I think the short answer is almost everybody. If ever there was an example of a total luxury, or "conspicuous consumption", its got to be cruising. You take nothing from it other than pleasant memories, pics, and some souvenirs. Its not like buying a car, or furniture or appliances. Or your mortgage or rent. No matter how you slice it, and despite our referring to it as an addiction (it is), it can't rank up there with what most folks have to do to get from day to day. And yet, people save for YEARS to take one. Retirees spend serious $$ doing it. Other people take several a year. And, the "economy"? I don't even want to go there. Seems like there's a huge number of people who are going to cruise no matter what insanity happens..following certain stock reports will confirm that. Those mega ships aren't being built with the "hope" they'll be sailing full up. I just think its absolutely amazing, given the daily struggle most folks have just to get by. Any thoughts?
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JUST WHO CRUISES ANYWAY?
21 Answers
Great analogy.
Yep .. as I always tell my better half .. why I always want a cruise as my vacation ... I drive to port and park the car and from then until we get back in the car I am in total relax mode with no worries other than me glass be empty mahn.
I have always been able to relax very well on all vacations we have taken but I have never felt as relaxed as when you first get on the ship and that feeling lasts all cruise long.
I like to walk, but I like driving more. The whole point is that when you drive, you see a lot of everything, nature, people. It's more interesting. I book in advance rental24h.com and it turns out very profitable.
Who cruises-----"The newly wed, the overfed, and the nearly dead." haw.
That is what I was told one time when I was arguing the virtues of the cruise industry from the standpoint of the local economic good. Not everybody loves cruisers I found out. For a long time I have been a proponent of developing more infrastructure in Alaska to promote enhanced visitation, primarily from the cruise industry. Most agree with me, but hard to really make points and stir enthusiasm when jobs pay like 50K a year for a coach driver as compared to 250 K working on the north slope as a grunt. Folks here can't get over the prospect that another boom and bust is just around the corner, like a Klondike, Prudhoe Bay or Kennecott Copper. Non-renewable resources.
Today, approximately 27 million a year cruise, 12.41 million of those are in North America and 11.66 million from the U.S.----- Carnival Corp controls 44.1% of the market share while RCCL gets 23.9 and the Norwegian group 8.8.
Only 27 million cruise a year, there are about 8.8 billion people on the planet meaning there is a lot of room for expansion.
Ever since my first cruise in '96, I have easily compared a cruise to Lay's Potato Chips -- nobody can eat just one!
Comparing the ease, the cost and the level of luxury, there is simply no comparison to a land based vacation.
I think once people realize that oftentimes a cruise costs the same or less (depending on the line, destination, etc.) than a land vacation, it's easy for them to get into it and go more than once. Also - travel is becoming more of a focus than it has been in a long time, I think. Especially in my age group, 20's and 30's, experiences and memories are becoming a priority over material things and bigger houses. Travel is huge for many of us and cruising is one of several great ways to do it.
This is an interesting dynamic. Im pushing 60 and the young people around me have a different take on life than I did. I always believed in living well beneath my means. My one thought was retire as soon as I can. With that said we still bought a decent size house in a nice neighborhood and had nice cars.
The majority of young folks I know don’t look at big houses and fancy cars. Don’t get me wrong they like them but would rather spend their money traveling. My Niece will take a cruise and then pick the port she loved the most and go back for a week. Some are getting into the tiny house thing so they can take their house with them.
I applaud them, we waited until we retired to do the majority of our travel. I encourage them all to do a travel journal. I started one when we retired and wished we started earlier.
We started in the late 90s on Disney - loved it but didn't do it again until early 2000s. Because of our work schedule we cruised infrequently (every 2-3 years). Once I got close to retirement and retired - we picked up the pace, now we're booking 2-3/year on Celebrity or RCL.
We cruise, because it is there. Build a cruise ship and we will come
Like Yankee said, there seems to be a misconception that cruising is for the rich folks. I always thought so. What got me interested was the idea of cruising with Packer players. Surprised the heck out of me when my wife agreed. We went on 4 of those cruises before we left the nest and did one on our own. That was an Alaskan cruise.
While cruising isn't for everyone it is an exciting adventure to save up $$$ and try at least once.
Now you're being sneaky heheheh...you know darn well what happens to most folks who try it "at least once"....