Cruise lines vie to get message across to kids

Kids are big business for cruise lines, and with the growing popularity of multigenerational travel, competition to capture the attention of children and teens is heating up.

Family-oriented cruise lines have invested millions in children's programming and facilities, and across the industry thousands of cruise line employees organize and operate everything from onboard nurseries for babies to educational activities for grade-school kids and nightclubs for teenagers.

And why wouldn't they?

Studies show that children play a big role in the discussion when families start talking about where and how to vacation.

In one such study, a report last year by GfK Mediamark Research and Intelligence, 62% of parents surveyed said their children have an impact on purchases of family vacations. According to the website FamiliesontheGo.com, which provides travel information and product reviews, 93% of kids influence the family's vacation choice.

Ypartnership, in a 2011 survey commissioned by Disney Cruise Line, found that nearly seven in 10 children helped plan where to go and what to do on vacation.

These and similar findings from other studies are among the reasons it's easy to find First Mates, Navigators, Voyagers, Explorers and Royal Tots having the time of their lives on cruise ships. These program names are a sliver of the vast array of structured and unstructured activities that cruise lines have devised for kids and teens.

Taking into account each age group's sensitivities, creative directors and other cruise line decision-makers delegate resources and designate appropriate spaces for activities.

For example, on Royal Caribbean International ships, kids ages 3 to 5 can participate in the structured and supervised Aquanauts program, with projects leading to the sought-after designation "Certified Junior Adventure Scientist."

But that kind of activity wouldn't fly with 15- to 17-year-olds, so the line created Club 02, a teen-only space for listening to music, engaging in karaoke and interacting with each other.

All the family-oriented lines carve up activities into several age groups, so that maturing 12-year-olds, for example, aren't grouped with precocious 8-year-olds. By all accounts, the strategies work, and they are a big selling point for frontline retailers.

Agents weigh in

Vicky Garcia, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Cruise Planners, said she believes that if agents can get their message across to children, they'll likely be selling a family cruise.

"We teach classes to our franchisees every several weeks, and we always put a big emphasis on the fact that kids can sell the idea of a cruise vacation to the rest of the family," she said. "We even urge [our franchisees] to give their cruise brochures to schools. Sure, they'll probably use them for papier mache projects, but those ultimately end up at home, and so does the message."

The major lines have children's programs "down pat," Garcia said, but it's the retailer's informed recommendation that sells the ship.

"A lot of the cruise selection process is based on an agent's personal experience; that's where the strength of an agent comes into play," Garcia said. "Our franchisees are all home-based, so they're the ones out there kissing babies. If a client says, 'I'd like to do Oasis but my kids want Disney,' a lot rides on the agent's reaction. An informed agent can say, 'I've been on those ships, and here are the benefits I've seen on each of them.'"

Baby-sitting programs, she added, "are huge" when it comes to clients making a final decision about which line to book.

"I didn't used to think it would be a big deal, but it is," she said. "Thankfully, some of the lines went to [accepting] an earlier age for babies, and they've gotten a big thumbs up from travelers on that."

On the other hand, she said, some cruise lines "are missing it" with teens.

"I know that a lot of teenagers end up just wandering around the ships" rather than congregating in the spaces made available for them, she said. "Kids are impossible at that age. Maybe the cruise lines need to hire a psychologist and decide what they should create to keep that age group happy."

Linda Allen, an independent agent who operates Cruises by Linda and is affiliated with the Virtuoso agency Brownell Travel of Birmingham, Ala., said supervised programs for babies and toddlers are a big draw but tend not to be deal-breakers if a certain ship doesn't offer them.

"You'd be surprised how many families take a nanny with them these days," she said. "But either way, it's important that the adults in the family get to feel like they're on vacation, too, and not just looking after the children. Mom wants to go get a massage. Dad wants to go to the sports bar."

Most of the lines, she said, charge for baby-sitting services. "Disney charges a fee; so does Royal Caribbean," she said. "But you know what? The parents are just perfectly fine with that."

Jean Kuhn, owner of The Travel Lady in Murrells Inlet, S.C., praised the cruise lines for the innovative programs and state-of-the-art technology now being offered to young travelers. But she said that sometimes the age groupings don't work for everyone.

"One client I booked had an 11-year-old who was 'old' for his age," she recalled. "He wanted to join the 12-to-14 group, but the line wouldn't let him."

The programs have become "complex," she said, but so have the teenagers, so flexibility is key.

"A 14-year-old would probably want to mix with the older teenagers," she said. "They think they are so much older than they are."

Kuhn said that certain ships work best for certain age groups. She recently booked a multigenerational group of 10 family members on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.

