Queen MAry 2

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 01:27:40 GMT, Karen Segboer wrote:

Well, Ben, if there is a cruise opportunity for the ship sizes you say,
incorporating many of your design elements, chances are decent to good that
it will be done.

MSC is approaching this in many ways.

I wonder how many TAs would know much about these ships if you just
walked into a storefront agency to book a cruise?

Most don't even have brochures. With that said, MSC did a pretty good job
via email and other marketing of these ships to TAs and they hit a time
when experienced pax were looking for alternatives. Look at Roller as an
example.

I'll bet few were few first time cruisers. TAs didn't have a lot of
experience and unless they ran out of the regular alternatives, MSC was way
down their list especially for families.

Benjamin Smith wrote:

How B wrote:

Karen Segboer wrote:

I wish there were more mass market but smaller ships.

For me, Crystal fits that description.

Howard,

Thanks. Karen has sailed Crystal. I don't think of Crystal as mass
market. Only 3 ships and though they at times have specials on fares,
their per diems on average are noticeably higher than those on the lines
we discuss here most. Maybe Crystal isn't as much luxury as Silversea
but it is still above a HAL or Celebrity in price and have their own
market.
For the most part, we think of mass market lines Carnival, NCL,
Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Disney, Costa. European mass market lines are
P&O and MSC. There are a few others, perhaps.

Oops, my error. I took Karen's original post to mean she was looking
for something *in between* mass market and luxe. (As you said in
another post, the "Premium" category really doesn't exist anymore.)

I, too, do not consider Crystal to be luxe class--too many passengers,
lower crew/pax ratios, and 2 dining seatings vs. open seating on luxe ships.

I'll stand by my comments on the reasonable per diems on Crystal. Mass
market lines do indeed have low fares for
inside/outside/low-category-balcony staterooms, but once you get into
good balcony/minisuite/suite territory, Crystal is the better
value--especially for single occupancy!

Regards,
Howard

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:52:28 GMT, Karen Segboer wrote:

Queen of Bermuda (one of the old Moore-Mac ships) to Bermuda,
September,1988

My gosh, we were children then.