Luxury Cruise Ships - Research Paper Example

Luxury Cruise Ships Benefits Luxury cruise ships provide personalized experience for guests, as well a life enriching travel experience. Luxury cruise ships are all-suite rather than inside rooms. Each of these suites has its own view of the sea and the sky. They also have plenty of space for guests, with some suites having private verandas.The luxury cruise ships experience involves a variety of intimate restaurants, in-suite dining and poolside grills. Guests can enjoy light continental breakfast on their verandas served by the butlers, a vast range of healthy lunch selections and afternoon tea in the traditional way, and divine dinners on every other night (Smith 56).

This offers the meal experience of a hotel, only that guests experience this while travelling; different meals in different locations. Guests have a vast range of beverages from which to select. Guests can choose from a selection of spirits, wines, soft drinks, juices, coffee, bottled water and champagne among others. Furthermore, guests can enjoy their choice of drinks throughout the ship rather than during meal times only. The preferred selections of guests are stocked in their specific suites.

The entertainment facilities in luxury cruise ships are quite diverse and unique. There are no reservations, bar tabs or cover charges. There are variety acts, cabaret-style shows, feature films and special performances among others. Once in a while enrichment lecturers hold discussions pertaining to the voyage destination. Guests can also dance to live music. Casino lovers can play casino games. This variety of entertainment compliments the travel experience of guests (Smith 57). Most luxury cruise ships are usually small in size in order to personalize the experience for guests.

Such ships are intimate and have more space and fewer guests on board. Such ships also allow guests to experience close encounters with culture and nature. During the journey, guests enjoy personalized one on one service. Small cruise ships are also able to dock in many harbors including small harbors where large cruise ships cannot dock. This increases the number of stops that a small luxury cruise ship can make along the way. DisadvantagesThe cost of services in a luxury cruise ship is quite high.

The vast variety of facilities, in addition to the personalized services that are offered on board contributes to the high cost of luxury cruise trips. This leaves only the wealthy customers who can afford the services. The Cruise experience is far much better than the experience at a hotel, which makes the prices high. For this reason, a luxury cruise ship must conduct extensive market research in order to establish the extent of its target market. The sceneries on a voyage are usually limited to the sea and the sky.

The guests can only enjoy these two sceneries in between the voyage. Guests staying in a hotel have a better chance to experience many types of scenery such as valleys, mountains, animal reserve packs among other natural features. Luxury cruise ships are exposed to the risks involved at sea. Examples include attacks by pirates and storms among others. The effects of the risks may be as bad as lose of lives or hostage situations in case of pirates (Smith 61). The occurrence of such risks results in soiled reputations for the cruise ship company involved, which can have negative effects on guests.

Works Cited"New to Cruising?." Luxury Cruises. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .Smith, Peter. Cruise Ships the Worlds Most Luxurious Vessels.. Havertown: Pen and Sword, 2011. Print.