"It was grandparents, children and grandchildren. The teen grandchildren loved their activities program and were around only for meals with the rest of the family," she said. "All in all, most people who take their children on cruises want the [structured programs] so they can enjoy adult time and the kids can intermingle with their peers. It is usually a win-win for families."

Cruise Planners' Garcia said she recently included a family travel question in one of the surveys she sends out regularly to the firm's franchisees. She asked about what clients are looking for in children's and teen programs.

Of the 180 agents who responded, 60% said the lines should provide more enrichment programs and shows that are geared specifically to children.

Cruise line strategies

Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of sales and trade support and services, recalled that when she "started in the cruise business, the children's activity room had all the kids together -- kids 4 to 12 all in one box room -- and you hoped everyone got along. It was nothing like the sophistication we have today.

"Back then, and I'm talking decades ago, kids would be shuffled from public room to public room for activities, but that became intrusive to adults who didn't necessarily want to be around kids. So newbuilds [were designed] with dedicated spaces for this important market."

She said Royal Caribbean continues to expand its commitment to the family market, noting, "We are incorporating our Royal Babies and Royal Tots program to our other ships." The program, which caters to ages 6 months to 18 months and ages 18 months to 36 months, respectively, was initially offered on the Allure of the Seas and has since been added to the Oasis of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas. Freed said Royal Caribbean plans to add the program to the Radiance of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas, as well.

Richard Ambrose, vice president of entertainment for Norwegian Cruise Line, said demand for interactive events is on the rise. He recalled "a time in the cruise industry when the kids onboard would have their vacations and the adults would have theirs."

But today, he said, "one of our most popular activities is 'Family Insanity,' where families compete against each other. Kids like to be interactive."

Ambrose said the most prevalent age of the children who participate in the line's structured programs is the 6- to 9-year-old group. After that, it's the 2- to 5-year-olds.

"The 6-to-9 group is a very sociable one," Ambrose said. "They love the scavenger hunts, the science projects and the sports deck. The younger group loves story time and arts and crafts. They love to get their hands dirty and make stuff they can take home."

NCL does not provide baby-sitting for infants, but parents can take infants to the line's "Under 2 Zoo" and stay with them while the babies interact with each other.

Ambrose said NCL has "themed nights" for teenagers. One example is a showing of the blockbuster "Twilight" series of vampire movies, which is "always a big hit."

At Disney Cruise Line, Maureen Landry, director of entertainment operations, said the line has moved away from strict age group categories.

"We'd rather they self-select what they want," she said. But we do have supervised programs for children from 3 months to 17 years old. Everything is focused on the interests of the kids and on letting them choose what they like to do."

Disney ships, she said, draw a mix of age groups year-round: "At some times of the year there will be fewer teens, but mostly there's a wide range of children."

The line's Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab are popular with 3- to 10-year-olds, she said.

As on other cruise lines, a big part of the experience for the children sailing on Disney focuses on fictional characters brought to life.

"Four- and 5-year-olds love princesses -- Princess Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast,' for example. And everyone loves the 'Toy Story' characters," she said. Older kids have their own space on Disney ships, too. For 11- to 13-year-old tweens, it's called Edge.

"They love it." Landry said. "This group wants to feel like they're older. Some have a hard time meeting people, and this allows them to meet kids their own age. They also love 'That's Hilarious,' the multiday improv comedy program. They all think they're comedians."

Idea factories

She said the line comes up with its children's programming in various ways.

"There's a group of show directors and a creative director onboard the ships who work on coming up with ideas for the age groups," she said. "Market research is collected from in-house and from research through the Internet and teen marketing organizations. We take all of that information and test out new ideas on the ships. The kids give us feedback."

The line also uses the popularity of shows on the Disney Channel to "help direct onboard programming," Landry said.

Mark Tamis, Carnival Cruise Lines' senior vice president for guest operations, said the line's inspiration for innovative children's programming is drawn from guests' suggestions and from an internal entertainment group that keeps the programs evolving.

"We've been in the family cruise business since we started, so we have people who've been involved in creating our entertainment for 15 or 20 years," he said. "Kids love the water rides and the sports, and they love Camp Carnival, but they also like to do some of the stuff they do at home. That's why we have a great selection of interactive video games, for example, where they can compete against friends."

Carnival's mascot, Fun Ship Freddy, is a big hit with youngsters, he added.

Tamis said Carnival expects the family cruise business to keep expanding and is preparing for it.

"We know that on an annual basis we're carrying 675,000 kids now, out of a total passenger population of 4 million," he said. "Fifteen years ago, we were carrying 100,000 kids per year."