Cruise Service Research Articles

Research on Work Stress and Coping Strategies of International Cruise Service Staff

Research on Work Stress and Coping Strategies of International Cruise Service Staff

The Image of Cruise Tourism is Dislocated and Regulated from the Perspective of Tourism Gaze Based on the Differentiation and Harmony of OGC and TGC Images

Tourist gaze is an interactive two-way behavior of observation and experience. From this theoretical perspective, based on the coding analysis of occupation-generated content (OGC) and tourist-generated content (TGC), this paper studies the differentiation and harmony of cruise ships in the South China Sea, explores their image dislocation and proposes regulatory measures. The results show that in the emotional dimension, positive emotions are the main proportion of the two evaluations, showing a trend of positive> neutral > negative. In terms of the objects of concern, both can be divided into five dimensions: cruise services, cruise companies, cruise products, shore tourism and operation management. In terms of image dislocation, firstly, in terms of advertorial vocabulary, OGC tends to standardize objective presentations, and the richness and emotional color of words are weak; Secondly, in terms of focusing on dimensions, OGC pays more attention to showing the high-quality tourism resources and feelings of family and country of Nanhai Cruises, and the communication content is more diversified and the communication structure is more stable. TGC is more inclined to show the main role of "people" in the process of conveying the cruise tourism experience in the South China Sea, focusing on cruise catering, cruise accommodation, cruise service and operation management. Finally, combined with the IPA model, relevant control measures are put forward for the image dislocation of cruise ships in the South China Sea from four aspects: the continuation area, the oversupply area, the opportunity development area and the key improvement area.

A Study on the Impact of Cruise Tourism Experience on Satisfaction, Revisit Behavior, and Consumer Spending Behavior

Abstract This study focuses on exploring the impact of cruise tourism experiences on travelers' satisfaction, revisit intentions, and consumer spending behavior. By distributing questionnaires to cruise travelers and collecting 372 valid samples, the study conducted a comprehensive analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM). The empirical results show that cruise tourism experiences play a crucial role in enhancing travelers' intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction. These satisfaction factors further positively influence travelers' revisit behavior and directly increase their consumer spending, highlighting the critical role of cruise service quality in promoting tourism sustainability and enhancing economic benefits. Additionally, the study found that improvements in the quality of services provided by cruise operators, such as accommodation, dining, and entertainment, can significantly enhance travelers' overall satisfaction. This not only fosters customer loyalty but also positively influences customers' revisit behavior and consumer spending behavior. These findings provide empirical support for cruise operators in improving services and formulating market strategies. JEL classification numbers: Z30, Z32. Keywords: Cruise tourism experience, Satisfaction, Revisit behavior, Consumer spending behavior.

Research on the Differentiation and Harmony of International Cruise Images Based on the Coding Analysis of Selena OGC and TGC

Based on the coding analysis of occupation - generated content (OGC) and tourist - generated content (TGC), this paper conducts a study on the differentiation and harmony of Selena cruise ship. The results show that: (1) In the emotional dimension, positive emotions are the main proportion of both evaluations, showing a trend of positive> neutral > negative; (2) In terms of the objects of concern, both can be divided into five dimensions: cruise services, cruise facilities, cruise products, cruise design and operation management. (3) Differentiation: In terms of advertorial vocabulary, OGC tends to standardize objective presentations, and the richness and emotional color of words are weak; (4) Differentiation 2: In terms of focusing on dimensions, OGC pays more attention to showing the cultural heritage of Selena with categories such as art and culture, and the communication content is more diversified and the communication structure is more stable; TGC is more inclined to play the main role of "people" in the process of conveying Selena's travel experience, focusing on cruise catering, cruise accommodation, cruise service and operation management. Finally, combined with the IPA model, relevant improvement and optimization measures were proposed for Selena cruise ship from four aspects: continuous maintenance area, oversupply area, opportunity development area and key improvement area.

