Cruise entertainment, dining options increase, diversify

• Bigger, glitzier vessels have turned cruising into the fastest growing segment of the travel industry
• Today's mega-ships feature everything everything you'll find at the biggest resorts on land
• How has the shipboard experience evolved, and what more is coming in the future?

A new generation of bigger, glitzier vessels has broadened cruising's appeal and – the sinking of the Costa Concordia notwithstanding – turned it into the fastest growing segment of the travel industry. Today's mega-ships now feature everything from deck-top water parks to Broadway shows to celebrity chef-run eateries – in short, everything you'll find at the biggest resorts on land, and sometimes more. How has the shipboard experience evolved, and what more is coming in the future?

USA TODAY assembled four of the industry's top executives in Miami late last month for a roundtable discussion on the topic: Adam Goldstein, CEO of Royal Caribbean International; Gerry Cahill, CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines; Kevin Sheehan, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line; and Frank Del Rio, Chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises. The hour-long panel discussion was moderated by USA TODAY's Gene Sloan and Veronica Gould Stoddart.

USA TODAY: Let's start with a hypothetical vacationer who hasn't been on cruise in a decade or two or three. What would they find familiar on today's ships. What would surprise them?

Goldstein: They would find a very high-level service, just like before, (and) a real attention to the needs of the guests that has always distinguished our category. They would find a main dining room experience where the wait staff was extremely attuned to their needs and would come to know (them) very well, (and) they would come to know the stateroom attendants in a way that is not normal if you're staying in a hotel. True then, true now. They might see some of the elements of entertainment that they saw then, but ... the entertainment has gone several dimensions up the ladder.

Del Rio: The same lifestyle changes that you've experienced ashore, you're going to find in the (cruise) product. It's more sophisticated. It's a higher quality. It's more diversity in terms of dining options, itinerary options, onboard enrichment, onboard entertainment options, stateroom options. There are suites at sea today that are larger than apartments in New York City. It used to be that the average stateroom was 110 or 120 square feet. Very few had balconies. Today, ships are being built with 95%-plus (of cabins having) balconies.

Cahill: Twenty-five years ago the open decks on a cruise ship was basically a couple swimming pools and a bunch of lounge chairs. Today, there are rock climbing walls, ropes courses, water parks, basketball courts. The biggest change is the variety of things you can do (on ships) versus 25 years ago. And then the cruise lines also have realized that the consumer doesn't want to be told when to do what, so we've all gone in a direction of offering not just variety but flexibility in the timing of when they do things.

USA TODAY: Ships have gotten a lot larger to accommodate all these new amenities. Are we hitting the limit of how large ships can be?

Goldstein: I think it would be hubris on all our parts to think that forever and for all times we've seen the biggest ships that will ever be built. If you look at the history of ship building over hundreds of thousands of years, over time they get bigger. Eventually there will be bigger ships. But the size of the ship isn't the input, it's the output. The input is what Gerry was talking about. It's (asking) what are people looking for to experience, and how do we all provide them with the array of choices and options and features and benefits that they're looking for from us in order to choose us over land vacations of various types. And obviously our sense (at Royal Caribbean) has been that by (increasing ship size) we can maximize the options that we offer to the guests. We're not seeking to hit a certain (tonnage) number or a number of berths. We're seeking to please our guests at the highest possible level.

Del Rio: Over time, all ships have gotten bigger. We just launched two vessels in the last year, Riviera and Marina, (that) would have been the world's largest ships in 1970, but today they're very much midsize. It allows us a bigger platform to do what guests want. In my guest segment, they don't want rock climbing walls. Very few 65- or 70-year-olds want to do that. What they do want is great cuisine, and so we built lots of restaurants. Our cruises are longer than your typical three, five or seven days, so comfort is a bigger part of the equation. The staterooms are larger, the bathrooms are full of marble and granite and all sorts of features. The size of the vessel has allowed us to provide them what they're looking for ... great comfort, great service, great cuisine, wonderful destinations.

