Target clients

[Mytravellove]

4 minutes ago, floridalover5623 said:

An excerpt from a CC post from BruceMuzz in 2014 was as follows....

He works for the cruise industry (not only Princess) & oversee's most aspects of the ships operations. 

"Carnival proved to the rest of us long ago that frequent cruisers are the biggest money loser we have.

They are generally high maintenance and not cost-effective to the line. The more cruises they take, the less they spend onboard our ships. Since today's cruise line sales model is selling cruises at cost or at a loss, then recouping profits through onboard spending, the frugal frequent cruiser is our worst enemy.

My employer recently conducted a study, comparing frequency of cruising with onboard spending.

Every time a passenger takes another cruise, his/her onboard spending drops an average 9%.

After 10 cruises, they are spending essentially nothing onboard. The cruise line is transporting them for free."

 

Wow, that is very interesting...and like BruceMuzz said, I don't spend anything on board. Thanks for posting this excerpt, floridalover5623.

[nukesubsailor]

26 minutes ago, floridalover5623 said:

An excerpt from a CC post from BruceMuzz in 2014 was as follows....

He works for the cruise industry (not only Princess) & oversee's most aspects of the ships operations. 

"Carnival proved to the rest of us long ago that frequent cruisers are the biggest money loser we have.

They are generally high maintenance and not cost-effective to the line. The more cruises they take, the less they spend onboard our ships. Since today's cruise line sales model is selling cruises at cost or at a loss, then recouping profits through onboard spending, the frugal frequent cruiser is our worst enemy.

My employer recently conducted a study, comparing frequency of cruising with onboard spending.

Every time a passenger takes another cruise, his/her onboard spending drops an average 9%.

After 10 cruises, they are spending essentially nothing onboard. The cruise line is transporting them for free."

 

If it still true today that cruise lines fares are sold at cost and the only profit comes from the passengers onboard expenditures----then why does Princess incur the costs of loyalty-rewarding events such as the Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail parties,  Captains' Circle cocktail parties, and Most Travelled Passenger parties.  Why would Princess provide Loyalty Onboard Credit for those with 21 or more cruise credits?

[USCcruisecrazy]

I guess when doing a true comparison, the first question would be: how do you define a newbie?  Is it their first cruise, they have 5 or less, 10 or less?  That also goes hand in hand with the article by Bruce Muzz quoted from above.

 

We have been on a number of cruises dating back to 2001, almost exclusively on Princess.  In all those years, we have never purchased the Drink Package, never bought 1 single piece of artwork, usually purchase 1 photo for a keepsake, don't often throw money at the Casino, and usually do 1 specialty restaurant each time.  So, our spending habits have not changed, with the exception of moving up into a higher class of cabin.  A few cruises ago, we were upgraded for free to a mini-suite, so now that's all we book.  So, in comparison to years past, we spend more on the cabin and about the same on the onboard purchases.  One place we have saved is our current tactic of bringing a nice bottle of wine for each night in the MDR and paying the corkage fee.  Now Princess only gets $15 a bottle instead of $50-$60 a bottle. :)

[OCruisers]

40 minutes ago, nukesubsailor said:

If it still true today that cruise lines fares are sold at cost and the only profit comes from the passengers onboard expenditures----then why does Princess incur the costs of loyalty-rewarding events such as the Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail parties,  Captains' Circle cocktail parties, and Most Travelled Passenger parties.  Why would Princess provide Loyalty Onboard Credit for those with 21 or more cruise credits?

 

Agree with the above!

Princess certainly wants returning passengers and wouldn't offer the perks if it were not profitable to encourage loyalty.  

 

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, Mytravellove said:

Wow, that is very interesting...and like BruceMuzz said, I don't spend anything on board. Thanks for posting this excerpt, floridalover5623.

 "wow"  is right. and certainly a head scratcher  

[ohnonotmeagain]

If Brucemuzz is correct, perhaps that's the reason for eroding /declining standards. The company really want the new blood......but why  reward loyalty???? 

That's why I'm only a passenger not a CEO!!

[floridalover5623]

1 hour ago, nukesubsailor said:

If it still true today that cruise lines fares are sold at cost and the only profit comes from the passengers onboard expenditures----then why does Princess incur the costs of loyalty-rewarding events such as the Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail parties,  Captains' Circle cocktail parties, and Most Travelled Passenger parties.  Why would Princess provide Loyalty Onboard Credit for those with 21 or more cruise credits?

Of course Princess has to retain their loyal cruisers by offering some perks but all of the things you mentioned don't really cost Princess that much, except the Loyalty on board credit perk.

 

So they have a  Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail party? Al they do is feed the people some snacks & hope they buy some drinks. 🤑 Snack all you want & you'll eat less at dinner. 

 

Captains' Circle cocktail party? What are they giving you? A watered down drink and maybe a few snacks. You'll again eat less at dinner.

 

Most Traveled Passenger party? Well that only applies to the top 20 or 40 people and yes that probably does cost them a few dollars. Who knows how much, but it is a nice affair.

 

Don't get me wrong, the perks are nice but after all is said & done they would rather have a new cruiser occupy my cabin spending  money like I used to do 25 years ago when we were working.   

 

[Dani24]

1 hour ago, nukesubsailor said:

If it still true today that cruise lines fares are sold at cost and the only profit comes from the passengers onboard expenditures----then why does Princess incur the costs of loyalty-rewarding events such as the Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail parties,  Captains' Circle cocktail parties, and Most Travelled Passenger parties.  Why would Princess provide Loyalty Onboard Credit for those with 21 or more cruise credits?

 

The cruise passenger market is limited compared to the overall travel industry. So, to fill ships, cruise lines have to both attract travelers in the current cruise customer pool, and try to persuade non-cruisers that cruising is worth their travel dollars. The latter is definitely much harder than the former. 

 

Additionally, with the variety of cruise lines available, those existing cruise customers would likely bounce around if it weren't for loyalty programs. But with the promise of some perks after a few sailings on a particular cruise line, particularly newer customers are likely to hang on to get those freebies. And a particular cruise line (say, Princess) would rather have the customer  spend their money on their line than spend it on a competitor's line. Even if they're only breaking even. So, again, offering perks for loyal customers keeps people coming back to spend their money on YOU instead of building up loyalty (and spending their money) elsewhere.

[floridalover5623]

5 minutes ago, Dani24 said:

 

The cruise passenger market is limited compared to the overall travel industry. So, to fill ships, cruise lines have to both attract travelers in the current cruise customer pool, and try to persuade non-cruisers that cruising is worth their travel dollars. The latter is definitely much harder than the former. 

 

Additionally, with the variety of cruise lines available, those existing cruise customers would likely bounce around if it weren't for loyalty programs. But with the promise of some perks after a few sailings on a particular cruise line, particularly newer customers are likely to hang on to get those freebies. And a particular cruise line (say, Princess) would rather have the customer  spend their money on their line than spend it on a competitor's line. Even if they're only breaking even. So, again, offering perks for loyal customers keeps people coming back to spend their money on YOU instead of building up loyalty (and spending their money) elsewhere.

Occasionally you get a taste. 😉

 

[RMMariner]

Edited because I was being grumpy

Edited March 8, 2019 by RMMariner

[floridalover5623]

1 hour ago, RMMariner said:

Edited because I was being grumpy

Some of them are, very high. 😁