Is Princess having a Brand/Identity crisis - your thoughts?

[Roz]

13 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

You're on to something there.  I think Baby Boomers are brand loyal because they didn't have all the media growing up and don't really know how to use media at their age.  They had the news and product commercials/advertisements.  They're not used to taking to the Internet to find out about new brands.

 

I'm almost 72, and I assure you that people my age (Boomers) know how to search for information online.  

[Globaler]

3 minutes ago, Globaler said:

Lol you really think you are funny and aren’t really contributing to the discussion. In hallways. Have you sailed on the Sun. I thinking no. Because if you have you wouldn’t making that remark.

That answers that.

[voljeep]

4 minutes ago, Globaler said:

Lol you really think you are funny and aren’t really contributing to the discussion. In hallways. Have you sailed on the Sun. I thinking no. Because if you have you wouldn’t making that remark.

I will notice exactly none of that when we cruise in October, despite these postings which I will forget in ab...

[SCX22]

2 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I read this to my husband.  Thank you for our laugh of the day. I’m a baby boomer (on the youngest end) and I can assure you that all of my baby boomer friends are VERY internet savvy and use it for all our product and service research. Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook (duh), YouTube…we’ve got them all covered. I will say that we are more resistant to influencers than younger cruisers (a glamorous selfie from the Lido Deck doesn’t motivate me to book another Princess cruise), but being brand loyal has nothing to do with inability to do internet research.

 

Outliers don't make a statistic.  AARP released a study about Boomers and technology in 2023.  68% of 50-plus consumers don't think technology is designed with them in mind. 

 

 

Edited July 16 by SCX22

[shandryl]

18 hours ago, MacMadame said:

know what it means. That's why I stopped reading the OP's post as soon as he used it in a culture war way.

agree. 

[SCX22]

15 minutes ago, Roz said:

I'm almost 72, and I assure you that people my age (Boomers) know how to search for information online.  

 

Given the questions sometimes asked on this very forum, I'm not sure that they do.

[TRLD]

9 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Outliers don't make a statistic.  AARP released a study about Boomers and technology in 2023.  68% of 50-plus consumers don't think technology is designed with them in mind. 

I suspect a large share of that 68% do not cruise either.

 

There is also a difference between not thinking that a given app or technology was designed with them in mind, and not using or understanding the technology.

 

If a person has a vision problem they may think for example that an app with small lettering was not designed with them in mind.

 

For that matter some of the Apps my IT organization built according to my requirements, I would say was not designed for me because I know what demographics they were designed for.

Edited July 16 by TRLD

[voljeep]

14 minutes ago, TRLD said:

I suspect a large share of that 68% do not cruise either.

 

There is also a difference between not thinking that a given app or technology was designed with them in mind, and not using or understanding the technology.

 

If a person has a vision problem they may think for example that an app with small lettering was not designed with them in mind.

 

For that matter some of the Apps my IT organization built according to my requirements, I would say was not designed for me because I know what demographics they were designed for.

I was shocked - shocked I was - years ago when Carnival Corp. was going to rollout the Medallion technology on the P ships demographics 

[BTfan]

I think it's pretty impressive how the Medallions have enhanced the cruise experience and is easy to use for so many people that aren't techies.

[MacMadame]

36 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Given the questions sometimes asked on this very forum, I'm not sure that they do.

IME, people don't read and they don't listen. So being able to search for the info doesn't even come into play. 🤣

[Globaler]

8 minutes ago, BTfan said:

I think it's pretty impressive how the Medallions have enhanced the cruise experience and is easy to use for so many people that aren't techies.

I think they could use the medallion system to help deal with the pool lounger savers. The pool chairs could be equipped where someone would have to tap their medallion every hour or so in order to signify it was in use. Fool proof no but I don’t think there is a system that is. The Sun did have a lot of pool space and loungers so there wasn’t much of an issue but I did notice people saving loungers in the Sun and shade and moved back in forth. Personally, that is a pet peeve of mine.

Edited July 16 by Globaler

[BlerkOne]

I think Princess knows what is best for Princess. A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to let customers manage it.

