Inside the Very Buoyant Mind of a Cruise Line Marketer

Cruise ShipOur Rick Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports guidebook has been the surprise sales hit of our season. It’s currently our 5th-bestselling title, and in January, it was the USA’s 12th-bestselling guidebook by anyone, to anywhere. Popular as that guidebook may be, it sits lonely on my windowsill and needs a sister. So this fall we’re researching and producing a guide to Northern European Cruise Ports, for publication next summer.

I recently enjoyed a fascinating conversation over lunch with the CEO of a cruise line. A brilliant marketer who once sold children’s snacks, he explained how the impulse of a child to explore — as long as she has a safe home to return to — stays with us as adults. While travelers love to get out of their comfort zones, most have that strong, childlike need for a safe refuge or nest. His goal in marketing cruises is to provide a routine enabling people to get out and explore, but also to create a consistent welcome-home ritual when they are back on board. On my recent cruise, I noticed how ships do this expertly, with a welcome table with cold drinks at the gangplank and a friendly greeting as we boarded. And I even remember thinking, “Whew…we are safely back home now.”

I mentioned that cruise lines seemed less aggressive than I had anticipated in selling shore excursions, and that I was surprised how readily they let two-bit competitors organize and promote budget independent alternatives to their formal excursions. He explained that, for some cruise lines, shore excursions are not the main profit driver. People taking Caribbean cruises tend to lounge on the ship more. But people taking a Mediterranean cruise want to see and experience famous things on shore. The more they are able to do that on their own terms, the better. He acknowledged that, while excursions play a role in his profits, “for larger cruise lines, the real money is made between the steel” — that is, from purchases made by cruisers on board: eating, drinking, shopping, gambling, and so on. (I remembered how, even with my frugal approach to little extras on board, my tab was pretty substantial when that moment came to settle up at disembarkation.)

To make money, getting as many people as possible “between the steel” is top priority. He agreed with my hunch that the base cost of a cruise on large ship doesn’t have a lot of profit built in. Cruise lines manage prices so that all departures go full (offering deep discounts and creative incentives as necessary to fill the last staterooms). While discounting is big, marketers know that if you give cash back, customers pocket the cash. But if you give them a discount disguised as an “on-board credit,” they still bring and spend the same cash they would have without the credit: “No one takes a discount to the bank.”

Some cruise line sales departments are now morphing into “vacation-planning departments,” which sell not simply a cruise, but vacations that include a cruise. People generally extend a little before and after the cruise itself — especially in Europe.

I noted how, in my cruise experience, it was clear that marketing shaped the clientele, and the clientele shaped the experience on board. While some cruises specialize in an upper-crust ambience, others cast a wide net to attract a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. He said that this approach can be tricky, as wealthier passengers can be uncomfortable mingling with people from a different socioeconomic class.

When I told him we were proud that more than half of our tour customers were return clients, he said, “Any niche company needs a 50 percent return clientele. It’s just too expensive to win first-time customers over and over, from a marketing point of view.” This explains the vigor with which cruise ships work to sell another cruise to people already on board — even before they finish the one they’re on.

Comments

12 Replies to “Inside the Very Buoyant Mind of a Cruise Line Marketer”

  1. This marketing man must have been talking about old U.S. citizens when he said cruisers needed a safe haven while traveling. Younger people are more adventuresome. I also can’t imagine living among crowds on board or being herded off and on the ship when embarking and disembarking. Of course this is not unlike touristy cities on land which also are a turn-off for many. Women especially like cruises because they don’t want to cook.

  2. “Women especially like cruises because they don’t want to cook.”

    Thanks for the sexist remark. I don’t have to cook on land either – ever hear of restaurants?

    I think there’s some ageism going on there too, I don’t cruise and I’m 64. No doubt when I get more decrepit I’ll cruise, but only so I can keep traveling.

  3. I’ve not cruised, but I’ve thought about doing a sailing cruise. The people I know who have cruised range in age from their 20’s to their 80’s so I think it’s bad to generalize. The need to feel safe is not decided by age alone. There are adventurous 80-year-olds and 20 somethings who are afraid to visit Chicago or NYC.

