Cruise Line Industry and Caribbean Tourism: Guests' Motivations, Activities, and Destination Preference

Abstract

This study examines passengers' motivations for taking a cruise vacation, their travel-related activities while on vacation, and their preferences to return to each destination for a land-based vacation. The study is based on a survey of cruise passengers on a 10-day itinerary with six ports-of-call from Miami, Florida to the Caribbean. Five underlying dimensions of cruise passengers' motivations were found: Convenience/Ship Based, Exploration, Escape and Relaxation, Social, and Climate. The findings of the study indicate that while the majority of respondents participated in shore excursions and a diverse range of activities in port, they had mixed rankings of destinations on the itinerary. Generally, passengers ranked the more developed destinations higher, spent more money in port, and traveled further from the port area. Furthermore, destinations that were ranked high were also those that respondents indicated preference to return for land-based holidays, suggesting that the satisfaction with a port destination and the activities participated in could influence passengers' intent to return.

Cruising Market in Oman: Current Trends and Future Perspectives

“…Interviewed tour guides mentioned that many cruise passengersbased on their positive short experience in Oman-would come back for a longer stay to experience more. This accords with researchers who noted that the experiences of this type of visitor can be considered as a "sampling experience", and if they are positive, they may pull the visitor to the destination for a repeat visit (Teye and Paris, 2010).…”

“…Hung and Petrick (2011) found self-esteem and social recognition, escape and relaxation, learning and discovery, and bonding with friends and relatives, were the major motivations for taking a cruise. Teye and Paris (2010) confirm that motivations of cruise visitors are different from those with land-based motivations. They note that the experiences of this type of visitor can be considered as a "sampling experience", and if they are positive, they may pull the visitor to the destination for a repeat visit.…”

Segmenting the Cruise Market: An Application of Multiple Correspondence Analysis

“…two of the areas of cruise tourism research that have received considerable attention are passengers' motivations (teye & Leclerc, 2003;teye & Paris, 2011) for taking a cruise and their future intentions to cruise (Petrik, 2005;teye & Leclerc, 1998). New mega-ships are designed to be "spaces of containment" (Weaver, 2005), and contain comparable amenities, services, and attractions of land based destinations.…”

“…there was a response rate of 76.8% providing 173 completed surveys for analysis. (teye & Paris, 2011).…”

Cruise tourists’ perceptions of destination: Exploring push and pull motivational factors in the decision to take a cruise vacation

“…A number of characteristics unique to cruise travel create further complexities in the identification and measurement of push and pull factors (Teye & Paris, 2011). The onboard attributes of a cruise ship are additional pull factors, and the ship itself can be considered both a means of transportation and a part of the destination.…”