Every time a big, new cruise ship is launched the buzz around our world of cruise vacations is all about exciting features, some never heard of before. In the past, cruise travel has introduced many of us to activities, sports, entertainment, cuisine and more that we might not otherwise have experienced. We may have come away from a cruise with a new appreciation for something we never knew existed before we sailed. But why are new, different and exciting features necessary? Are we bored with yesterday’s amazing experience? Are we constantly looking for something new? The answer to these and other related questions may surprise you.

In the past, we have seen top-deck features like rock-climbing walls, to giant TV screens, zip lines, water parks, surfing, basketball and golf simulators, to name a few. Dining has gone from a standard three meals a day + 24-hour room service to virtually unlimited all day dining options, now trending in a way that meets or exceeds what we might find on land. Entertainment has gone from a 70’s Vegas-style review to include branded experiences ranging from the Blue Man Group to celebrity-led enrichment presentations, well-known musical groups in concert and Broadway musicals.

The point of it all? To keep us on the ship.

By design, cruise lines need us on the ship a certain amount of time for a variety of reasons. Of those reasons, an important one to cruise lines is Onboard Revenue and they go after it with gusto. When we spend on the ship, be it via shopping options, specialty dining or other not-included-in-the-price features, cruise lines gain much-needed revenue. Those low cruise fares we enjoy on big ships barely cover operating expenses. Onboard revenue, then, is a big key to a profitable sailing. Still, onboard revenue is not the whole ballgame.

“Clearly we hope they shop in the shops and eat in the specialty restaurants,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Royal Caribbean’s executive vice president of operations in a Miami Heraldarticle, but we also want them to enjoy the ports, the shore excursions.” 　

If you have ever been on a cruise, seen the ship’s daily newsletter and thought ‘There is really not enough time to do all of these things,’ you’re not alone and that feeling is by design. At the end of the sailing, that’s one reason we might want to come back and sail again.

Think “amazing onboard features” and odds are a Royal Caribbean Oasis-class ship might come to mind. So big the ships are divided into neighborhoods, a week on board is often not enough time for passengers to experience all that is offered or even see all of the ship.

“When you build ships like this, the sea days are as special as the port days. . . . One of the major reasons is all the fabulous features the two ships offer. We’re trying to balance the time our guests get to see the ports and these features,” added Lutoff-Perlo.

Surely, there is no lack of things to do on Oasis-class ships, but Royal Caribbean does not have an exclusive lock on intense onboard programming. All major cruise lines have their version of what it takes to satisfy cruise travelers and make them hungry for more.

I’ll sail a Carnival ship for the gourmet burgers that came from a partnership between the cruise line and Food Network Star Guy Fieri. Princess Cruises has me for life with their 24-hour International Cafe. Back to Royal Caribbean, the Park Cafe’s roast beef sandwich, started on Oasis-class then rolled out to most other ships in the fleet keeps me coming back. Sister-line Celebrity Cruises Modern Luxury resonates particularly well with me.

That’s just a few lines and one writer talking about them. Each of us who sail, appreciate the outstanding value of a cruise vacation and look forward to ‘the next cruise’ have our reasons to sail. Odds are that our reasons will keep us on the ship. Those reasons might contribute to onboard revenue.

When I talk to other cruise travelers on big ships, the reason they sail is rarely ‘because I just love Cozumel’ or ‘I can’t wait to get off and go on a shore excursion’. But stay on the ship or go ashore, one thing is for sure: We are not in the office, at work, at home or anywhere close to our normal routine. It’s that breakaway from the norm that brings us back refreshed, renewed and often a bit changed as people. If cruise lines need onboard revenue as an ingredient to bake that cake, so be it…and give me a great big slice please!

When it comes to trade shows and conventions, this is a topic that most people who work or have worked for a living know something about. Images of huge booth-filled convention halls, lectures with keynote speakers, panels of experts, meetings, parties and more are part of most of them. The cruise industry has their version too. It too has booths, lectures, meetings and parties, the lion’s share of which bring little usable information for consumers. Still, some underlying themes and specific comments by speakers at the event’s keynote presentation could serve as a harbinger for what we will see the next time we cruise.