USA TODAY: Several of you have mentioned the trend to more eateries on ship, in addition to main dining rooms. Will this trend continue? Could we see a day when main dining rooms disappear?

Sheehan: I think you have to balance it. There's always going to be a big group of guests coming on that enjoy the big experience (of) the big dining room. On our new ship (Norwegian Breakaway), we'll have three main dining rooms, so even within the included part of the fare, they have three different options. Then there are other (no-extra-charge) venues as well, including O'Sheehan's, which is an Irish pub. We want to make sure we preserve that (base offering of no-extra charge eateries).

USA TODAY: But you're continuing to add more extra-charge eateries.

Sheehan: With 20-something restaurants on Breakaway, we're moving into new territory. Cuisine is critically important (to passengers). Geoff Zakarian is now going to be the chef for our new (extra charge) Ocean Blue restaurant, and (we'll have) the trattorias and the Teppanyaki (restaurant) and French and a steakhouse. (We're) just giving the person who wants to spend a little bit more to have a different experience every single night (what they want). You need to keep it exciting and different so that they want to keep coming back.

USA TODAY: There hasn't been a lot of push back on charging extra for those experiences?

Sheehan: No ... as long as you communicate it properly. When I came into the company (in 2007), we actually had not done that. When you got on the ship, you didn't know what was (extra).

USA TODAY: We do hear a fair amount of griping from readers about what they say is more nickel-and-diming on ships. Is that fair?

Goldstein: I don't think any of us are ever in the position of saying that the customer's opinion is unfair. Our responsibility is to educate them about how this all works. What we've been able to do as an industry is add on this tremendous array of options, but there aren't that many of the guests availing themselves of any one particular option. So if you have a 50-seat restaurant on a ship that holds thousands of customers, and it's a seven-night cruise, only a very small percentage of people are going to be (able to eat) in that restaurant. The user fee concept in that context makes sense, because if you don't charge them anything for that experience, you're either not able to offer that experience, or if you do, then every single person onboard is paying a tiny little slice of their ticket price for something that only a small percentage will enjoy.

Del Rio: At Regent, we run an all-inclusive line. There is really no nickel-and-diming there. You only go for your wallet to cover your casino losses and to pay for your spa treatments, and we have found that works very well.

USA TODAY: Regent is a luxury line, though, with much higher base fares.

Del Rio: When we have done comparisons of what the consumer actually pays to go on a full cruise vacation (at Regent and Oceania), compared to (more mass-market lines), our lines aren't that much more expensive because all these things are included. We package them and we pass along many of the cost savings that volume buying allows. Our point is, if you're going to pay about the same, why wouldn't you go on a luxury line and enjoy all the benefits that a luxury line has to offer you? (All-inclusive pricing) works very well for Regent. I'm not sure it would work well at more mass-market lines, but I'll tell you that Regent year after year improves on customer satisfaction. The ratings are nearly flawless, because we provide so much of the complete vacation in one package.

USA TODAY: The ratings have gone up as you've included more?

Del Rio: Yes. Three years ago we included unlimited shore excursions. That was a big leap. We came back a year later and included a free pre-cruise hotel stay. When (customers) travel to Asia or Europe for one of our cruises, they typically stay at a hotel at least a day or two (before the voyage). They're worried about mis-connections. They're worried about lost luggage. They want to decompress before they come onboard. So we facilitate that. We're a destination-oriented cruise line, and shore excursions clearly are a big part of why you're on a destination-related cruise line. So (the excursions), along with the fine cuisine, and gratuities, are included. The bottom line is that we believe a luxury cruise is the best value in cruising. It may not be the least expensive going in, but think about it on the way out.

USA TODAY: What do you think, Gerry? Do you agree with that?