[SCX22]

5 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I think Princess knows what is best for Princess. A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to let customers manage it.

 

Customers are allowed to provide input.  The post cruise survey is major example of this.  EZAir listened to customers when they shortened the flight dates to 5 days pre/post cruise.  It's now 3 weeks pre/post cruise.  The App is governed by customer input.  When the Princess Cruises App was first released, passengers couldn't get a green check mark under Payment Methods unless they agreed to providing their CC info to a 3rd Party for the MedallionPay function.  Because of customer complaints, Princess removed the requirement for MedallionPay. 

[Kay S]

2 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

The old school Princess cruiser has an entire fleet of ships that they have been happy sailing in the past that they can continue to sail on if they don't like the Royal Class and of course the Sphere Class.  

At least for the time being...

[Retired-N-Happy]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

 

Outliers don't make a statistic.  AARP released a study about Boomers and technology in 2023.  68% of 50-plus consumers don't think technology is designed with them in mind. 

 

 

Technology is not designed with baby boomers in mind. The core audience is primarily substantially younger.  But at the same time you're extremely naive to think that babyboomers don't utilize the world wide web and other technology aspects on a daily basis in their lives for various reasons.

I don't use FB or Instagram but I have seen many Tik Tok videos and I watch cruise related YouTube videos on a daily basis as well as other YouTube videos about topics I'm interested in.

[Retired-N-Happy]

10 minutes ago, Kay S said:

At least for the time being...

You still have 10 non Royal or Sphere Class ships to choose from.  By the time they are all mothballed, those cruisers that like them will have either moved on to other lines or will no longer be cruising.

[BlerkOne]

10 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Customers are allowed to provide input.  The post cruise survey is major example of this.  EZAir listened to customers when they shortened the flight dates to 5 days pre/post cruise.  It's now 3 weeks pre/post cruise.  The App is governed by customer input.  When the Princess Cruises App was first released, passengers couldn't get a green check mark under Payment Methods unless they agreed to providing their CC info to a 3rd Party for the MedallionPay function.  Because of customer complaints, Princess removed the requirement for MedallionPay. 

If you get a survey at all.

 

Princess isn't an airline - they buy bulk tickets from airlines. I bought air directly from the airline for my net Princess cruise for half the cost of what Princess was trying to charge. Caveat Emptor.

 

The CC issue is more likely to limit Princess liability.

 

If Princess really listened to customer complaints, Customer Service would have been overhauled yesterday.

[Kay S]

"Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS RDI FRSA DFBCS FREng (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the HTML markup language, the URL system, and HTTP."

 

Oh look!  A Boomer invented the technology!  Here, dumb me, I thought it was invented by four college freshman just last Christmas. 😝 😝 😝

[memoak]

8 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Technology is not designed with baby boomers in mind. The core audience is primarily substantially younger.  But at the same time you're extremely naive to think that babyboomers don't utilize the world wide web and other technology aspects on a daily basis in their lives for various reasons.

I don't use FB or Instagram but I have seen many Tik Tok videos and I watch cruise related YouTube videos on a daily basis as well as other YouTube videos about topics I'm interested in.

As a 74 year old cruiser I was programming until my retirement 3 years ago. Everyone my age I know uses technology daily

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

As a 74 year old cruiser I was programming until my retirement 3 years ago. Everyone my age I know uses technology daily

I don't disagree.  I was responding to SCX22 and their post implying that baby boomers think that technology is not designed with us in mind.

[SCX22]

2 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

But at the same time you're extremely naive to think that babyboomers don't utilize the world wide web and other technology aspects on a daily basis in their lives for various reasons.

 

My point is many lack the knowledge and confidence for the functions of the Internet, and technology in general, keeps many older folks from using it to it's fullest potential.  Just look at these boards and how some can't even distinguish INTRAnet from INTERnet.  This probably isn't you because your are defending it, but it's a lot of older folks.  Younger generations were brought up with the Internet and they know how to use it from a young age, albeit not always for good.

[CDNCruiser55]

30 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I think Princess knows what is best for Princess. A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to let customers manage it.

