Ryan Wahlstrom’s website, www.CruiseMarketWatch.com, is providing statistical insight into the ebb and flow of the cruise industry unseen before. Ryan graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Anthropology and International Studies, and earned a masters degree from Northern Arizona University in Applied Anthropology with a parallel focus on Business and Statistics. He cut his teeth on the cruise industry in 1995, when he founded Caribbean Carriage Company in Puerto Rico, providing drawn carriage rides to visiting passengers. Presently he is a Business Development Manager for the Miami Herald Media Company, taking charge of marketing efforts for products generating over seventy million per year.

Of late, Ryan has been tapping into the pulse of the cruise industry with a series of surveys, engaging over 250 travel agents in probing the health of the industry. You can review the results in detail at his website, www.CruiseMarketWatch.com.

1. Have we seen the peak of discounting for this business cycle?

I believe so, but I don’t look for a sharp, quick increase in prices either.  Two reasons.  One is that lines have sophisticated pricing models that tell them when to hit the brakes on discounting.  RCL stated in its earnings conference they have determined in certain cases they would rather leave a cabin empty than discount too much.  A number of luxury lines also stated at the Cruise Shipping Conference here in Miami price integrity is important to maintaining brand image.  The other issue is “shorter in” bookings trends.  So while cruises are sailing full, shorter in bookings by travelers have still left some cabin availability further out in the year (more than has been left in previous wave seasons).

2. Discounting aside, most ships remain full, does this position the cruise lines for a sharper rebound as the economy improves?

Absolutely, yes.  Cruise line’s value has allowed them to continue gaining market share from other vacation alternatives, and the more people exposed to the cruise experience, the more who will become repeat customers and evangelize the cruise experience to friends and family.  There are still also tremendous growth opportunities in all the overseas markets, where market penetration remains considerably lower than in the U.S.

3. Are prospective cruisers taking notice of the difference in ship design more now, than prior to the Voyager family of designs?

Certainly cruise lines have become more sophisticated marketers.  In addition, online social online media is expanding the distance and speed of communications compared to the 1999 Voyager launch.  So there is enhanced ability and skill in getting the word out to generate buzz around product.  And the product itself?  The Oasis of the Seas is a true jaw dropper, hard not to take notice!

4. Some Wall Street analysts were frothing at the mouth over Royal Caribbean International not canceling new building; do they sometimes miss the larger picture when pouring over more immediate numbers and results?

The analysts are looking at a number of factors besides demand, primarily oil prices and financial debt loads.  Paying down debt borrowed to finance new ships and buying the fuel to move them impact operating costs – actually limiting a lines ability to discount prices and impacting margins.  So that is basically Wall Street’s perspective, while the lines are saying  “Yes, but.. we need these builds to keep up with future growth and maintain or grow our share of the market.”

5. Does Royal Caribbean International’s move towards providing more perks and services to higher levels of cabins represent modern spin on old class based travel?

I think so, but I also believe it opens up the product to a broader market by providing something for everyone.  If I have limited budget, but love the cruise experience I can.  If I have a more generous budget, and would like to enjoy the amenities, I can.  More choices are good.

6. Much as the lines may be rivals, doesn’t a major event like the latest Voyager, Freedom, or now Oasis Class ship boost the entire industry?

Yes.  It opens up the market to new cruisers, it generates conversations around the ships, it builds more exposure for the whole industry.

7. After the discounting, such as we see now, and previously in 2001, abates, will the industry retain many of the less affluent guests cruising now?

Well yes.  Carnival has been unabashedly open about being “Wal-Mart of the Seas” and that strategy helped bring cruise to the masses to make the industry what it is today.  Each major line, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL’s corporate parent Apollo own Luxury, Premium and Contemporary lines.  So the business model is to cater to all segments of the market to provide something for everyone.  Over the coarse of a cruisers vacation life-cycle, they will likely move up through various types of cruises.

8. Have the nearly ten years of ever larger and more revolutionary ships given Royal Caribbean International a marketing edge which previous was held by Carnival with its old theme song?

RCL seems to have an advantage with the “buzz” factor and great agent relations, but today it is really about looking for niches of travelers.  For example, some cruisers will always love the intimacy of a small ship and the exotic ports of call they can reach.  So I think it is about who has an edge within each group of prospective cruisers.

9. Will the projected near halt of new tonnage entering the market trigger upward pricing pressure in a couple of years?

That is a real possibility but still pretty far out.  When the economy fully recovers (likely 2011) the industry will still be absorbing the new capacity and by that time additional builds can be ordered.  I’m not 100% certain about this, but I think if you look at ticket prices 10 years ago or even 20 they probably have remained fairly stable if not lower, despite inflation.  So the industries “build it and they will come” strategy has been pretty good about keeping up with demand – and the industries larger size gives them buying power that allows them to keep the value low compared to land based vacation alternatives.