Cahill: I think Frank is way off base. (Laughter)

Del Rio: Tell us how you feel! (Laughter)

Cahill: We're very sensitive to the value proposition for the consumer, and we've been very cautious about introducing new dining venues (for which) you have to pay. We've introduced five in the last year (for which) you don't have to pay. One is the (burrito-serving) Blue Iguana Cantina. We have Guy Fieri's Burger Bar. We have Fat Jimmy's Barbecue, named after our chief marketing officer. (Laughter). We do have a couple (for which) we charge, but we're very careful about that. I think (it works) as long as you do it in balance. The thing that we're all striving for is to offer different options for different kinds of guests. We find that even in the main dining room, (where) we still offer a traditional, fixed-time seating and an open seating, you see there are people that very much want to go to that traditional seating. There are others that want the flexibility. As long as you don't take away something your core guest values, but you're adding on other things, I think you have a winner.

USA TODAY: You mentioned Guy Fieri. How important is it these days to have eateries designed by celebrity chefs? Does that really resonate with passengers?

Cahill: The key is finding a chef that works with your brand. For us, Guy Fieri is larger than life. He's perfect for our brand. On an average cruise now on a sea day, we will serve over 1,500 burgers (from the Guy Fieri eatery), which is really incredible if you think about it. So, yeah, I think the celebrity chef (resonates), but the key is having the right person.

USA TODAY: Adam, have you found that to be true?

Goldstein: I think this is a smaller part of a bigger point, which is the volume of options that have emerged, but what else has emerged is the quality of the options that we've offered. One of the things that was a characteristic of our industry 25 or 30 years ago was the sense that it wasn't really as good as what you could find (at resorts) on land. When you see the way that we're partnering with known brands and known chefs, not only in the culinary space but in the entertainment space, it not only says that those particular options are of a high-quality equivalent to what you would find anywhere on land, but I think it puts a halo over everything else that we're doing in terms of the overall quality of what the cruise industry is offering to people. I don't see really any possibility other than we will continue to develop relationships in our industry with outsiders who can bring something to our guests.

USA TODAY: Is it sort of a requirement now to have a name brand chef?

Sheehan: It's a piece of the puzzle. We need to be mindful of what is emerging, and if we're not, we're going to lose a beat. You have to continually look at your product offering and say, "Is this the most relevant? Is this the most crisp product that I can offer?" It's a very demanding marketplace, because consumers have lots of options.

USA TODAY: Let's turn to entertainment. We're seeing more big brand name shows come to ships such as Blue Man Group (at Norwegian) and the musical Chicago (at Royal Caribbean).

Sheehan: Yeah, and our new ship will have three Broadway shows and, on top of that, the Radio City Rockettes. We think that's the right recipe for the future. It's critical that (we) keep doing things where people will say, "Oh, my God, that's Norwegian Cruise Line. I want to take a cruise on Norwegian because they've got all that neat entertainment."

USA TODAY: So the big show in a big showroom – a tradition of cruising -- is still a draw for passengers?

Del Rio: You would have to ask them, because big shows aren't a big draw for us. Part of it is because we don't have the physical space that the big ships do, and so we rely more on cabaret-style shows (and) individual virtuoso performers. But remember, in our idea of cruising every morning you arrive at this fantastic new port, and you're off the ship for six, seven, eight hours to visit all these wonderful places that the area has to offer. You come back onboard and have this wonderful meal, and you might go to the show or you might go to the casino for a while, but these folks are tired. They've had a long day, and they turn in early. So ours are not party vessels. If you want to go on a party vessel, Gerry has got some cabins and he wants to talk to you. We're more of a sophisticated crowd, (and) a little older. They want to see the world as opposed to go on a big party, and therefore entertainment in the true sense of what we're talking about here is not as big a part of our experience. We believe that the entertainment happens, more often than not, ashore, and the ship is a wonderful hotel, has wonderful restaurants, lounges, but (is) much more low key.