Research on the High-quality Development Path of Asian Tourism under the New Type of Operation: Take Global Famous Cruise Brand America Princess Cruise Company as an Example

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the existing problems of the Asian Cruise Service Quality. Based on the relationship between customer participation , customer service personal value and customer loyalty, this paper expounds on how European and American cruise companies can improve customer loyalty by enhancing “customers’ personal value perception to realize the harmony and unity of the enterprises’ profits and social benefits.
 Design/Methodology/Approach - Based on marketing, the paper studies the low service quality problems of Asian cruise companies. Based on the case analysis and the marketing theories regarding Service-dominant Logic, Customer Value Theory, Customer Loyalty Theory, taking Amercian Princess Cruise company as an example, found the main problems of Asian cruise companies: Low customer loyalty and poor customer experience. Therefore, we make three suggestions.
 Findings - This paper analyses the promotion path of Carnival Cruise Line, which includes powerful cultural values, surprise service, zero burdens etc. to promote the customer’s personal value perception, therefore obtain the loyalty of the customers. The above empirical research results uncover the relationship among customer participation, personal service value, and customer loyalty, and customers’ participation always helps to strengthen their loyalty (Dubé and Renaghan, 2000; Guo Anxi et al., 2013; Kashyap and Bojanic, 2000; Williams and Soutar, 2009).
 Research Implications - In the management of this paper, this study has significance in improving the development of Asian tourism, improving user experience and service quality which will also provide a reference for other “scholars’ follow-up research

Socio-cultural accompaniment of tourists by means of animation in cruise tourism

The study examines cruise tourism, which has become a dynamic area of the tourism industry in recent years. The object of the study is tourist animation practices in cruise tourism, the subject is the motivational structure and value system of tourist practices implemented in cruise tourism. In the course of the study, general scientific methods were used: comparison, generalization, behavioral method. The purpose of the study is to analyze the impact of tourist services during a cruise trip, since tourist satisfaction from the rest depends on the animation support (creating an emotional mood in travelers, conditions for achieving physical and moral recovery, etc.) The article considers the socio-cultural practices of tourist services using animation. Comfort and complexity of tourist services have become a symbol of cruise tourism. The technical characteristics of ships allow them to be used for various forms of cruise passenger service. Particular attention is paid to the animation team, which provides social and cultural services to cruise participants, relying on the material and technical capabilities of modern cruise ships and coastal infrastructure. Analyzing the mood and satisfaction of tourists is especially important in the specific context of social exchange. The state of the tourism sector and, consequently, the economic situation of the country in the period of post-war reconstruction will depend on how satisfied they are with cruise travel. The study attempts to systematize the value components of cruise travel and analyze the positive and negative aspects of the cruise service system. From an applied point of view, this study covers the potential of the cruise ship and the capabilities of the animation team to accompany tourists during the trip. It is necessary to implement strategies that will improve passengers' impressions and emotions, especially those related to various leisure programs to attract tourists to travel on a cruise ship. The results can also be used to improve activities and marketing plans for the development of cruise tourism in Ukraine.

A Comprehensive Star Rating Approach for Cruise Ships Based on Interactive Group Decision Making with Personalized Individual Semantics

This article proposes a comprehensive star rating approach for cruise ships by the combination of subject and objective evaluation. To do that, it firstly established a index system of star rating for cruise ships. Then, the modified TOPSIS is adopted to tackle objective data for obtaining star ratings for basic cruise indicators and service capabilities of cruise ships. Thus, the concept of distributed linguistic star rating function (DLSRF) is defined to analyze the subjective evaluation from experts and users. Hence, a novel weight calculation method with interactive group decision making is presented to assign the importance of the main indicators. Particularly, in order to enable decision makers to effectively deal with the uncertainty in this star rating process, it adopts the personalized individual semantics (PIS) model. Finally, data of nine cruise ships is collected to obtain their final star rating results and some suggestions for improving cruise service capabilities and star indicators were put forward.

Post COVID-19: Health crisis management for the cruise industry

The cruise industry is gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to rising public health concerns. This study combines and examines health crisis management and marketing theories to address public health concerns and improve the usage of cruise services. Combining social exchange theory, customers' perceived value theory, and trust theory, a theoretical model is proposed. Survey data (n = 376) are then collected through an online survey that is conducted on the Chinese tourism market. The finding shows that quality management, health management, social and communication strategies, and financial strategies contribute to customers' perceived value of cruise service. In addition, perceived value directly and indirectly influences customers' intention to use cruise service through trust in cruise company's pandemic management capability. This study expands the current literature on cruise crisis recovery and provides recommendations for policy and strategy formulation for the cruise industry to cope with the pandemic by focusing on public health concerns and psychology.

