In this issue’s cover story, “Ships of the Future” (page 16), we examine the decisions that are being made today that will affect the cruise experience in the years to come. Cruise lines often spend hundreds of millions of dollars building something that won’t see a single passenger for quite some time. With the world changing so fast, how is it possible to predict what experiences customers are going to want a decade from now?
As we worked on this story, we went back and looked at a similar article we ran in 2011. It was interesting to see what the cruise industry was talking about seven years ago — when many of today’s ships were just concepts on a whiteboard.
At that time, we were coming out of a recession, ship orders had slowed, and there was a growing sense that the definition of luxury had changed. In that 2011 article, Sebastian Ahrens, who was managing director of Hapag-Lloyd at the time, predicted that upscale travelers of the future will “want luxury without a great deal of formality.”
Good call. Today, stuffy formality is the kiss of death for a brand.
Another concern back then was expressed in the story by Tom Baker, co-owner of CruiseCenter in Houston, who said cruise lines had to improve their onboard entertainment offerings.
“Clients talk about poor entertainment choices,” Baker said in 2011. “They want more specialty entertainment and Broadway-type shows. Entertainment has to change and do so radically.”
Done and done. Since that time, cruise lines have brought dozens of Broadway shows to the seas. (By the way, Baker gets extra credit, because not only was he correct back in 2011, but he is also quoted in this issue’s story — giving him the chance to prove that he is still an expert futurist.)
Ultimately, the advantage that cruising had in 2011 is one it still has today: a passionate and knowledgable travel advisor sales force who will help guide travelers to new experiences at sea. As long as those building ships and those selling ships respect one another’s professionalism, the future of cruising looks bright.
