What is Premium?

[Psilor]

I recently came back from a great cruise with the Celebrity Equinox (Eastern Caribbean, January 2-11). It was actually my (and my partner's, and our whole party of five's) first cruise, so granted I do not have a lot to compare with, but after a lot of canvassing on Cruise Critic and elsewhere on the web I feel there are several interesting topics to discuss about the cruising concept. One such topic I raised in my review of the said cruise, but it actually fits better here in the discussion forums, so therefore I created this thread - "What is Premium?" And what will make people want to continue to pay for it?

 

What sparked this question was that I recently read an interview from February 2015 with Celebrity CEO, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo on the Travel Agent Central website (I found it when I was looking for news about the new Celebrity Edge project...), where she made a few comments to the effect that the segmentation into "contemporary", "premium" and "luxury" is less and less valid, partly because these labels mean different things for different people, but also because people can get any type of experience on almost any modern ship. The example given was that premium guests can get a great vacation on a contemporary segment ship like the Quantum of the Seas. (My apologies to Lisa if I in any way misunderstood her...)

 

While the example above is most likely true (most modern ships seem to have cabins, venues and restaurants that fit all three segments, or at least the contemporary and premium segments), I believe that to have a premium cabin and access to premium restaurants are not the only things that determine whether you have a "premium" experience.

 

I found on the Equinox that (except for the poolside experience) a big part of what "felt premium" was to be able to freely walk around on a ship that did not feel crowded; to sit on the grass lawn without it being full of people or with people playing and running around; to be able to go to a bar and very likely get nice seats even though we were a party of five; to be able to book a restaurant the same day (which we were mostly able to do except for with Murano, which was fully booked when we tried to go there a second time), and so on. This aspect of the ship not being overcrowded when moving between the different spaces, and the service level anywhere on the ship - that is what makes it a truly premium experience, and what I and my travel companions were and will continue to be prepared to pay a premium price for. It is not enough that we can pay for separate premium experiences on any ship (i.e premium cabin, premium restaurants, etc.).

 

So in that respect, when looking at the entirety of a cruise ship, the contemporary/premium/luxury segmentation is still valid, and I really do hope that Celebrity will continue to provide it, because otherwise, in the long run, why would Celebrity be needed as a separate brand at all?

 

Anyone else care to share their thoughts on this? Do you agree? Do you think my reasoning makes sense?

Edited January 27, 2016 by Psilor

[az_tchr]

Good comments and I agree the the ships feel uncrowded. Where others disagree is mostly because of the reduction in staff - like room stewards getting 4-6 more cabin about 2 years ago - and the little things - like fresh flowers and water in AQ or chocolates which have left and come back - that you get used to.

 

Celebrity is fighting to keep prices down and still offer "luxury" feel. To those of us that have cruised for a long time the demand for low pricing has meant a hit on the services provided.

 

As to a separate brand - RCCL markets more to families and I quite frankly do not want to cruise again with some 600 kids as I did on RCCL. Everything else there fine and cabins exactly the same. Just a different demographic niche to marketing.

[SheriffJoe]

I am sure X will continue to be a cut above (in my opinion anyway) than most other lines....sure you can have a premium experience if you book "The Haven" on an NCL ship which is a private area for suites with their own pool, attendants and such BUT the rest of the ship is still the NCL experience which to me is awful, full of pinks, purples, yellows and in your face decorations which made me feel like I was in a circus and not on a cruise :eek:....I kept expecting a clown to show up at any moment..:p

[Psilor]

Thanks az_tchr and SheriffJoe for your comments, which seem to confirm the view that separate premium "islands" on an otherwise non-premium ship will not be enough if a premium experience is what one wants. I am curious to try out other cruise lines, but at the same time I did feel that Celebrity was a near-perfect match, so not sure I want to gamble (considering I will likely at most do one cruise per year) :)