Celebrity Cruises - Jan 19 to Feb 2, 2014

Celebrity Cruises has come a long way since our last cruise with them a couple of years ago, unfortunately it is in the wrong direction. However, they are perhaps following a trend in the cruise industry that is a result of not understanding or properly choosing their “target market.” Initially their target market was the “Love Boat Crowd” or those wishing to visit the cities of Europe for historical reason. As the popularity of cruising increased, so did the destinations, as well as the potential to make additional profit off of tours and other related services. Price competition exacerbated the problem by shifting the marketing by the cruise lines to initial cost versus total cost at disembarkation.

Another problem could also be a result of expanding their cruise destinations without doing the proper planning to deal with these destinations. The bottom-line is that most of the “decisions” seem to be driven by that bottom-line of profit as opposed to customer satisfaction or providing real value for the dollars spent. Read more