10. Do you think the Cuban demographic in the U.S. Retains enough clout to keep an opening of that island off the table during an Obama administration?

Probably, certainly during a first term.  But my experience in Miami is younger generations of Cuban’s are opening up to different ways of thinking about this issue from their parents.  My personal opinion is history has proven opening channels for business and communications and exposing people to different systems actually facilitates quicker change.

Visit Royal Caribbean Fan and discuss!

Royal Caribbean International is joining with Universal Orlando to offer the kind of Cruise-Land vacations previously best associated with Disney. They go a step further however, in providing options for more itinerary lengths. Where the Disney packages were for joint cruise-land trips of 3 to 5 days aboard Monarch of the Seas, and 7 night outings with Freedom of the Seas. It is described as being part of a “Way More than a Cruise” program. This I find curious, as I had thought we had seen the last of the older marketing tag-lines. All told however, it sounds like a wise enough move. Universal’s family or parks appeal to the post-Disney age range, yet retain some leverage in conjunction with using the existing Nickelodeon relationship.

Visit www.RoyalCaribbeanFan.com!

If you have been keeping tabs, you know that Royal Caribbean International has been pushing hard to ramp-up their youth programming in recent years. The coming of the Voyager class brought with it a massive amount of raw space dedicated to youth programming. Freedom built on that with dedicated pool space. Oasis appears likely to add massively to what all previous class’ of ship have featured.

Recently, new programming options were announced for the fleet, which will be welcome to many families.

Parents can get Huggies brand diapers and organic baby food ordered for the cruise and send to the stateroom. That helps in not having to pack half a trunk full of them prior to departure. You can borrow Fisher-Price toys, which again, is good to not need to haul that stuff onto the ship. This works for some ages better than others, but the partnership with Royal Caribbean International likely will ensure plenty of Peak-a-Blocks for the toddlers.

Much of the change seems to focus on assisting families be together at meals and activities, but aid in shepherding the wee-ones off to their own events. The “My Family Time Dining” will accelerate serving to kids and have their meal done in 45 minutes, with food arriving right after sitting down. After dinner, ships counselors will come and take the kids to youth activities, allow parents to continue to eat at a normal pace. Dinner itself is being geared towards the kids, which was a key point my wife and I have discussed. Cold Fruit Soup and some main courses aren’t always to the kids desire. So they are adding kid-friendly and healthy options, go so far as to serve them on a special place mat. I hope that it allows for coloring. A special $7.95 Lunch and Play program will keep the kids in the Adventure Ocean, with a box-lunch and supervision from during the mid-day period.

A new baby stroller program for morning walks on-deck, and a battery of co-branded programs for the youngest cruisers are going to be launched, as will an upgraded in-cabin babysitting offering. They are keeping the teen disco open until 2 a.m. Which has the mixed virtue of keeping the kids hidden, but then flushing them back outside late at night.

The program is due to roll-out across the fleet this July.

I have a five year-old daughter and a three year old son. After our first cruise, my wife, who is the assistant director of the top private daycare in our city, and I both poured hours into how we would handle the logistics taking future cruises with children. So I have had a keen eye on the youth programs on Royal Caribbean International for years. What I see, I like. The programming is helping to bring down barriers to family cruising. In truth, this should have happened a long time ago, but that said, at least it is happening now.

Reading this by RSS?  Drop by the real site, www.RoyalCaribbeanFan.com

Many of you have noted the articles in various blogs discussing the “Royal Champions” of late.  Specifically you have been reading about those among this group of selected web personalities who have spoken of cruises on Royal Caribbean without disclosing their status when posting to different forums. Some of you may be reading this and hearing of them for the first time.  And at the risk of a massive and to many, boring post, I offer some background on the matter, and on the future of this websites.

Royal Caribbean hired a company to seek out people who spoke favorably of the line.  These people were dubbed “Royal Champions.”  There are presently estimated to be between 50 and 75 people whom are so named by the company.   In 2007 a group of these people were invited to take a cruise on Liberty of the Seas, during her pre-inaugural schedule.  I was one of those people.  There were no strings attached to this cruise, and that was said in plan terms when I was called by way of my Crown and Anchor entry with the company.

Those invited were required to pay their own way to the ship, expenses while onboard, etc.  A number of people within this group were invited to attend one of the Oasis of the Seas “reveals” in 2008.  I was not among that group, though I might have been invited, I don’t recall.

More recently the entire group has been asked to update their personal information in what most regard as preparation for one or more events leading to the launch of Oasis.  However, it is the cruise on Liberty of the Seas which is at the crux of the current hullabaloo.

