3. What constraints might you have to work within?

Entertainment packages is one of the most looked up reason by customers in deciding

which cruise ship is the best to spend the holidays at. Onboard entertainment has evolved
through the years and along with the highly competitive entertainment offerings between
cruise ships, passengers’ expectations have risen as well where they would want value for
their money, wherein entertainment is one of the key differentiators. In developing a solution
to the mismatch between entertainment offered and entertainment desired, constraints might
arise in the part of the cruise entertainment director. Despite the help of trends and past data,
there still remains a variance between the actual results than the one that was projected in
terms of customer preferences. One constraint when making decisions in trying to solve this
problem is time constraint. Because cruise ship experiences have become so much accessible
than it was before, the variety of crowds coming in and their preferences have become much
complex to forecast compared several years ago where these trips were only available to the
elites. Because of this, cruise directors have to be in a position to react quickly to the
passenger tastes and what they tell them they like to see, but because almost thousands of
passengers are being accommodated in a single trip alone, access to real-time data may be a
limitation. Through constantly updating the data and building models that reflect the ever-
changing situation, timeliness of data can be achieved, therefore making the best and
appropriate decision there is that would benefit both the passengers and the management of
the cruise ship.

4. Would you keep a strict schedule such as the one followed by this cruise
director, or would you play it more by year?

Following a schedule will help visitors and cruise ship personnel to be guided
with the activities the ship offers. These schedules are tailored according to the past
experiences of cruise ships during trips and passengers’ preferences from previous trips
were taken into account as well. Although schedules are useful in maintaining order
during operations, it is imperative that these schedules be flexible enough to cater to the
interests of the cruise visitors. Onboard entertainment schedules must adopt to what the
passengers would like to see, thus rotation in these schedules would be best. Moreover,
variety in line-ups keeps the essence of surprise and excitement to these visitors and
giving them something that goes beyond their expectations will keep them coming back
for more. Good customer experience must be the ship’s priority therefore they should
make sure that passengers have a wide array of options to choose from. The management
must see things in the perspective of a passenger and address the concerns that comes
along with a clear cut and strict scheduling such as passengers losing interest to the same
old routine that the ship constantly provides. The ship personnel must also understand
that ship entertainment is also affected by a lot of factors such as the lighting and sound
system which gives the venue a certain ambiance, changes in dining options, and etc.
among other things, can influence how entertainment might be perceived by visitors.
Therefore aside from planned line-ups, it is essential how changes in the schedule of
onboard entertainments must be well-established to achieve the objectives of the
management.