Search results

This study aims to test the relationships among involvement, perceived price, perceived quality, affective satisfaction, perceived value, attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty in the cruise line industry. In addition, this study attempted to identify whether the differences in these variables exist across first-time and repeat cruise customers.

The web-based survey was used. A total of 403 complete responses were used for data analysis. Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach was used to achieve study objectives.

The t-test analyses demonstrated that repeat cruise customers expressed significantly lower perceived price and higher affective satisfaction, perceived value and behavioral loyalty than first-time cruise travelers. The structural equation modeling results revealed that involvement has an important role in loyalty generation process. However, the structural model did not significantly differ across first-time and repeat customers.

Overall, the results indicated the critical needs to develop individuals’ interest in cruise vacation with a particular cruise line. Cruise line operators who undertake promotion efforts that enhance people involvement with their cruise line should result in greater likelihood of choosing the same cruise line in the future.

With a lack of research about cruise line involvement and loyalty, this research contributes to theoretical understanding of intricate attitudinal and behavioral loyalty generation process across first-time and repeat cruise passengers.

Experience and value creation have become integral themes for tourism service providers. This study aims to understand the role of different types of experiences in formulating customers’ perceived value. Studies on this area are scarce, especially in the cruise industry.

A research model that includes two value variables, namely, functional and wellness values, and four cruise brand experience variables, namely, sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual factors, was tested through partial least-squares (PLS) structural equation modeling approach. A total of 389 usable cruise customer responses were obtained and analyzed using SmartPLS software.

Results revealed the relative effects of sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual factors on perceived functional and wellness values. The positive impact of perceived value on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention and the moderating role of service expertise in the relationship between cruise experience and perceived value were examined.

Future research can examine how types of leisure facilities (e.g. casinos, restaurants, bars and shows), cultural differences (e.g. Eastern and Western) and customers’ travel characteristics (e.g. visiting purpose and companions) may influence the relationships between cruise brand experience and perceived value.

From a practical point, the relationships among multidimensional cruise brand experience, functional and wellness values, customer satisfaction, revisit intention and service expertise provide a clue on how cruise brands can enhance customers’ perceived value to retain current customers.

This study contributes to literature by providing a theoretical framework and empirical evidence for predicting and explaining cruise customers’ behavior. From a managerial perspective, this study identified critical factors that are essential to value creation and discussed the implications of predictive factors on developing marketing strategies that enhance customers’ positive attitude and behavior toward the cruise brand.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the qualities of delighted cruise travelling experience and proposed cruisers’ experience, service convenience and perceived overall value as the drivers of cruisers’ satisfaction and revisit intention. Thus, the attributes of an effective cruise-marketing strategy in formulating consumer’s recreational experiences are examined.

A total of 287 questionnaires were collected and structural equation modelling technique was used to analyse data obtained from cruise travellers.

The empirical results indicated that service convenience and cruisers’ experience significantly influence perceived overall cruisers’ satisfaction and revisit intention, whereas perceived overall cruise value influences perceived overall cruisers’ satisfaction but not cruisers’ revisit intention. Furthermore, empirical assessments support that service convenience is a higher-order model (reflective-reflective) consisting of decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience and post-benefit convenience.

This research is among ongoing attempts that have been carried out regarding the qualities of cruise satisfaction and revisits intention and uncovers recreational experiences to propose an effective cruise-marketing strategy.

This study aims to investigate both the relationships among the on-board environment, overall satisfaction, perceived value and behavioral intentions and the moderating effects of gender, employment status, group composition and the propensity to stay on board in the context of cruise experience.

Relationships among constructs were tested on the basis of 417 surveys collected and analyzed with the structural equation modeling approach of partial least squares path modeling. A multi-group analysis was used to test the moderating effects.

The research findings suggest that on-board environment is a good predictor of behavioral intentions, but that the relationship is strongly mediated by satisfaction and perceived value. Moreover, the multi-group analysis of moderating effects indicated various differences that offer interesting insights for segmenting passengers; these insights have substantial implications for future studies and cruise line companies alike.