 

A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to ignore it's loyal customer base.

 

That doesn't mean you can't try new things, but losing a loyal customer for a one time cruiser is not a wise business decision.

 

I have been cruising with Princess for 14 years and am Elite status. I like Princess for its casual elegance, for not being a party ship or an amusement park on water yet not being too formal either. That suits my, and my wife's, personality well. I have not yet been on Sun Princess but I have some concerns about the direction it took. I think the changes to the Piazza removing the curved staircases and adding massive digital screens is removing some of that 'elegance' I liked. Adding Park 19 (or at least trying to) is also not a direction I am excited about. Both are, in my opinion, departures from what I like most about Princess. They are small departures so maybe when I get around to trying Sun Princess I won't have any issue with them but if they venture too far down this path I will certainly consider looking at other cruise lines. For now I'll probably stick mostly to Royal class ships.

 

 

[SCX22]

8 minutes ago, Kay S said:

"Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS RDI FRSA DFBCS FREng (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the HTML markup language, the URL system, and HTTP."

 

Oh look!  A Boomer invented the technology!  Here, dumb me, I thought it was invented by four college freshman just last Christmas. 😝 😝 😝

 

I think sometimes people can be too easily offended.

 

Gates, Jobs, and Wozniak were all boomers and made major breakthroughs for technology.  Doesn't mean all boomers were responsible for the take off.  The Millennials were the first generation to start to use it in their everyday life and took it to where it is today.  Social Media was created by Millennials.  Millennials were the first generation to have online shopping.  When I went to high school my English Teacher made it mandatory that essays were submitted typed via a word processor and printed.  She admitted this was the first time in her career that she made this a requirement.

[TRLD]

57 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Customers are allowed to provide input.  The post cruise survey is major example of this.  EZAir listened to customers when they shortened the flight dates to 5 days pre/post cruise.  It's now 3 weeks pre/post cruise.  The App is governed by customer input.  When the Princess Cruises App was first released, passengers couldn't get a green check mark under Payment Methods unless they agreed to providing their CC info to a 3rd Party for the MedallionPay function.  Because of customer complaints, Princess removed the requirement for MedallionPay. 

yes and no. There is a point of view practice by several companies. One of which is Apple, where they discourage customer feedback. The view is that engaging with unhappy customers keeps them and their complaints around  That it encourages them to continue to complain publicly. That it is better to not engage and have them go away.  Basically that there products are aimed for a segment of the market  that like them, and that they will not change them to appeal to those that do not. They collect their information according to their designed development process and customer feedback outside of that process was really not desired. or as Steve Jobs put it "you cannot just ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them".

 

 For a portion of my career I had a head of customer service report to me. If they received a complaint where the problem was a failure to deliver to our product standards or where our operational standards were not met, we moved to fix the issue and we were responsive to the customer.

 

If the complaint was because the customer wanted something that was outside of the scope of the design of our product/services we would say that the feedback would be provided to design/operations team.

 

Sometimes you just had customers that we would consider to not be a good fit and would let them know that as well.

Edited July 16 by TRLD

[TRLD]

20 minutes ago, CDNCruiser55 said:

 

A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to ignore it's loyal customer base.

 

That doesn't mean you can't try new things, but losing a loyal customer for a one time cruiser is not a wise business decision.

 

I have been cruising with Princess for 14 years and am Elite status. I like Princess for its casual elegance, for not being a party ship or an amusement park on water yet not being too formal either. That suits my, and my wife's, personality well. I have not yet been on Sun Princess but I have some concerns about the direction it took. I think the changes to the Piazza removing the curved staircases and adding massive digital screens is removing some of that 'elegance' I liked. Adding Park 19 (or at least trying to) is also not a direction I am excited about. Both are, in my opinion, departures from what I like most about Princess. They are small departures so maybe when I get around to trying Sun Princess I won't have any issue with them but if they venture too far down this path I will certainly consider looking at other cruise lines. For now I'll probably stick mostly to Royal class ships.

 

 

Another good way for a company to go bankrupt is to try and be everything to everybody.