CASE STUDY 157 Case Study Segmenting and Positioning in the Cruise Industry The cruise industry has increased in popularity over the past two decades. This has led to higher volume, including more market seg. ments than just affluent travelers. However, the cruise lines have to be careful that they don't try to mix too many different groups of cus- tomers on the same ship. In response, the cruise lines have added more ships and designed them to appeal to the varied customer segments. Also, there are many outlets for purchasing cruise travel, including traditional travel agents, online travel agents, airline agents and Web sites, and the cruise line agents and Web sites. The purpose of this exercise is to research the various distribution outlets and determine the make-up of the cruise line industry. That is, identify the popular cruise lines in the United States, how they are positioned, and what market segments they serve. The following is a description of how you can find this information through two of the more popular online travel agents, but you can use other sources as well. You should limit your search to Bahamas cruises of 3-6 nights/days. It doesn't matter what month you use as long as it is a popular cruising month for the Florida ports (.e., Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Tampa). First, you can go to www.expedia.com and click on "Cruises." Put in the criteria listed above (i.e., Bahamas, 35 nights, all lines) and choose a month. Next, click on "Choose and Continue" for the various selections and scroll down to "About the Ship." Next, you can go to www.travelocity.com and click on "Cruises." Put in the same criteria (except it is 3-6 nights) and choose the same month. Then, click on "More Info" for each of the selections, followed by "Reviews." iiiiiiiiiiii::::: 158 CHAPTER 4 MARKET SEGMENTATION AND POSITIONING Case Study Questions and Issues 1. What cruise lines are available, and how are they positioned in the market? Explain your answer based on actual evidence and construct a simple perceptual map based on price and quality. 2. What are the primary market segments for cruise lines based on your review of the Web sites? What ships are available within the Carnival Cruise Line, and how are they targeted to each of these segments? 3. What other websites are available for obtaining useful information for how the cruise lines, and their ships, are segmented? *********** + 1 + 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 + + + + + + +