In an interview with Marketplace, Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein talked about how cruise vacations are a luxury vacation for the rest of us.
More than 10 million Americans take a cruise for their vacations and it represents a good value for consumers still.
"The United States is still clearly the No. 1... market for cruisers in the world," Goldstein told Marketplace. "There are about 20 million people a year in the world taking a cruise right now and 11 or 12 [million] come from the United States."
"It's definitely become more available, when I got into the business in 1988 we aspired to be a mainstream vacation," Goldstein said. "It's definitely become more accessible but what the last few years of challenges, economically, have posed to us is the need to really get across the value message of what is included in the cruise purchase."
The value of a cruise is a big deal, considering industry market research firm Cruise Market Watch says the typical ticket price for a cruise passenger is $1311 whereas a 2010 American Express survey found the average American family will spend $4,000 on a vacation including airfare.
"First of all, we draw pretty broadly, obviously we offer upscale vacations," Goldstein said. "We are looking at household income of probably something like $75,000 and up generally speaking. The vast majority of our cruisers I would say would be middle and upper-middle class."