This study offers useful insights for managers who want to differentiate their value proposition with ship-centered elements.

This study contributes to the literature by providing a theoretical framework and empirical evidence for analyzing the role of the perceived on-board environment in passenger experience. From a managerial perspective, the moderating effects offer new insights for targeting and customizing the cruise experience value proposition.

This study aims to extend the cognitive appraisal theory by developing and validating a conceptual framework to illustrate how travelers' behavioral intention is generated via a multi-stage evaluation of health-related variables.

SEM and moderator analysis were conducted to examine the theoretical framework (post-intervention event travel intention) and to investigate how the appraisal process differs across travelers with various attitudes toward vaccination.

This study found that cruise travel intention was positively influenced by the perceived hedonic value and perceived trustworthiness and negatively influenced by perceived infection risk. Furthermore, whereas perceived hedonic value, perceived trustworthiness and perceived risk of infection were all predicted by crisis management, the dimensions of crisis management operated differently. In addition, vaccination attitudes amplified the unfavorable effect of perceived risk on intention.

Drawing on the CAT, this study developed and validated a conceptual framework to integrate crisis management with customers' behavioral intentions. This study extends existing cruise travel intention theory by demonstrating how post-pandemic travelers' behavioral intention is generated via a multi-stage appraisal-reappraisal process based on the evaluations of infection risks and cruise line crisis management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customers’ upgrading/downgrading _(t−1) behavior may be predictive of future spending. Further, this paper also investigates how customers’ post-consumption evaluations of upgrades and downgrades [satisfaction_(t−1) and perceived value_(t−1)] may moderate the relationship between upgrades/downgrades and future spending.

The predictions are tested using a large longitudinal data set of river cruise purchases (N = 48,103) and largely replicated using a data set of zoo membership purchases (N = 2,469).

Satisfaction_(t−1) mitigates the positive relationship between prior upgrades_(t−1) and future spending_(t). In contrast, perceived value_(t−1) magnifies the positive relationship between prior upgrades_(t−1) and future spending_(t). However, no positively moderating effects are observed to alleviate the negative relationship between prior downgrades_(t−1) and future spending_(t).

This research suggests that managers should work hard early in customer–firm relationships because of an asymmetric difficultly in altering the trajectory of an established relationship. Specifically, relationships that are trending downward (as consecutive downgrades would suggest) are difficult to repair – a mechanism to alter this trajectory is not observed. In contrast, relationships that are trending upward (as consecutive upgrades would suggest) can be improved with high perceived value evaluations but also degraded with high satisfaction evaluations.

This research should recast marketers’ understanding of the value of customers’ upgrade and downgrade decisions. Instead of using customers’ upgrade or downgrade decisions as the dependent variable, or final outcome in buyer behavior, this study shows how the accumulation of prior upgrades and prior downgrades, over time, acts as a bellwether of the customer–firm relationship. Further, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to connect these upgrade/downgrade decisions to customers’ evaluations of those purchases to understand how individual purchases can impact the overall customer–firm relationship.

The aim of this study is to examine cruise destination branding as a new resource for a region to promote an area as a differentiated cruise destination. The authors specifically study how the perceived brand awareness of a destination moderates the relation between cruisers’ motivation and destination satisfaction and word-of-mouth (WoM).

A statistical model was adapted from relevant literature and applied in the context of cruise destination branding. The model was tested by measuring Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and the fit of the model through confirmative factor analysis. Hierarchical regression analysis and moderated regression analysis were also conducted. The sample consisted of British cruisers (n = 182) visiting the city of Pori in Finland.

The findings suggest that factors that impel people to take cruises (social recognition, self-esteem, discovery, socialization, convenience and value) have a significant impact on satisfaction with the destination, whereas brand awareness is recognized as a moderator in the relation between social recognition and destination satisfaction and WoM. Research findings provide a framework to discuss and analyze the cruise tourism business in a holistic way. Whereas the earlier studies have focused on onboard experiences, in this study, the focus of attention is on the onshore experiences of the cruisers.