Cahill: Uh-huh. I just wanted to point out to Frank that Carnival actually carries more people over 65 than any other brand. (Laughter)

Del Rio: And (more people) under 12. (Laughter)

Goldstein: First, following on Frank's point, I think it's a strength of the industry that we're not the same. There wouldn't be 20 million people cruising per year, which we've now just reached as an industry, if they were all cruising with one idea. The variety that the different brands offer is crucial. For us, the big Broadway shows have been tremendous. The fact that we put on legitimate Broadway entertainment then gets people more interested in the big shows that we create for ourselves, with concepts that you wouldn't see on Broadway. It's the mainstay of our entertainment program.

USA TODAY: With entertainment, how much are you looking to what other cruise lines are doing versus what you're seeing come out of big land destinations such as Las Vegas?

Goldstein: Obviously we're cognizant of what our closest (cruise) competitors do, and vice-versa, but we all collectively represent like one or two percent of the vacations that people take. I mean, 98% or 99% of vacations are still taken on the land. If we're going to be cutting edge, then we need to understand what's happening on land.

USA TODAY: Shipboard entertainment generally has been included in the fare on ships. As we see more big name shows come to vessels, could that begin to change?

Goldstein: I think there's more going on (with extra charges) in the area of activities than entertainment. For example, it doesn't cost anything to surf the FlowRider on our ships, but if you want private or semi-private lessons, then for a fee you have the opportunity to do something that's just far above and beyond the normal activity that we offer. We now have this new relationship with Barbie, so we'll have Barbie playing a role in the Adventure Ocean Youth program, and that's no extra charge, but if you want to have a special Barbie experience all week long, then there will be a charge attached to that. People seem to understand that if you want to have an experience that is really specifically crafted and just for relatively few people, that's worth paying for.

USA TODAY: So the idea of more a la carte pricing for shows, like we're seeing with restaurants, is unlikely?

Cahill: Well, I'm not going to speak for everybody, but for Carnival, I don't see us going in that direction. Just like we're hesitant to start charging too much for dining, we're equally hesitant to charge for entertainment. Entertainment is, to some extent, a cornerstone of what a cruise experience is. Between dining and entertainment, those are key features. And even all the (other activities) we've added onboard such as the water park and ropes course, we don't charge for something like that. I don't think we would ever charge for anything like that. I see more things being added that people can do without a particular charge, as far as we're concerned.

Sheehan: We're doing the same thing with the water parks. You can pay $80 or $90 to go to a water park (on land), and we have five unbelievable (no extra charge) slides coming on the Breakaway that can compete with anything that is on a land-based venue, as well as a ropes course. We've gauged the (Breakaway's) water park to be able to handle over a thousand people an hour. It's an unbelievable experience, but it's part of the (value) proposition, and that's the things that is going to keep the consumer coming back.

USA TODAY: Do cruisers actually use all of these unusual things you've been adding to ships such as ropes courses and surfing pools or is it more about marketing the brand?

Goldstein: We're often talking about how large the ships are, but there's not enough room on any ship to have an area that's not used. We can't even think that way. If we ever find that there's something that doesn't cut it the way we had envisioned, then it's going to be replaced by something else fast, because dead space is not healthy for us.

Cahill: You do not want to present a crowded experience, so for all of us, when you have a large ship, you want to make sure you have enough things to disperse the guests in different areas so it never feels crowded. I think that's what we're all trying to achieve.

USA TODAY: Have there been ideas for new activities that you've had to drop because they were just too impractical or too expensive? What are the absolute fantasy things that have been considered?

Cahill: I don't think any of us ever dropped them forever. (Laughter)

USA TODAY: But what are they ...

Cahill: I mean, that's the problem. We didn't drop it forever.

Sheehan: Where there's a will, there's a way.

Cahill: There are things I think we have all thought about and haven't done, but that doesn't mean we're still not thinking about them.

USA TODAY: Such as?

Cahill: I'm not going to ...

