Wednesday, March 25, 2009

MSNBC Cruise Report-Good or Bad?

I am amazed how many comments I had today about how people thought that the MSNBC Peter Greenberg report about the state of the cruise industry, filmed onboard the Norwegian Pearl, was actually a bad reflection of the industry. Actually, I felt differently. I felt it showed the business was run like a business with revenue goals to achieve profitability (smart move), a business that admitted its errors and losses with the Hawaii project (smart move), a company that showed a detailed behind the scenes look at a well run product (smart move), and a company that showed people have a great time and receiving GREAT VALUE for what they paid. The guests were HAPPY...Isn't that what counts too? In the end, my impression is that this cruise industry is a business for profit, it is faring better than many industries, and the revenues generated onboard help create profit and offset the sometimes very low cost of the cruise. The onboard selling of bingo, drinks, art, gold by the inch, etc. is nothing new. This practice has been around since cruising started. Nonetheless, I applaud NCL for opening themselves to most everything the media wanted for this "expose" and for showing a well run onboard product in the contemporary market. They also finally explained that Norvirus is a flu introduce by unwell passengers boarding a ship and spread 23 million times a year on land and not a cruise ship bug...Happy Cruising!!! It's still the best vacation!!!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I thought it was very interesting.
One of my best friends is going on a cruise and I told her this report gave some very helpful tips and suggestions. And pointed out things she may not have thought of. I've never been on a ship but I'd like to one day.