it worse. 
 

Statistically, millennials are the largest generation. Boomers are attriting to be impolite. If they always need Boomers (including me) they have a corporate shelf life…

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.)