The recently released Cruise Holidays 2014 Trend Survey confirms what travelers and industry experts already know: European river cruising is in demand. However, travelers aren’t just taking whatever they can get.

According to the survey, the itinerary is all-important. Especially, with the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landing on the horizon this year, it is important that travelers find the right itinerary to match their interest. Price is seemingly secondary to these consumers.

The survey showed that European river cruising, when combined with European deepwater cruising, accounts for 16 percent of passengers, putting it in second place to only the Caribbean that has maintained its first place position with 54.8 percent of passengers.

Alaska comes in third with 9.1 percent of passengers.

European river cruising had 5.4 percent of passengers beating out Bermuda at 3.5 percent. European ocean cruising had 10.4 percent. For the past two years, European river cruising wasn’t broken out in its own category for the survey. However, if the statistics had been crunched it would have been behind Bermuda in 2013.

The leap ahead of Bermuda shows the current uptick for European river cruising not abating.

In order to keep up with demand and make sure that river cruising clients are properly qualified, it’s best to do a little matchmaking.

“First and foremost, I advise that matching someone’s personality to a particular cruise line is something most consumers overlook," said Cruise Holidays franchise owner, Kurt Carter. "I advise that value is most important as opposed to simply price. A $3,000 cruise that doesn't wow you isn't worth as much as a $3,500 cruise that proves to be the vacation of a lifetime.”

The value of a travel agent in helping with the matchmaking process was underscored in this year’s survey findings.

“For the past several years, Cruise Holidays agents have reported that their clients’ number one priority is finding the right itinerary, followed by getting the best price," said Maggie Blehert, a company spokesperson for Cruise Holidays International. "That itinerary trumps price speaks volumes about our value proposition to the customer, because it means we have the knowledge and the tools to send clients on their way to their dream destination, even better than they might be able to do on their own." 

Being able to qualify clients accurately ultimately means more business for agents.

“We hold their hand during the entire process. We explain that our clients will know more than another other passenger onboard. It is all about making memories. Placing the client on the right ship and product will ensure that everyone has something to do,” said Helene Kaplan, co-owner, Cruise Holidays of Marlboro in New Jersey.

Interest generated in river cruising is due to the unique itineraries (in order of popularity) like the “Wind Mills and Tulips” of the Netherlands (19.3 percent), Budapest, Hungary’s “Grand Tour” (16.8), “Normandy,” Paris, France (8.5), Basel, Switzerland’s “Rhine River Valley” (8.5) and Nuremberg, Germany’s Main/Danube (5.4).

“The enthusiasm over river cruising, particularly in Europe, continues to add a new dynamic to the vacation market. Even travelers who have never cruised before seem particularly drawn to river cruises as an attractive alternative to a land tour,” said Kevin Weisner, senior vice president, Cruise Holidays International. “What’s good for the cruise industry itself is that river cruises are not eroding the business of European deep water cruises, but rather spurring even more travelers to head across the Atlantic.”

Although river cruising is generating business and excitement, that doesn’t meant that ocean cruising isn’t holding its own, especially in light of Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas ship to debut in Nov. 2014.

The ship opened for bookings in May 2013 and Cruise Holiday experts have been busy booking - 20 percent of their accounts are for the ship into 2015. It is the first “Quantum Class” ship for Royal Caribbean and will carry 4,100 passengers, fewer guests than Royal Caribbean’s two most recently launched ships, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.

Results from the survey were based on 133 Cruise Holidays agents taken from Dec. 5-22, 2013, as well as from the booking data of more than 600 Cruise Holidays agents.

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