Cruise Passenger-Oriented Evaluation System for the Public Transport of Hinterland Destinations

The cruise ship industry has become the fastest-growing sector of leisure and tourist business. In terms of the daily cruise service, a key part lies in the accessibility to attractive hinterland destinations. From the viewpoints of safety, efficiency, and environmental protection, public transport is considered to be a good option to access hinterland destinations. It requires the design and selection of public transport routes for cruise passengers by evaluating service quality. The existing studies focus on the evaluation of transport service quality incorporating the passenger perspective while there is a lack of studies oriented towards the cruise passengers. In this paper, we aim at setting up a four-layer cruise passenger-oriented evaluation system. Two cruise centers located in Hamburg, Germany, and Qingdao, China are focused. The proposed evaluation system identifies the weights of 21 criteria and the ranking of the transport routes for cruise passengers in different age groups. Considering the berthing time of cruise ships and the commuting time of local residents, the proposed evaluation system also provides suggestions for the one-day tour itinerary of cruise passengers in the hinterland. Moreover, the preferences on transport routes of different-age cruise passengers are disclosed to promote the relevant improvement in public transport infrastructure in specific transport routes. In doing so, this paper aims at supporting the smart city development for port cities.

Analysis on the Strategies to Improve the Employment Rate of International Cruise Crew Management Majors in Higher Vocational institute in China——Take Jiangsu Maritime Institute as Example

In recent years, with the rapid development of the cruise industry, China, as a promising emerging market, international cruise tourism market has paid more attention to the development of Chinese cruise tourism market. At the same time, the demand for cruise service and management personnel is increasing, and the proportion and demand of Chinese crew members recruited by major cruise companies are increasing. In the fierce market competition, a series of problems have arisen, such as how to increase the counterpart employment rate of cruise crew members and change the current low counterpart employment rate. This paper conducts a more in-depth study on how to improve the counterpart employment rate of international cruise crew management students in higher vocational institute, and proposes solutions for the problem. It is hoped that the implementation of the countermeasures can help our Institute to improve the counterpart employment rate.

The psychology of cruise service usage post COVID-19: Health management and policy implications

The cruise industry has suffered a huge loss due to the suspension of cruise operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the industry is preparing for recovery, there is an urgent need for research on cruise consumers’ psychology, in particular, the factors influencing their intention to use cruise services after the pandemic. This study employs theories, namely, the health belief model, trust theory and attitude theory, to investigate consumers’ use intention for cruise services after the pandemic. An online survey was administered to consumers in China’s tourism industry, where 376 responses were received. Subsequently, this study employs structural equation modelling to test its theoretical model consisting of hypotheses. The results show that consumers’ trust is directly influenced by health belief constructs including perceived safety threat, outcome expectation, self-efficacy and cues to action. Next, trust exerts a direct impact on consumers’ attitude and intention to use cruise services. Moreover, this study finds full and partial mediation effects. The findings provide a series of recommendations for cruise operators and policymakers in terms of marketing strategies, service design, public communication and health measures.

Structure, characteristics and connectivity analysis of the Asian-Australasian cruise shipping network

ABSTRACT Cruise shipping is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the maritime industry. This is due to the growing demand of the sector and the extension of capacity and cruise service coverage. This study uses network measures and random network models to analyse the structure, characteristics and connectivity of the cruise shipping network in Asia and Australasia. An analysis of 200 cruise voyages operated by 12 international cruise lines between 139 ports across 20 countries in the Asian and Australasian regions has found that the cruise shipping network is a scale-free network. This means the degree distribution follows a power law. A few ports play a central role in connecting ports in the network. However, their importance in the network varies depending on which measure of centrality is used, i.e. the degree, betweenness, closeness and eigenvector centrality. The establishment of a link between two ports is influenced by their connections with a third one or triangle relationship.

Can Cruise Services Satisfy Chinese Outbound Travelers? An Importance–Performance Analysis

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore tourists’ satisfaction with cruise services and the gap between expectation and satisfaction, focusing on Chinese outbound tourists traveling to South Korea. Using a mixed-methods approach, in-depth interviews were conducted to summarize items of cruise services for measurement; importance–performance analysis was performed to simultaneously examine the matching degree between tourists’ perceived importance and performance. Tourists’ expectation is measured by the side of importance, meanwhile, performance represents their satisfaction. This study suggests that cruising is an important way for Chinese tourists to travel abroad, and tourists were generally satisfied with the services provided by immigration, customs, and the cruises. However, a gap remains between the perceived expectation and satisfaction. In terms of cruise service, the most important item was the good language and communication skills of the staff, and the most satisfactory performance was the effective boarding service. The biggest gap was observed in the effective service of handling ticket bookings, cancellations, and confirmations. The results of this study can provide insight into enhancing cruise services and marketing, specifically for companies working with the Chinese market.

