cruising
Viking River Cruise boats glide through Europe. Photo from Viking.
The travel site Skift.com has just named its top 50 global travel marketers for 2013, including the senior vice president for marketing of Viking River Cruises, Rich Marnell.
Little wonder — Marnell was hired in 2007 as Viking’s director of marketing for North America, and since that time Viking’s share of the burgeoning European river cruise market has risen from 20 percent to fifty percent, remarkable considering that competition is getting increasingly fierce.
I’ve written previously about Viking River Cruises’ approach to marketing: a laser-like focus on their target customer — the classic baby boomer.
“What we’ve done is tailored the product experience for the 55+ culturally curious in mind,” Marnell told Skift. “We don’t try to be everything to everyone. For us, we see that as an advantage rather than a disadvantage.”
At a press conference last spring … Continue reading
A CroisiEurope boat glides peacefully down a canal as passengers sit on deck. Photo from CroisiEurope.
Americans have always been able to go on CroisiEurope river cruises — Europe’s largest river cruise line with 30 ships — but now the family-owned company has added a U.S. website and call center for consumers to book with them directly.
Until now, travel agents could book U.S. passengers onto CroisiEurope ships, but the company’s new U.S. presence means that it’s going after the American market in a big way — including, of course, baby boomer travelers, who are the lifeblood of just about all river cruising operations.
At this past weekend’s River Cruise Convention in Cologne, Germany, CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) UK director Andy Harmer told delegates that boomers are “incredibly impactful for our business,” praising them as a “wealthy, active and physically fit generation of consumers.” He urged agents selling river… Continue reading
MSC cruises sail the world. Photo from MSC Cruises
MSC Cruises has announced new “Boomer Plus” rates for passengers 50 and older at the time of sailing. That applies to almost all baby boomers (now aged 49-67) except for some born in 1964, the tail end of the baby boom.
The Boomer Plus rates include “special reduced pricing” — the line is advertising seven-night or longer Caribbean cruises starting at $779 per passenger based on double occupancy — as well as reduced deposits ($100 per person).
The discounts can be combined with MSC Club (past passenger) discounts as well as with military and civil service discounts that MSC offers (which may be up to 10 percent off).
Boomer rates are also available on MSC’s Mediterranean, Northern Europe and Grand Voyage cruises.
You need to ask for “Boomer Plus” rates when you call (1-800-666-9333).
Keep in mind that, like many special… Continue reading
A tantalizing dish from Celebrity Cruises. Photo from Celebrity Cruises
No one — or almost no one — goes on a cruise expecting to lose weight. (A few specialty cruises do prepare diet or vegan meals intended to at least not add weight).
My friend Ed, a baby boomer who has struggled with a weight problem for years, has recently dropped 32 pounds through a strict diet averaging 1,300 calories a day supplemented by a vigorous walking routine. When I saw him a couple of months ago, I was impressed by his new look and his discipline at the dinner table.
He and his wife just got back from a Celebrity cruise in the Mediterranean that sorely tested his resolve, however. So I asked him how the diet went onboard, and here was his reply:
“The most difficult aspect of the trip for me was staying true to my year-old… Continue reading
American Cruise Lines’ Queen of the Mississippi. Photo from American Cruise Lines
I’ve written several times previously about the hot European river cruising market (most recently here).
But the U.S. river cruising market is getting torrid as well, thanks in large part to American Cruise Lines, a family-owned company whose six small ships cruise rivers and waterways throughout America. Nearly three dozen itineraries range from the islands of New England to Alaska’s Inside Passage, the Intracoastal Waterway of the southeastern U.S. to the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, and many points between — including the mighty Mississippi.
Late last week I attended a luncheon in New York City with American Cruise Line executives aboard one of their ships, the Independence, a three-year-old vessel that holds a maximum of 104 passengers.
