Yacht-Style Cruising: A Niche Within a Niche
byDori Saltzman/游艇风格的巡航的概念并不是真正的新菜,正在蒸蒸日上,丽思卡尔顿游艇系列,风景秀丽和翡翠巡游的几次游艇风格的巡航船。他们加入了Seadream游艇俱乐部和Windstar Cruises,提供了一种小型的巡航方式,与传统巡游相比,它与私人游艇更为共同。
Travel Market Report reached out to some of the major players in the yacht-style cruising niche to find out how it’s different from small-ship cruising, what “yachting” implies, and whether it’s only for the ultra-affluent.
Buzz Word or True Differentiator
Is yacht-style cruising different from small-ship cruising or is it merely branding and marketing? If it’s truly a subset of small-ship cruising, then all yacht cruises should have something in common with each other than makes them markedly different from other small ship cruises and cruise lines.
”这个词在今天的市场中,cru的小船ising’ is used liberally and means different things to different people,” Adrienne D’Annunzio, manager of SeaDream Yacht Club, charity & PR. “There are cruise lines touting their ‘small ships,’ which carry anywhere from 260+ to 1,200+ people. It’s an increasingly popular style of cruising and increasingly unclear what ‘small’ means.”
As a subset of small-ship cruising, yacht-style cruising does indeed stand apart. Yacht-style cruise ships, for instance, don’t have the same size range. The largest yacht-style cruise ships carry no more than 500 people. The smallest typically carry about 100, though there are cruise lines with even smaller yachts offering cruise-style itineraries.
因为他们的大小,游艇式游艇会go to smaller ports than even some of the other small-ship cruise companies.
“These boats are smaller, meaning you can choose to moor up in a marina and explore a quaint town or anchor in a secluded bay to experience the best of the sun and sea,” said Grant Seuren, co-founder and director of Sail Croatia, which operates a small fleet of yachts that can hold up to 40 passengers.
Windstar Cruises, which president Christopher Prelog said offers a “fleet of small luxury ships that evoke the feeling of yachts,” sails to “off-the-beaten-path and iconic destinations that large ships simply can’t access, to explore unique ports-of-call and hidden harbors…”
Additionally, yacht cruises often spend more time in a given port, with later stays and more overnights, providing more of that leisurely style of exploration that yachting is known for.
Distinct Onboard Experience
Just as important, yacht-style cruise ships tend to have a similar onboard experience.
丽兹 - 卡尔顿游艇(Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection)发言人说:“我们将游艇巡游视为一种生活方式,并将其纳入来宾体验的每个方面。”“在船上,这种体验将反映出人们在私人游艇上可能会发现的……没有赌场,展示休息室或正式夜晚。取而代之的是,客人可以自由地设计自己的一天……”
“There’s not going to be the type of entertainment that blows you away, like you get on the big lines, because that’s not yachting,” added Maggie Carbonell, vice president of marketing for Scenic.
Another characteristic yacht-style cruise ships have in common is an aft marina, something you won’t find on the vast majority of other small ships. Having an aft marina, from which cruisers can swim and snorkel, was something Carbonell said was top of mind for Scenic when designing its first-ever warm-water yachts for Emerald Cruises.
It’s something that Windstar Cruises, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and Sail Croatia all tout as well.
营销利益
While there is a tangible difference between yacht-style cruising and the rest of the small-ship segment, using the term “yacht” also helps with marketing.
“You need to be able to describe your product in a context that consumers can grasp and go, ‘I understand what that is,’” Carbonell told TMR. “Everyone knows what a yacht is,” she said, adding when she hears the word yacht, she thinks of Robin Leach and the TV show, “The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”
“The pinnacle of luxury is a yacht,” she said. Yachts are spacious. They have lux touches and they convey a feeling of pampering, she added.
A spokesperson for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection agreed. “Yachting evokes luxury, exclusivity, and the freedom to explore as one wishes… Very much like super-yachts, the yacht itself is a destination.”
But “yachting” also indicates the type of destination experience someone will have.
Seadream Yacht Club总裁Bob Lepisto说:“游艇巡航在水上具有更随意,户外,积极的体验。”“每当有人听到游艇一词时,他们都会看到自己在参观独特港口的水上享受奢侈的体验。”
Windstar的预告片回应了Lepisto。他说:“'游艇'一词从个性化的服务角度定义了我们较小的船只的风格,以及更大的途径远离拥挤的世界的更异国情调和偏爱的路径港口。”
可以实现?是的。预算选择?不。
While travel advisors don’t need to limit their marketing of yacht-style cruising to the ultra-affluent, it is not a budget option. Prices generally start at about what you find at the upper end of the premium ocean cruise segment, at several thousands of dollars per person. You won’t find much below that.
话虽如此,我们与我们交谈的大多数邮轮高管所说的价值使他们的定价价值相比,它比您最初的嫌疑人都可以实现更多的人。
“当您考虑到您的住宿时,包括岛屿和一些餐点之间的交通,很容易看到物有所值……” Sail Croatia Seuren说。其他线条,例如风景秀丽的翡翠和风星,包括所有餐点和非酒精饮料,甚至包括一些酒精饮料和游览,具体取决于生产线,还可以提供更大的价值。
Prelog说:“租用私人游艇比在Windstar巡游中航行要贵得多。”“别忘了,游轮包括住宿,所有餐点,非酒精饮料,访问港口,免费水上运动等。”
Lepisto said almost the same thing. “If you compare a SeaDream voyage price to what it costs to charter your own private yacht, it is incredibly great value. Yes, our pricing is higher than the big cruise ships, however based on the fact it is so highly inclusive the value is exceptional.”