Cruise Shipping Miami, now in its 30th year, draws thousands of attendees connected to the cruise industry in one way or another. Arguably the most important event of the conference is a ‘state of the cruise industry” panel that features the heads of a number of cruise lines, all there with frank comments about trending issues.

In recent years, the focus of that panel has been dominated by bad news. The Costa Concordiagrounding in 2012, the Carnival Triumph ‘poop cruise’ in 2013 along with assortednorovirus outbreaks, mechanical failures, reports of crime on ships and more have cast an air of apprehension over the cruise industry for travelers who had never been to sea.

This year, the title of that event was updated to be The State Of The Global Cruise Industry, and rightfully so. Cruise lines worldwide have come together as never before, instituting safety and security precautions over and above what might be viewed as appropriate, usual and customary in any other business.

“It’s an industry that attracts an enormous amount of attention, especially when things are bad,” said Norwegian Cruise Line’s CEO and president Kevin Sheehan. Indeed, when a great big cruise ship comes to town, it’s hard not to notice. Just ask residents of Charleston, South Carolina, many of whom are deeply concerned that ships spoil the historic city’s skyline. It was Charleston business owners (who embraced the substantial economic impact of cruise ships) vs local residents (who did not want thousands of visitors deposited all at once) for quite some time. Now, positive moves by those on the side of the cruise lines are turning that situation around. Soon, it may be back to business as usual for Charleston and the cruise business.

In much the same way, the global cruise industry has come to the table armed to please and move beyond the negative. But while the tone of this global state of the industry event may have been business as usual, what that means has changed and should be of particular interest to cruise travelers.

First-timers

A great amount of time during the nearly two-hour panel was devoted to getting cruise travel back to growing as fast as cruise lines can build ships.

“The trick here is to really communicate to the new-to-cruise, because that’s where the action is” for future business, said Arnold W. Donald, president and chief executive of Carnival Corporation. It’s a view obviously shared by other major cruise lines who continued to differentiate themselves from one another, even at a time when addressing press-generated concern might have dominated what they do.

If we think back a decade, to a time when it seemed that the cruise industry could do no wrong, growth was indeed rabidly robust and demand far exceeded capacity. Today, the tables have turned a bit bringing consumers all time low fares in what should be the best ever environment to try a cruise vacation for the first time.

Looking To The Bright Future

Ten years ago, it seemed like major cruise lines were moving toward a central experience. Travel agents working with clients to choose a Caribbean cruise vacation often recommended finding one that fit their schedule and budget; which cruise line it was did not matter all that much.

Today, offerings are diverse and more than ever and there truly is a cruise for everyone. This is something we talked about before and believed it to be true. The reality of today’s forward-looking cruise industry is a huge diversity in what can be experienced, on ships better equipped to exceed our expectations.

Looking forward to the future, if the cruise industry wanted the message taken away from the State of the Global Cruise Industry to be “We have handled crisis, learned from the unanticipated, have systems entwined in what we do to insure safe travel, now give us a try”, they nailed it here.

It was an assurance that should encourage seasoned cruise travelers to get back up on their soapbox and preach the good news about the remarkable value of a cruise vacation. Those on the sidelines, the first timers cruise lines will be fighting for, there has never been a better time to try cruise travel.

Helpful suggestions about travel come from a variety of sources. Frequent flyers that rack up a million miles a year can tell you the best seat on a number of aircraft, how they avoid jet lag and what brand of luggage they have had the best luck with. Travel experts specializing in hotels, car rental, families, singles, seniors and more offer help when we research a trip online, in print or elsewhere. Some tips are universal and pop up often, while others come from unlikely sources and are quite unique. Moving beyond cruise tips like ‘bring the duct tape for a quick hem repair’ and ‘book a mid-ship cabin for the best ride’, we one single suggestion that can make all the difference in the world.

People Are All That Really Matters

On big ships, little ships and every size ship in-between, realize that the vessel, however wonderful (or not) it might be, is simply a lot of metal, wires, plumbing and other non-human components. Learning about the ship, what the cruise line operating it has in store for passengers once on board, what it will cost and how to find the best deal is easy. Working the people element to get something long-term out of the experience is quite another matter.

