Assignment (Doc) | The Cruise Business

The Cruise Business
School of Business and Tourism
Southern Cross University
MNG 10291 – The Cruise Business – 2019
ASSESSMENT 4 – TAKE-HOME TEST
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1) Describe how and why the cruise dining models have evolved rapidly from the two-
sitting model to what is offered today. Provide descriptions and examples of traditional
and contemporary models and trends in your answer. Identify some of the implications
and/or unique problems for the cruise business arising from these trends in cruise ship
catering.
ANSWER: For a long time, the two dinning models have been one and the same, that of,
the two sitting dinning models. Apart from the usual and general serving models that include
breakfast, lunch, supper, and other refreshments, dinner holds special importance and
distinctive significance for the passengers and the cruise management likewise. The dinning
setups and the related extravaganzas are placed in the highest regard. The two sitting
placements are to supplement two different sets of passengers. The serving that begins in
between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM is aimed at passengers who prefer a quieter time for
themselves and their families. But the serving at 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM is aimed for the
passengers who are eager to take part in the associated events, parties, balls, business
conference and celebratory occasions while having dinner. This counts as the traditional
serving model which is invariably followed thoroughly in most of the luxury or general cruise
ships. Here the selection of the dinning pattern affects the behaviour and the cruise selection
pattern of the passengers and the modern studies have estimated so. This has called for a
change in dinner serving patters as there was a stable time-limitation of 4 hours, from 5:30
PM to 9:30 PM and this has rendered the two sitting model more optional and alternative.
The servings mostly follow an amalgamated version of the traditional on-table and buffet
mode of actual serving that makes the implications that a certain change in the serving and
the consumption pattern has changed over the years.
To understand the matter of causality, one must look no further than the purchasing
and spending order of the general demographic. The abundance of options in service
customisation has acted as an influencer here. The change in the cruise serving model is thus
an expression of an internal change in service perception that has been stimulated by a
culminating trend of excessive personalisation. The passengers do not prefer to be getting
caught in a set line and prefer liberty in regards to choosing their own dining time,
reservation options and menus as per their own requirements which could be explained by the
theory of hierarchy of needs.
The matter of cruise ship catering is an industry on its own. Likewise in any industry,
there are timely changes in trends and purchase patterns that affect the model of the business
as a whole and invoke many complications on its wake. In addition to all of these, the shifting
in dinning models has put additional pressure on the existing inventory management too.
The facility of storage is affected by the changes in the consumption pattern. The passenger
allows for more robust options when selections come to dish and delicacies. There is also the
matter of subverting expectation of in the matters of customer expectations. The increasing
complications involve managerial errors in handling passenger expectations. The change in
the consumption pattern of meals has affected each of these factors which are present in
every cruise infrastructure.
REFERENCES:
1

cruisecritic.com (2019), cruisecritic, Available at: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?
ID=1706 [Accessed on: 18.09.2019]
digitalcommons.fiu.edu (2015), digitalcommons, Available at:
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/
&httpsredir=1&article=1235&context=hospitalityreview [Accessed on: 18.09.2019]
princess.com (2019),
food-and-dining, Available at:
https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/ [Accessed
on: 18.09.2019]
2)“Even unprofitably low ticket prices have become economically acceptable, as long as
the overall cruise ship economics, including the on board business, work out fine.”
(Vogel 2012, p. 144)
Vogel, M 2012, ‘Pricing and revenue management for cruises’, in M Vogel, A Papathanassis &
B Wolber (eds) The Business and Management of Ocean Cruises, CABI, Wallingford, pp. 131-
144
Explain this quote by discussing the significance and practice of on board revenue
generation and management with regard to the contemporary cruise business. Discuss
the implication/s of this trend for the industry, including the development of cruise
ticket pricing models and include specific discussion about the “Dynamic pricing”
model.
ANSWER: The modern cruise business model has less to do with travelling and more with
onboard luxurious services which could be seen as passenger attraction factors. The recent
report from “Carnival” and “RCC” has collaboratively affirmed that their actual sales in
ticket revenue have decreased significantly while the onboard revenue generation has seen
growth like none other. The tickets are no longer cost-covering and the shocking part is the
cruise management is quite reluctant to this development. Vogel had predicted these trends in
his book which goes on to show the evolutionary pattern of this form of business model. On
average, the revenue exceeds the expense margin by only $178 per person which a significant
trend. The inclusion of business partnerships in the service model seems to have propagated a
new model of business association that has changed the contemporary model of cruise design
and space application process as well. The cruise design now harnesses the buyer’s purchase
patterns and the rest of the inclinations regarding service and product consumption that has
made the cruising facility and services the true epitome of a floating hotel. The designed
opportunity has given the designers the opportunity to implement services facilities that
allude to the senses. Such sensory stimulus has been facilitated by all forms of payment
options and alternatives that have made use of models as “Have now, pay later”. One the
correlation between ticket revenue and net occupancy has ceased to exist. This has been
partly due to the increase in business opportunities and nothing else in particular.
Such drastic change has created certain shifts in the trends which are present in the
new business models. There has been a trend to fine-tune and streamline the pricing models
that implements a technology-based information platform that delineates communication and
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