USA TODAY: Kevin, we saw you on Undercover Boss, so we know one thing that was dropped after it was unveiled on a ship: the faux ice-skating rink on Norwegian Epic. It had to be put together each time it was used.

Sheehan: Well, yeah, that was an example of an underutilized activity. I was skeptical about it from the very beginning, and then I was on the show, and one of the activities I (was assigned while undercover on Epic) was working with the cruise staff to build this ridiculous ice skating rink. Each piece was about 80 pounds, and you put hundreds of pieces together, and you had to bang them in, and it turned into a terrible ice skating rink. Then you sprayed oil on it or something, and then nobody came. It was like, "oh, my God, what are we doing here?" That night was the last night that activity took place on that ship.

Del Rio: For ships of our size and our demographics, we're not chasing the latest fad. And to some degree, I mean, my friends sitting around the table will argue with me that these aren't fads, that these are things that (cruisers) want, but ...

Sheehan: You're wrong! (smiling)

Del Rio: But our product is different. Our product attracts a consumer who is not interested in a lot of the things that you heard around the table. They want the classics, and so we have modernized the classics. One of the biggest mistakes we made on our two new ships is that we made the cooking school too small. It's a professional cooking school. It's not somewhere where you go to observe someone making something, but really hands-on. You have your own stove top, your own oven, your own pots and pans and cooking utensils and meats and potatoes, and you make something. Everybody wants to do it, and we actually charge for that. Different target markets want different things. We're not a children's-oriented cruise line. You know, Gerry's 65-year-old is there with his 12-year-old. Mine comes alone, and so we don't have to have these kinds of things, and it's a much more uniform product. One of the things you'll see onboard our vessels is we don't try to be all things to all people.

USA TODAY: Your new ships are bigger, which means they have more deck space. If not rock walls and ropes courses, what are you using it for?

Del Rio: We have a tennis court, an oversized pool, a therapy pool. We have more Jacuzzis. We just don't go to the extremes. My target customer is different than the target customer of my colleagues here, and we want to please them. They don't want some of the things you've heard about. They don't want to go inside a boxing ring and knock each other's brains out.

Sheehan: That was my announcement yesterday.

Del Rio (motioning to Goldstein): You have boxing rings.

Goldstein: We don't have guests beating each other up.

Del Rio: Whatever it is that you do in a boxing ring.

Goldstein: I want to make a point about what Frank is saying. He's talking about his guests as if they were literally different in every respect from our guests, but actually what his guests are wanting from the vacation that he offers is one thing, which is great. But that same person, or that same couple, especially if they're grandparents, might be coming with one of us on their next vacation where they want to be in a three-generation family environment.

Sheehan: Right.

Goldstein: I remember when (Azamara Club Cruises CEO) Larry Pimental came to our company, having overseen a number of different luxury brands over time; he told me that when he researched what the cruising preferences of his customers were, Royal Caribbean was always the second-most cruised brand of these luxury people, simply because we were (the line) they went with when they wanted to cruise with their families. So it's not that they're literally different humans. They're just buying something that you're offering when they want what you're offering.

Sheehan: And (Larry) wanted the job. That's why Royal Caribbean was number two. (Laughter)

Cahill: As I mentioned, we have more 65-year-olds and over (than any other line). One of the biggest spaces we're allocating now (on new ships) is a large adults-only Serenity section, which is a very different experience. It's very quiet. I know Kevin doesn't realize ships have quiet, but it's a very quiet space. It has very nice lounge chairs, a separate bar. It has private Jacuzzis, and you have to be an adult to go in there. We also introduced the Library Bar, a place that's kind of quiet. You can go to it and have a nice drink before dinner in an actual library. It actually acts as a library during the day. What we do at the bigger lines is we offer a variety of different kinds of experiences. The water parks are for the kids and for the young adults, and actually I still go in the water park myself. But also you have spaces that are really dedicated to people who want a different kind of experience.