Analysis of the effect of cruise service supply chain network properties on economic profits

The cruise service supply chain (CSSC) is an integrated supply chain dominated by the cruise tourism service. It consists of a series of demand service providers, such as food, accommodation, trans...

Analysis of the effect of cruise service supply chain network properties on economic profits

Analysis of the effect of cruise service supply chain network properties on economic profits

A sharing concept-based cruise service design

A sharing concept-based cruise service design

A Qualitative Review of Cruise Service Quality: Case Studies from Asia

Although the cruise sector is considered an ‘unreplaceable’ form of tourism, with the cruise industry recording steady growth over the years, there is a lack of research and analysis on cruise ships themselves. Accordingly, this study sought to determine whether service quality differences among ships operating in the Asian market could suggest broader implications for the sustainability of the cruise industry. We chose the SERVQUAL framework for the analysis; we also employed the multiple case study method and topic synthesis to compare the service quality of three ships. Of the ships investigated—the Costa Victoria, Diamond Princess, and Superstar Virgo—the Diamond Princess had the highest service quality. Based on the results, we outlined suggestions for improving the quality of cruise services, including introducing the latest large ships and high-tech facilities, complying with the departure and arrival times of sailing schedules, improving the ratio of crew members per passenger, establishing a cruise personnel training system, and expanding membership program operations.

Классификационная структура предметной области управления факторами привлекательности интегрированного продукта для потребителей круизных услуг

В статье представлены результаты исследования сферы потребительской мотивации в круизной индустрии. Цель работы состоит в интерпретации структуры предметной области управления факторами привлекательности услуг для потребителей интегрированного круизного продукта. Методическая основа исследования представлена комплексным экономическим подходом к формированию области управления факторами привлекательности интегрированного круизного продукта на региональном уровне. В работе использованы структурно-функциональный метод, контент-анализ, системный анализ, классификация, обобщение и формализация. В работе выделены 30 факторов мотивационного воздействия на потребителей круизных услуг, соответствующих пяти уровням потребностей исследуемой целевой аудитории: в безопасности, физиологические, в развлечении, имиджевые и в наполненности продукта. Предложена структура предметной области управления привлекательностью интегрированного продукта предприятий круизного туризма по категориям. Научная новизна исследования заключается в уточнении понятия интегрированного круизного продукта. Практическая значимость работы состоит в выявлении и классификации концептуальных групп факторов как основы для разработки методического подхода к формированию стратегии развития круизной индустрии региона в посткризисный период. Ключевые слова и словосочетания: круизная индустрия, факторы туристской мотивации, интегрированный круизный продукт, круизные услуги, важность потреб-ностей, классификация факторов услуг, круизный бизнес, потребитель круизного продукта.

크루즈 기항지와 선사 서비스속성이 고객만족에 미치는 영향

크루즈 기항지와 선사 서비스속성이 고객만족에 미치는 영향

Modelling the procurement process and production disruption of a multilayer cruise supply chain

ABSTRACT The cruise service supply chain is integrated with cruise lines and cruise ship service suppliers to provide the seamless transition and to enhance the best possible customer experiences. Due to the short resupply window for the cruise ship and possible conflicts of self-interests with suppliers, it is crucial for cruise lines to establish the long-term reliable relationships with service providers. However, disruptions caused by weather issues or inaccurate estimations of onboard consumption are rather common. We study a cruise supply chain with customized contingent plans to investigate how effective incentive mechanisms work to create a win-win situation. Game theory is applied to model a cruise supply chain with the consideration of possible adverse selection and moral hazard. Customized incentive mechanisms are further developed for various suppliers with unique industry features. Results show that initial order quantity of onboard supplies only depends on the reliability of high-flexible suppliers and onboard consumption patterns. If the natural disasters affect the reliability of highly flexible suppliers, the cruise line could increase the wholesale price to create a competitive local market. Seasonal contracts are highly recommended to cruise lines with the consideration of various supply categories.