    I hope that the northern cruise book is going to cover the UK ports as well as the Baltic ports. I was really amazed at the cruises going to Kirkwall in Orkney. I have friend who drives the tourist buses for the ships dock near Inverness. Check out the helpline and see the requests for info on how to do your own tour in Scotland when you’re on a cruise.

    Pam

  4. I just turned 30 two months ago and I love cruising. I wouldn’t make any generalizations as to the type of people who love cruising. I’m young, Asian descent, lived in Belgium, traveled solo and have traveled on a budget and now that I can afford to travel more luxuriously, I do. A cruise is just another way to see the world. Most naysayers of cruises have never tried cruising. I will be introducing my friends (at least 15 of them) to a Caribbean cruise vacation this November. None of them have cruised and I cannot wait for the fun we’re going to have on the ship and exploring the islands.

  5. I am now 65 and 1/2 and I have traveled extensively in the old Western Europe, and I have cruised mainly in the Caribbean, (eastern, Western) and loved both equally. Of course, being of European origin I love visiting my relatives in Italy and friends in Germany. On the cruising side, I enjoy the chance to do anything I want to do on the ship, gamble, eat of course, party or just relax, and on the shore, take a tour or just get off of the ship and look around. I still enjoy going to Cozumel and I have been there several times, but it is relaxing to take a cruise just for cruising in itself. So, it really just depends on what a person enjoys and what he doesn’t. In other words, it seems that you (a person) either likes cruises or they don’t , there usually isn’t anything in between.
    Rick, I hope all goes well with your new Northern European Cruise Book . Have fun.

  6. Taking a cruise of the Med is a great way to see many great European cities without changing hotels. Unpacking once and having a “home” away from home is a big attraction.

    Thanks fop writing such a comprehensive book.

    Jeff
    The Doppelganger

  7. What Jeff said above is the main attraction for cruising for me. That said, there is no form of travel that doesn’t have it’s drawbacks. I LOVE to travel and have pretty much tried them all. My favorite is Europe, casual, small bag, holiday apartment and lots of day trips by train. Cruising is a great way to “taste” many major cities with an eye to returning for a longer visit if you like what you saw. I was cruising the Med at about the same time Rick was and very much wish he’d done that book about a year sooner as I believe that any book of his will improve any trip that you might take. We enjoyed our trip and I found a couple of places that I hope to visit again. When I do, I will have Rick’s “land” book in hand and the “taste” of them will bloom into the true “flavor” without the busloads of cruisers in the middle of the day. It’s all good! Go while you can.

  8. Great work getting cruisers off the boat and into real experiences in Europe.

    I always chuckle when watching cruisers wash onshore following closely behind the tour guide holding up their umbrella, while I’m sitting cozily sipping a beer on the town square.

  9. I had been traveling for a few years before I discovered Rick Steve’s books – now that’s all we use and have stayed in many of “his” hotels.
    As for cruising, we have taken one to Alaska and are going to try South America this year, cruising. Another way of “cruising” is by container ship – of which we have done 2 – and have been all over the world on them. Then there is the “clipper” ships which are marvelous – did crossing the Atlantic in one last year – our best trip EVER.

    Thanks for all your help Steve.

    Betty

  10. It’s a great article . We are inspired of it

    There’s a family story that on my first trip abroad at the age of ten – to exotic Belgium, no less (I still recall the raw air and the excitement buzzing in my head as I stepped on to the coach outside my junior school one dark morning) – the headmaster wearily and somewhat incredulously informed my mother, as we all tumbled out of the bus on our return, that I hadn’t sat down all week.

  11. I used to have a friend who owns an art gerlaly that auctions art on the major cruise lines. I would consider him an insider in this industry. But he could not have taught me all the money saving and vacation tips this book seems to offer. I know another person who has gone on many cruises and each time, she gets to have dinner at the Captain’s dining table. Does this e-book by any chance offer any tips on how to book such a prestigious spot? I hope it is not merely a matter of bribing the concierge; that would be so disappointing.

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