Every Friday afternoon, 2,000 passengers board Carnival’s 70,000-ton Ecstasy cruise ship and sail from Miami toward Nassau in the Bahamas.
By dawn Monday, the ship is back in port. Its weekend passengers are preparing for work or school or other routine daily pursuits. And 2,000 others will depart in a few hours for a four-day voyage to Key West and Mexico.
Royal Caribbean’s 2,200-passenger Sovereign of the Seas follows a similar agenda. So does Norwegian Cruise Line’s Leeward. Other lines offer three- and four-day itineraries from Ft. Lauderdale and Port Canaveral in Florida.
On the Pacific Coast, Carnival and Royal Caribbean schedule quickie itineraries from Los Angeles.
More often than not, these ships are jammed to capacity.
Indeed, cruise lines use three- and four-day itineraries to attract customers reluctant to experiment with a vacation at sea — whether because of budget or time constraints, fear of seasickness or confinement, or other factors.
While surveys indicate high passenger satisfaction on cruises, 93 percent of the U.S. market remains untapped. As lines continue to upgrade existing ships and build bigger vessels, finding ways to reach these potential customers becomes essential.
The cruise lines figure people will like it enough to try a subsequent seven-day Caribbean cruise, a voyage through the Panama Canal or a trip to Alaska or Europe.
But this “test drive” is a moneymaking venture in itself. A main leisure-travel trend is toward taking shorter but more vacations.
Cruising is no exception. Brochure prices for three-day Ecstasy sailings start at $519 (excluding air fare) during the current low season, and a good travel agent often can secure a discount. So what if passengers don’t have enough time to sample all the ship’s showrooms, bars, pools and other enticements? It’s one nonstop weekend party, and passengers may save enough money to afford a trip to Walt Disney World.
On April 30, Disney will enter the three- and four-day cruise market with the launch of Disney Magic, an 85,000-ton ship designed to carry 1,760 passengers at double occupancy, or 2,400 if kids occupy extra stateroom berths. Contact a travel agent for more details.