USA TODAY: That must be a difficult balancing act in the sense of allocating precious space for an area that might not get used as much; or is it being used?

Cahill: Actually, the Serenity section has turned out (so well) we continue to expand it. Every ship we bring out, we have to make it larger. I guess it reflects the aging population to some extent.

USA TODAY: One trend we have seen in the industry is more deck-top space being reserved for VIPs. Doesn't that then leave less space for everybody else? How do you balance that?

Sheehan: There's a group of guests that want to have that higher-end, comfortable quiet experience, so we found that by having (a space) -- it's a small space -- allocated to them, so they don't have all the screaming kids running around and all the rest of it, that it works. It works well.

USA TODAY: The availability of deck chairs on ships – or lack thereof -- is a hot button issue right now. Gerry and Kevin, your lines recently began crackdowns on passengers who use personal items to "reserve" chairs for hours without using them. Has that solved the problem?

Cahill: It seems to be working. Basically we're going to allow you (to reserve a chair for) 40 minutes, and if you're not back in 40 minutes, we're going to move your stuff into a safe place, because, I mean, we've all had that problem (of not being able to find an open chair), and actually I've seen that problem at land-based resorts, too.

Sheehan: It's a problem everywhere. When I walk on one of our ships, and I see people who cannot get a deck chair because all these people have reserved spaces, it's pretty aggravating. And (for the) consumer, it's pretty aggravating. So finally we just said enough; and it seems to be going okay. I'm not going to tell you it's completely problem-free, but most people seem to understand that we're trying to make it so everybody can get a deck chair. When you get up in the morning and you go to breakfast and you see all the towels on the chairs, you know there's an issue.

Goldstein: One variable is that we all have guests coming from different countries, so you encounter different cultural tendencies as well. And there are cultures that, for whatever reason, are more attuned than others to coming very early in the morning to the pool deck and trying to reserve deck chairs for the day. Obviously our (employees) need to understand, based on the guest mix, where they're going to feel different cultural preferences during the course of a given cruise, and adjust accordingly.

USA TODAY: Who are the biggest deck hogs, as it were?

Goldstein: Certain European ...

Sheehan: You don't want to get into trouble.

Goldstein: That, we all know. (Laughter)

Cahill: It's not just deck chairs, either.

USA TODAY: A few decades ago it was mostly Americans on cruise ships, and now it's becoming an ever wider mix of people from around the world. How else is that impacting the onboard experience?

Goldstein: It can change it really quite dramatically. In order to offer a cruise in Brazil that the Brazilians genuinely enjoy, it has got to be a party 24-7. They just want to sing and dance and party from start to finish, and if you offer that to them in a friendly environment, they will love your cruise. (In) other places in the world if you tried that model it wouldn't work very well. Our challenge is to figure out how to be (the same) Royal Caribbean International everywhere.

USA TODAY: I imagine the cuisine demands an occasional change.

Sheehan: Yes, you may need to change (culinary options) as you move into the different market, and you need to make sure the crew has the language skills for the market. It does make it complicated.

Cahill: It's easier when you're sourcing (passengers for a given ship) just from one market. We have a ship that's (moving to) Australia, the Carnival Spirit, (and) we know we're going to get 95% or 96% percent Australians. So we decided we would modify the product to meet the taste of the Australian market. It's harder when you have a ship in Europe and you may be sourcing (passengers) from ten or more nationalities, because they all have their cultural differences. Then it really is tougher for us to do.

Del Rio: In our case, we're still U.S. centric, so any given sailing in Europe we'll have 85% North Americans and 15% international. But what we find is that the Brits, the Australians, the folks from South Africa or wherever that come onboard our vessels want the American experience. They didn't come onboard our ships to be given a local experience. So we're pretty much the same everywhere we go. We're beginning to make some adjustments in terms of language. We'll have a concierge who will speak a particular language, if we know there's a large group of Portuguese onboard or Spaniards onboard.

