Princess Cruises Wants to Know Our Preferences

We all get requests to take surveys now and then and I mostly ignore them. However, I received an email inviting me, as a past passenger, to participate in a Princess Cruises "to better understand what European ports and cruise itineraries are most appealing." It further explained, "As a valued captains circle member and because of your unique experience with Princess Cruises, you have been selected to share your thoughts and help us plan exciting new itineraries for the European theater." How could I resist?

Plus, there was this incentive: "Your opinion will assist us in shaping the future of Princess Cruises and enable us to tailor memorable experiences specifically designed for you—our customer." Well, when a cruise line needs me, I'm there for them!

What did they want to know? First off, the usual demographics stuff--my sex and date of birth, country of residence, the number of cruises I've taken in total and the number I've been on in last three years. They also asked how likely I am to take one soon (one week until I sail again!), and asked me indicate where I've been on a list of 56 destinations. I'd been to 34 of them and have to admit that I've never heard of some on the list.

Then I rated my interest on a scale of from 1-10 in each port from a lengthy list. I generally ranked them 10 for those I'd like to return to, 6 for those that I've been to and consider ho-hum, and 8 for a few that were unfamiliar, but sound interesting--like Bulgaria (just one of several dozen choices). There were also three regions to rank from 1-10--the Med, Baltic, Holy Land. All rate a 10 from me.

Questions asked to help Princess Cruises analyze my responses were what state do I live in, my zip code, marital status, the number of adults in our household, and income category.

After participating to the survey, I got to thinking about my preferences in terms of well-known vs. less familiar ports and realized I like a mix. And my preference in ship size is generally under 1,500 passengers.

It's nice to know that Princess Cruises takes the opinion of Captain's Circle members to heart.