We have been on grand ships where over-the-top onboard features are a big reason to sail. Sailing on small ships, the people element positions itself front and center in the experience; there is simply no where to hide from other passengers. On ships of all sorts; old ships, new ships, ships in the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe and other parts of the world, we have had good times and bad times. The number one reason has always come back to one element: the people.

Just Say Hello

So here’s the tip: One way or another, get the best deal possible and be happy with it. Do your homework about the ship and know where everything is before boarding. Once on the ship, stop somewhere along the way and say hello to a total stranger. Strike up a conversation with someone in an elevator, at a buffet, in line for something, walking back to the ship from being ashore (pictured) or while waiting for something to start.

Simply introducing yourself and who you might be with to someone else will produce initial results that may be surprising…in a couple good ways. First, you are making a connection with another human. The (insert name of ship feature you are excited to see) was there before you got on the ship and will be there after you are done with it. Odds are, that person you said ‘hello’ to will not. You can come visit that ship again, as often as you can manage to book passage on her; but that person you made a connection with probably won’t be there.

Don’t Expect Instant Miracles

Now do yourself a favor and give this a chance: don’t pick someone who looks totally grumpy, mean or is arguing with someone at the time. Those people will be on the ship too. Advanced users of this tip actually do seek out those people, trying to turn them around, with mixed results.

Pick someone who looks to be reasonably pleasant, to give this the best chance of working. Safe topics to get this moving along include questions like these with follow-up comments that can lead to a conversation with a new friend…or tag them as someone to be avoided:

“Where are you from?”
Easy question. Everyone has an answer. Their answer can open the door to proceed further.
(They are from Kansas City) “Oh, I lived there once, where in Kansas City?”

“Have you been on a cruise before?”
A bit more complex, usually leads in one of two directions

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In 3 Questions Answered About 3 Top Florida Cruise Ports, we have information about the three top cruise ports in the world; Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral. Commonly asked by both first-time and experienced cruise travelers, how to get to the port and, if coming in town prior to sailing or lingering a bit after, where to stay. But there are other cruise ports in Florida and while they may not rank very high on a worldwide list, they have their advantages.

If avoiding massive crowds and enjoying every part of your cruise vacations are important, the ports of Tampa and Jacksonville should be on your list of places from which to sail. Unlike their big sister Florida ports, already mentioned, both Tampa and Jacksonville move far fewer passengers off and on their homeported ships.

In a south Florida port, turnaround day sees tens of thousands of passengers getting off and on ships during turnaround day. That’s one good reason to consider Tampa or Jacksonville, two of Florida’s forgotten cruise ports.

Port of Tampa
Located on Florida’s west coast, Tampa is closer to Central and South America. Of particular interest here is that short sailings to Mexico from Tampa get more time in port, staying until 8PM or later.

Tampa also homeports four vessels from three cruise lines: Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines that sail a variety of 4, 5, 7, and 14-day cruise itineraries.

Stay, Park and Cruise fans will like the Hampton Inn Tampa/Rocky Point or the Intercontinental Hotel Tampaas best budget/luxury hotel options.

Port of Jacksonville
Moving over to the east coast of Florida, Jacksonville (aka JAXPORT) has been a big cargo shipping port for decades. Here, there are fewer choices for cruise travelers with just one ship. 2,052-passengerCarnival Fascination sailsto The Bahamas and Key West on four-day and five-day cruises from Jacksonville.

Stay, Park and Cruise fans will like the Hampton Inn here too. The Hyatt Regency Jacksonville is also a good choice.

But there is one other cruise port in Florida, one we don’t hear all that much about.

The Port Of Palm Beachhas been trying to attract small cruise ships for quite some time with limited success. Celebration Cruise Line is the port’s one regularly sailing line, operating 2-night sailings to the Bahamas.

An interesting advantage with this option is that total vacation time can be 2- to 14-days by combining the Celebration cruise with assorted land packages in the Bahamas. But this is typical of small ports, perhaps not in the best location; they make up for their shortcomings with some unique features all their own.

Sailing from Florida has some distinct advantages for cruise travelers. Host to the three top cruise ports in the world, a variety of ships and cruise lines have itineraries that begin and end in Florida. Pre- and Post-cruise activities along with hotel stays are popular in the sunshine state too. Those flying, driving or taking a train in to Florida for a cruise want to know the answers one of three questions.

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