The study is focused on one Baltic Sea cruise destination, the British Cruise Company and a limited segment of senior British passengers.

By measuring cruisers’ internal travel motives and their perceptions of the brand awareness of the port-of-call during the cruise, or the destination, the results offer destination marketing organizations valuable information to develop their offerings to meet the needs of future travelers and visitors.

The study contributes to the cruise destination literature by linking the perceived brand awareness of a destination to motivational factors of the tourist and further to destination satisfaction and WoM behavior specifically in the context of onshore experiences.

This study aims to examine the effects of the servicescape on experiential state, delight and memorability in the context of the cruise experience. This study also analyzes the moderating effects of sociodemographic characteristics (income and place of residency) and prior travel experience.

Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory, structural equation modeling via partial least squares path modeling was applied to a sample of 415 cruisers. A multi-group analysis was used to test the moderating effects.

Study results confirm the predictive role of the servicescape in creating experience, delight and memorability, with a place of residence, past travel experience and income exerting moderating effects on the aforementioned relationships.

The results offer useful insights for managers who operate not only in the cruise industry but also in other service contexts. Moreover, the moderating effects offer novel insights into smarter marketing on the part of service companies oriented toward value co-creation.

Only a few recent studies have focused on the servicescape in the context of the cruise industry. This study contributes to the literature by providing a theoretical framework and empirical evidence for analyzing the role of the onboard servicescape in cruisers’ experience, delight and memorability while also considering the moderating effects that of sociodemographic and travel-related characteristics exert on the different paths.

The purpose of this study is to explore the onboard activity choice of Chinese cruise tourists on three international cruise ships departing Shanghai, China.

A qualitative research method was adopted for this study. Data was collected using participant observation, casual conversation and semi-structured in-depth interviews from 76 Chinese cruise respondents. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.

Chinese cruise tourists were offered various onboard activities, most of which were Western. Booking these activities involved tourists searching information and assessing and choosing what appealed to them. They chose these activities according to the consumption values, and their decision was influenced by both context-dependent variables—the variety and style of the activities and their capacity to appeal, and the personal variable—age. Chinese tourists were satisfied with the array of onboard activity options and viewed them as an opportunity to experience Western culture. However, when they were unfamiliar with or did not understand some activities, they preferred Chinese activities.

This study formulates propositions to underlie a conceptual framework of how cruise tourists choose an onboard activity. The findings derived from the data will be valuable to cruise lines seeking to better manage tourists’ onboard experiences.

This paper aims to identify the drivers that explain loyalty behavior in cruise tourism with the aim of achieving a better understanding of repeat cruisers’ intentions to sail on the same ship or on another ship belonging to the same cruise line or cruise corporation.

Based on over 150,000 online reviews about their satisfaction and experience posted by cruisers using so-called electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM), the authors apply both a graphic and an econometric technique through input-output circular plots and discrete choice models.

The main results show that cruisers’ behavior is influenced by multiple onboard attributes, such as the service crew, entertainment options, type of cabin, some characteristics of the ship (age, capacity) and the cruise line (Premium-Luxury versus mainstream), and, specifically, the quality and variety of the gastronomic experience.

The results highlight that repeats cruisers are predominantly linked to a cruise company or a cruise corporation rather than a particular ship. This result provides information on the moderators that can influence the customers’ repetition behavior, which might be useful for planning revenue management and extending knowledge on hospitality loyalty in general and in the cruise industry in particular, specifically under the current uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The previous literature has essentially examined revisit intentions in the cruise market from a qualitative approach and the authors have found no study to date that has simultaneously addressed this issue in three dimensions, namely, ship, cruise line and cruise corporation. The research fills this gap by determining the reasons why passengers would repeat a cruise either on the same ship, with the same cruise line or the same cruise corporation based on previous experience.