Goldstein: (Royal Caribbean's new, record size) Oasis and Allure of the Seas are wonders of the world, land or sea, (and) people want to cruise on them from absolutely everywhere. So we have no choice but to figure out how to accommodate different cultural preferences simultaneously, because this is the demand that we get, and we want to take advantage of it.

USA TODAY: But it's still the same basic Royal Caribbean product.

Goldstein: It has to be. It has to be Royal Caribbean.

Del Rio: It's a wonder. You don't want to change a wonder. (Laughter)

USA TODAY: Still, Adam, you've been making some significant changes on the ships you're moving to China to accommodate the local market.

Goldstein: Right. So as I said before, the challenge is how do you make the adjustments that you need to make and still be the brand that you are, and we do spend a lot of time on that, at multiple levels of management and onboard the ships. And every season and to some degree, every sailing causes a new set of adjustments based on the reality of who we have and what they want.

Cahill: We usually know the nationalities of who is going to be onboard in advance. When we have a ship in Europe, we know we're going to have an awful lot of Brits onboard, (so) we actually bring British comedians onboard as well as American comedians. The same thing goes if you know you're going to have a lot of Russians. You're going to make sure you have Russian-speaking crew to be with them.

Sheehan: We had the Second City comedians in Europe, and (the Europeans) just didn't get (the humor). So we had to modify that. The language and the nuances were not something they picked up.

USA TODAY: Humor is very culturally specific.

Cahill: Yeah, it is for sure.

Sheehan: Yes.

USA TODAY: Let's talk a little bit about service. We do hear griping sometimes from readers who say service isn't what it used to be. As ships have gotten bigger, has it become more difficult to maintain service levels?

Cahill: I actually think the service today is better than it was 25 years ago. There are more people onboard, I'll grant you that, but our crew (today) is trained to think of the entire vacation experience (for the customer). Adam mentioned (the interaction with crew) in the dining room or (the interaction with) your cabin steward; where in the world can you go where you develop that kind of a relationship? (If) you're on vacation at a land-based resort, you don't develop a relationship with the person who works in the dining room or in your cabin.

Del Rio: To some degree, it's a matter of ratios of staff to guests. (Conventional wisdom) is the bigger the ship, the less the service, and that's not true. We actually have a better staff-to-guest ratio on our two new bigger ships than we do on the smaller vessels, probably because we have more room for crew. A crew has to sleep somewhere and eat somewhere, so when you talk about space onboard ships, one of the things that we're always scrambling to find is more crew quarters. That sometimes becomes a limiting constraint, so the way you build your ships is very important for the overall service (level). Sometimes you actually have to take passenger accommodations and convert them to crew accommodations to be able to deliver the staffing or the service that you want.

USA TODAY: Your Regent brand, one the world's top luxury lines, currently has ships that carry about 700 passengers. How many passengers are too many for a luxury ship?

Del Rio: 750. (Laughter)

Sheehan: That's his comfort zone.

Cahill: I'll remember you said that.

Del Rio: No, look, again, it's not a matter of the size of the vessel. It's the commitment that the line makes to provide that service in terms of staff ratios to guests. In the case of Regent, we have one staff member for every one-and-a-half guests. Other lines might have a different ratio. At the end of the day, it's about servicing these people to provide the service; so how big is your Army?

USA TODAY: One final question about the onboard experience, and it has to do with the biggest cruise news story of the year, which unfortunately was not a happy one, and that was the Costa Concordia accident. What changes have been implemented this year to address safety issues?

Cahill: The industry has formed an Operational Safety Review Board, and each line is going out now and doing a review of its safety procedures. (The lines will be) coming back with suggestions on changes that we can do to improve the best practices for the industry. (The industry) has also set up a panel of outside experts from the maritime and safety industries, (that) are reviewing each of these recommendations, and they're proving them. So far, (the industry) has issued seven new safety standards. Everybody is committed to safety.

USA TODAY: Thank you all.