What’s your favourite cruise destination? Could it be the beautiful beaches of Barbados, the stunning bay of Villefranche in the South of France or the magnificent fjords of Norway?
Apparently, none of these as a new poll shows that the Big Apple is now the number one destination for British cruise passengers.
New York has taken over from Venice as our favourite port, with the beautiful Italian city has been toppled after two years in the top slot.
As many as 19% of consumers voted New York as the best cruise destination, according to the YouGov poll for industry body the Passenger Shipping Association to coincide with National Cruise Week which started yesterday.
New York was also voted a firm favourite by more than a quarter (26%) of younger respondents aged between 18 and 34.
Thirteen per cent voted for Venice and there was a three-way tie for third place between Barcelona, Rome (from the port of Civitavecchia) and Singapore, each registering 7%.
Then came Cape Town in fourth position followed by Luxor fifth, Singapore and Amsterdam tied in sixth place and Copenhagen in seventh place.
Now is it just me, or are these statistics a bit weird? I can understand New York being a favoured general travel destination, but for cruises the only company to sail to New York regularly is Cunard Line with the Queen Mary 2’s scheduled transatlantic crossings from Southampton.
Some ships may reposition between Europe and the Caribbean or New England via New York but otherwise, that leaves fly-cruises actually departing from the city which I suspect only attract marginal numbers of British passengers.
Frankly, I am surprised that no Caribbean island makes it into the top rankings given the number of Brits who take winter fly-cruises to the sun. Antigua, Barbados and Grenada would certainly be in my list.
My choices
Similarly, I find it odd that only two Mediterranean destinations make the grade given the wealth of iconic sights to see either on cruises departing from the UK or fly-cruises direct to join ships departing from the likes of Palma in Majorca.
Florence and Pisa from Livorno; Sorrento and Capri from Naples, Santa Margherita for Portofino not to mention delightful Dubrovnik, the many Greek islands and Istanbul would all be up there in my list.
While I love Cape Town, there are very few cruises that call at the South African port, so again it raises doubts in my mind about the questions asked of consumers.
Interestingly, the PSA findings coincided with a survey by consumer magazine Cruise International which put Sydney as the top cruise spot, followed by Stockholm and Jamaica.
Why you cruise
What is more believable from the PSA statistics is that more than half (57%) of those asked said the opportunity to visit a number of destinations in one trip was a main attraction of taking a cruise holiday.
The convenience of having to unpack just once appealed to half of people, although this figure was more important to women (53%) than men (46%).
The perception that cruising is all-inclusive – despite there being extra on board costs as I highlighted in my last blog – was one of the most attractive features amongst 36% of respondents, just beating the attraction of waking up in a new port nearly every day, voted for by 35%.
Next most appealing factor was the dining offered on board cruise ships (27%), with this increasing to 33% amongst those from Wales apparently.
The main attraction of cruise for almost one in five (19%) is the opportunity to meet people from a wide range of cultures and nationalities, and again those from Wales recorded the highest percentage (28%) of any of the home nations’ respondents’ for this particular attraction to cruise.
The on-board entertainment was mentioned by 17% of those surveyed, as were the special entertainment programmes for children (4%).
Oddly, other key benefits promoted by cruise lines such as on board activities, spas, gyms and bars don’t get a mention.
As cruise companies invest so much in the bells and whistles – whether it be rock climbing walls, ice rinks or water slides – the results raise a questions as to whether such amenities really appeal to a British cruise audience.
If they don’t it will be music to the ears of the likes of P&O Cruises, Fred Olsen and Cunard which have eschewed on board gimmicks of their brasher US rivals in favour of a focus on service standards, the dining experience and a varied programme of shore excursions.
Finally, I will leave you to concur or otherwise with the PSA tabloid-headline grabbing findings:
When selecting the celebrity they would most like to see “walk the plank”, more than one in five (22%) chose Katie Price (alias Jordan); followed Jedward (17%), James Murdoch (11%), Gordon Brown (10%); and Simon Cowell and London mayor Boris Johnson (both 6%).
Meanwhile, Johnny Depp and Jennifer Aniston topped the poll of ‘fantasy celebrity cabin mates’ along with Angelina Jolie.
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