Sorting Out Passenger Demographics
One of the most common questions I get is, "Which line should I cruise on?" From my own point of view, I think it is best to cruise with others who are similar to yourself and you are most likely to have some things in common with. Others prefer variety, a multi-cultural mix in a wide range of ages and income levels, for the most diverse experience.
If you are elderly and looking for a nice, quiet relaxing cruise, the last thing you want to end up on is a ship with 500 screaming kids lacking adult supervision on a spring break cruise. I have heard those exact complaints.
If you are a family with small children who find alcohol and drug abuse something you do not want to expose your children to, you would not want to book the family on a spring break binge drinking, drug infested sex fest cruise.
Can you really tell in advance which cruise will be your next holiday horror story? I think demographic data can give you a great deal of insight before you book.
When it comes to safety, of course you will want to browse Cruise Bruise for the latest trends in crimes and violence, and see which cruise lines are actually active in fighting crime aboard their vessels and which ones are all talk for publicity reasons with little action.
So, let's take a look at cruise line demographic statistics, and see if you can find a match to your preferred cruising crowd. Visitors to websites are pretty much indicative of who will ultimately make a purchase at a site. They are drawn there by certain advertising targeted to their demographic group. These recommendations are based on third party traffic information provided by Quantcast, updated as of November 2007.
To understand the charts I am about to furnish as reference, you must understand web statistics. Each web site gathers statistics about their visitors. The statistics that come straight from the website are 100% accurate. They really only cover technical information such as location, method of arrival, screen resolutions, operating systems, language, behavior on the web site and such generic information. They can not furnish information such as education, gender, race or income.
This is where third party statistical information comes in. Companies such as Quantcast gather visitor information from web-based polls. Using this method of web site traffic analysis, we can see more specific details about our visitors. But, there is a great deal of debate among webmasters as to how accurate that information is. It is a consensus among large numbers of long established webmasters, such as myself, that websites with the highest levels of traffic give the most accurate statistics to third party traffic evaluators.
It is good to note, that polling is only as accurate as those who complete the surveys are honest. One of the most frequently inaccurate areas of statistics are those dealing with income and education, as some of those from the lower end of those categories tend to embellish their responses. Because Quantcast can not guarantee their statistics as 100% accurate, neither can I. From the outside looking in at the industry, it is the best educated guess we can make though.
However, the fact that I use them as my source on a monthly basis, tells you how much I personally believe in their accuracy. In checking my own in-house statistics for unique visitors, repeat visitors and page views, I find them right on the money.
I would like to also touch on one other fact. In browsing the statistics at Quantcast for some of those very vocal pro-cruise industry web sites, I have seen some other traffic trends. It is worth noting now, that some of those sites, who offer cruise reviews and pro-industry opinions on cruise crimes do not proportionately represent the primary victim groups we have seen in recent years.
I find it highly unlikely that a web site with a large percentage of cruisers who are heavily from the demographic group of elderly males, would have a clue about the personal dangers young women under the age of 45 and children of any age face on any given cruise. Taking cruising advice from those industry 'pumpers' is like taking current stock market advice from an entire community of technology deprived, isolated Eskimos at the north pole. To put it mildly, they are out of the 'loop'.
If you want to know how safe a cruise might be for a family, you ask families. If you want to know how safe a cruise is for young, single adults who do not use illegal drugs, drink to excess, or engage in random sexual acts with strangers, you do not ask a drug-damaged, alcoholic sex addict. Online, it is hard to tell one from another when getting advice. Keep that in mind.
From my point of view, as a drug-free, infrequent consumer of moderate amounts of alcoholic beverages, a grand-parent raising a toddler grandchild, a mother caring for a disabled adult daughter, and a well-traveled middle age spouse for 20 years now, a good vacation for me is one where my family and I are not subjected to an abundance of those people who think a holiday is great when drugs and booze flow in an endless and excessive stream and socially acceptable behavior has no boundaries which may include opportunistic crimes against fellow travelers. I can testify this is not as difficult as you might think.
Let me be clear, that I will never take my grandson nor my disabled teen daughter on a cruise. It will not happen. I value both of them way too much to take that kind of risk and they both fall into high risk groups. So, to that extent, I am quite biased. But, the stastics I offer you are not biased at all.
This past fall I did however take my family of four on an international adventure for five wonderful weeks, that included great meals, large, luxury two-room queen/king Jacuzzi suites and breath-taking views for much less than the cost of any five week cruise. Actually, the cost was less than a one week cruise with similar accommodations, less than $6000 including $1500 in shopping, two birthday celebrations along the way and treating another family of seven to numerous complimentary meals. That is what I call a great value family vacation.
I will admit that the cost did not include the printing of 785 memorable digital photographs ordered online when we got home, another $139 including shipping right to our door.
For those of you who will cruise no matter what, I offer my chart of cruise line demographics. I hope it will help you make a wise choice for your travel plans this coming vacation season.
You will note the statistics are sorted by cruise line and regions, in no particular order and not by intra-line demographic percentages, so as to not infer 'good' or 'bad' by ordering them high to low or low to high. Also note, that not all cruise lines are included.
NOTE:
To enlarge the chart, use your mouse to click on the image. The magnifying glass will pop up and zoom in on the image. To view the chart - click here.
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