To my personal knowledge there are people from many circles among the Royal Champions who were on Liberty.  They include most notably, frequent and positive speaking posters from among the membership of Cruise Critic, a large cruise focused website I’m sure you all know well.  I’ve more recently become absolutely certain that people from Cruise Mates, and several other forums were invited on the cruise, though it may not have been due to posts on those forums.  Suffice to say however that the people on the cruise had access and use of every forum online.  I was not invited as one of these people.

In addition, there were people sent on the cruise who were given the trip as a reward for contests as I recall.  Some of these trips were given out by radio contests in New York City if memory servers.  Also among the group were select blog writers, posters to the ancient Usenet group Rec.Travel.Cruises, and yours truly.  The ship was also full of Crown and Anchor members of mostly Diamond level or higher, not all of whom I’ve learned were happy to have others aside from the many travel agents and VIPs aboard.

As to those who became known as Royal Champions, their going was well known to the online community at the time, and it was all very exciting as I recall.  It did spur questions as to how folks were selected at the time, and the running discussions lead many people to suddenly attempt to woo attention by “talking-up” Royal Caribbean as they assumed was needed to “join” the groups being talked about.  That behavior has persisted to present day, and frankly it is one reason I simply gave-up on reading several forums more than once a year on average.

I was confused about how exactly I was invited until a reception aboard ship when I had a chance to shake a few hands, make a few contacts.  In talking to several people aboard, it seems I may have been something of a novelty.  I am not sure if I stand as unique, but I did not meet any other person who was the owner and operator of a website akin to this. The cruise was to me a great validation of the years of hard work I had already put into Royal Caribbean Fan, and has very much inspired me to redouble my efforts to improve the site.

So we come now to more recent months.  A note went out to people who had been among those “Royal Champions” asking for updated contact information.   The comments posted online mentioning this lead to broader questions as to what “Royal Champions” were, and what they did.  This lead some consumer issues blogs and others to find an old entry on the website of the marketing company that developed the first list of champions.  The result has been that an ugly mess has spilled into the blogs and online forums about “Royal Champions.”

The main thrust of the critical comments is in the feeling that people in this group mislead people online by posting reviews of their trip. Or that subsequent comments were intended to curry favor with Royal Caribbean.  Likewise, the line itself is being attacked for the program itself.  What will come of it for the events that involve Royal Champions is hard to say.  I’ve observed there are a surprisingly large number of people who simply did not know they were even part of the program.  And these were people actually on the ship in 07.  The fuss also seems to be about something that is as common a practice in many industries as you can count, and has been stirred up mainly due to a few people being over zealous and people be jealous.

For my part, you know what you get when visiting a website called Royal Caribbean Fan.  I was proud of being invited on the cruise I took, and hope to have the chance to do it again.  I dislike the idea of not telling folks that a given trip or cruise was taken for free, or whatever else might prove to be the case.  How, if at all, will this impact how I do things here?  To begin with, I am going to alter the Terms of Service to require people  reviewing a cruise to disclose if they were receiving that cruise in exchange for some form of consideration.

Moving forward, I do expect to partner with travel agents and companies to aid in building the size of our community.  I expect these partnerships to take several forms, and what I or the site gains from it will vary.  The most immediate project will be to provide promotional cards about this site to willing agents and business’.  The purpose being simply to aid in developing a growing base of users.   Some degree of reciprocal promotion is possible here, and the degree I allow that will depend.

Next, I have been asked by several travel agents, about the idea of promoting cruises they are organizing, on this site.  I don’t want this site to become overwhelmed with promotions, so how many people I form partnerships with will depend.  What I do for these cruises, and the consideration given in return may vary as well. I expect that if a group cruise promoted on this site were to sell-out, I may receive some discount, large or small should I be able to go myself.  The site may gain direct promotion to the people booking on these cruises through their agent, for which I may also create forum areas for those groups to discuss their trips.

I do plan to expand my territory online, which will mean a few things.  First, I’ll be adding some other projects, such as Cruise Aficionados and Cruise Travel Gear, to touch on other areas of the industry that I don’t want to mix with Royal Caribbean Fan.

Lastly, I intend to offer my services to travel agents and other business’ which might want to bolster their own web operations. Times being what they are, to not take advantage of my skills seems nuts.

In the end, this site is my baby, and I intend to walk softly and treat it well.

Welcome to the third edition of Ten Questions with Royal Caribbean Fan.  This edition features Kirk Detweiler, which many of you have seen aboard ships through-out the Royal Caribbean International fleet!

An Ohio native, Kirk graduated from Kent State with a degree in telecommunications and minors in theater and dance.  A veteran of two summers at “Cedar Point.” It was at the historic amusement park he was recommended for a job with a company casting for cruise ships and dinner theaters.  He first entertained aboard the late SS Independence of American-Hawaii Cruises.  He became one of the youngest cruise directors when first landing the position with Royal Caribbean at age 27 and has been at it over 20 years now.  He’s released two self-titled albums, Some Random White Boy, and Shades of Wrong.