The Independence was temporarily docked at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan after completing… Continue reading
One of my favorite online discount cruise travel agencies is Vacations to Go, which always lists hundreds of heavily discounted upcoming cruises from dozens of cruise lines around the world, including both ocean and river cruises.
In one section of the site, Vacations to Go lists special discounts on certain sailings that are only good for passengers aged 55 and over on the day of departure. Just one passenger in each cabin needs to be 55 or over.
When you call a Vacations to Go counselor to book your cruise, be sure to mention your age. The cruise line will require proof of it before giving the discount.
The number to call there is 800-338-4962, but I would advise looking at the website first to see what’s available for your preferred destination, dates, and cruise line(s).
Carnival offers aged 55+ discounts as well. Photo from Carnival Cruise Lines.
Note… Continue reading
Ready to cruise? It’s National Cruise Vacation Week!
We can’t let National Cruise Vacation Week (October 20-27) pass by without acknowledging some special cruise line deals now being offered by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) cruise agents. (You can find CLIA agents by going here.)
CLIA agents are offering deals from a couple of dozen cruise lines — featuring both ocean and river cruises — that you can still take advantage of this weekend (unless otherwise noted). Check out the deals here.
Complimentary shore tours, onboard credits, discounts, upgrades and reduced deposits are all part of the mix.
CLIA is an example of a top-flight marketing organization that represents dozens of cruise lines and thousands of travel agencies, but also provides helpful information to consumers who want to get the best deals and the best experiences out of their cruises. You can access this information at… Continue reading
In previous posts on the Maine windjammers Nathaniel Bowditch (go here) and Isaac H. Evans (go here), I talked about the experiences of sailing aboard these historic vessels.
The Great Schooner Race of Maine windjammers, held each summer. Photo by Meg Maiden
Now I’d like to put the spotlight on the Maine Windjammer Association, which represents ten traditional Maine tall ships, seven of which are National Historic Landmarks. Collectively, it’s the country’s largest fleet of historic, passenger-carrying vessels.
Besides the Bowditch and the Evans, they include the American Eagle, the Angelique, the Heritage, the Lewis R. French, the Mary Day, the Stephen Taber, the Timberwind, and the Victory Chimes.
While all of the vessels are privately owned, the Association promotes and markets the windjammers as a group, producing significant savings in advertising budgets for each ship.
All… Continue reading
The Nathaniel Bowditch at anchor. Photo by Clark Norton
There’s something about being out on an historic Maine windjammer on quiet Penobscot Bay on a beautiful fall day to help you forget all the stuff that’s going on elsewhere in the country and the world.
That’s where my wife, Catharine, and I were the last weekend of September: aboard the two-masted, gaff-rigged topsail schooner Nathaniel Bowditch, in the company of nine other passengers and five crew members, including Captain Owen Dorr, who along with his wife, Cathie, has owned the ship for ten years.
First built as a private racing ship in 1922, the Bowditch later saw action as a coastal patrol boat in World War II, and subsequently served as a fishing vessel before finally being outfitted as a passenger ship.
It now holds up to 24 passengers, though with that many aboard the sleeping accommodations and eating… Continue reading
Do “real” travelers like to cruise — or only just “tourists”? Photo by Clark Norton
Happy World Tourism Week, everyone.
This is the annual week (September 21-28 in 2013) when the United Nations World Tourism Organization — which supports sustainable tourism around the globe — celebrates global tourism and tries to keep it on an environmentally friendly path.
This year’s theme is “Tourism and Water: Protecting Our Common Future” — a vital topic because if we don’t protect the earth’s oceans, rivers, lakes and wetlands, we’re all in deep trouble, not just the tourism industry.
But the name “World Tourism Week” got me to thinking about a debate that’s been brewing among travel bloggers and websites recently on the connotations of the word “tourist” and whether or not “tourists” are lesser forms of life compared to “travelers.”
The thinking goes like this: “Tourist” implies someone who takes group tours, maybe… Continue reading
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