Cruise prices may have sunk to their lowest level in years, but companies are still fighting a major battle over customer perceptions that taking a cruise is expensive, according to research revealed at the ACE Cruise Convention.
Mail on Sunday travel editor Frank Barrett told delegates at the Columbus Day event in Birmingham that a poll of around 700 Mail readers cited high prices as their main opposition to taking a cruise.
Yet he said this flew in the face of the 92% of cruise passengers who think such holidays offer good value for money.
"Why isn’t this message getting across to people who have not cruised?" he asked.
The fierce discounting battles that have ensued this year prompted Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive Adam Goldstein to urge the industry to push the value message rather than the price.
"This market is remarkably focused on discounting and price," he told the audience. "The message about cruise should be around what you get rather than what you pay."
He urged retailers to look more at the global picture and the opportunities offered in different markets such as China where agents regularly take on whole-ship charters, or in Australia where repositioning cruises are seen as an opportunity to sell something different.
"If you think differently, there is opportunity, but there is also risk," he added.
The UK cruise market currently stands at 1.7 million passengers and is predicted to grow to two million in 2015.
With strong growth in markets such as Germany, Spain and France, Europe is expected to top North America to become the world’s largest cruise market by 2025.
by Sara Macefield