1. How much entertainment do you have to book yourself, as opposed to that which Royal Caribbean books for the sailings? In the literal sense, the CD’s do not physically book the acts. The entertainment dept in Miami does the actual booking, headed by a lady by the name of Jackie Grace, who works mainly through talent agents.  The CD’s do have an opportunity to request specific acts depending on ship, itinerary, etc. plus we can book new acts, depending on guest reaction etc.

2. How many acts aboard ship are people you know personally?  Well after I work with them, I know them all!  But it is about 50-50. I am always coming across performers I have known for 20+ years and it is like old home week!

3. Describe the hardest performer to you’ve had to deal with onboard ship.  I’ve been lucky but I have heard some horror stories. Without naming names, I did hear about the time we booked a major star (I won’t name names but he runs a yearly telethon!) who insisted on having a treadmill in his suite, and was very particular and demanding about his diet and wanted a blender in his cabin–things like that.  I have never really had an awful experience and have some great memories of working with the likes of Ben Vereen, Charo, Jerry Van Dyke, Vic Damone, Bobby Rydell, Jim Nabors, to name drop a few!

4. How much sleep do you get on an average night?  5-6 hours is average, but at my age, I HAVE to have a power nap in the afternoon! And I keep the company who makes Red Bull in business!

5. Does working on a ship with the number of options as the Voyager and Freedom classes present unique challenges to cruise directors, or actually make their work easier?  As cliche as it sounds, the bigger the ship, the bigger the job. On the bigger ships, you have more people working for you and the behind the scene stuff involves more, i.e, HR issues, schedules, evaluations, etc.  I do at least one thorough walk around every day so the bigger the ship, the more territory to cover, etc.  I became CD in 1989 on a ship that held 700 guests and the job has grown exponentially since then. Back then , I only planned and hosted the entertainment and events, maybe attended one meeting a week and now, the behind the scenes is 75% of the job, so getting “face time” with guests is getting more and more challenging. One thing the bigger ships help you with, however, is the WOW factor. The guests are so bowled over by the hardware, that it takes them a couple of days to come off their “high” about their first impression, so in that sense, the new big ships in some ways make our jobs easier.

6. With Oasis of the Seas as you serve on other ships, do you avoid mentioning what will be “the story” in the industry for the next year? The Oasis IS the story for this year, and to tell you the truth, after the Allure (the second Oasis), I don’t think anyone knows what the next big story is. And if they do, they’re not telling.  Right now, the industry is finding ways to survive the recession, so that is the other big story this year.

7. With the early mornings and late nights, when does a cruise director find time for themselves? On our vacations!  We work 4 months on and two months off, and the off-time is limited to vacations these days, although I do force myself to the gym a few times a week and once or twice a week I will force myself off the ship to have lunch in a port-of-call to keep my sanity. But even when we are on vacation, it takes awhile to realize we don’t have to say hello to everyone at the mall! (I have gotten many weird looks over the years!)

8. Do you think that tough economic times drive people to push to enjoy themselves more than in care-free times?  I have found in my day, that some people can have fun in a paper bag and other people, you could perform a human sacrifice on the Royal Promenade and they still aren’t happy. I think with the recession, people are a bit more frugal with their onboard spending, but I haven’t really detected a change in how much "fun" they’re having.  The cruise price has bottomed out which changes our demographic a bit, and puts more pressure on us onboard to make up the difference in revenue. Our ships are still full so that tells us that people’s vacations are still very important to them and the fact that we are sailing full is a testimony to our company, that people will choose a "Royal Caribbean International cruise vacation" over other vacations. (Royal Caribbean trivia: we, as employees, are not allowed to use the word "cruise," it is always a "cruise vacation"! And we are not Royal Caribbean, we are Royal Caribbean INTERNATIONAL! You are not passengers, you are guests, you don’t live in a cabin, you live in a stateroom. Oh, I could go on!)

9. How quick or easy is it to gauge the “personality/mood” of a new ship full of passengers, and do you ever adjust your plans during a week based on it?  The staff working the gangway will tell me right off what the crowd is like based on their “aura” when they arrive. I can usually tell how good the crowd is going to be at the Welcome Aboard Show.  And YES, we print our Cruise Compasses one day in advance, and this gives us flexibility to change day to day based on our guests.  We also get a breakdown a couple weeks before each cruise based on nationality which will also affect our programming.

10. How much input from passengers goes into planning your weeks? Historically, the “guest satisfaction surveys” are very important to us and if you really look at it, our new ships are designed with guest feedback playing a big part. Week to week, a CD will make changes and decisions based on past feedback, but we also try to surprise people with something new, something unexpected.