What Customers Want from a Cruise Vacation: Using Internet-Enabled Conjoint Analysis to Understand the Customer's Mind

ABSTRACT This paper deals with the features of a cruise vacation, evaluated and optimized through conjoint measurement on the Internet. The paper demonstrates that the researcher can study large sets of offerings for a cruise, thus improving the likelihood of identifying offerings that drive customer acceptance. Internet interviewing coupled with conjoint measurement yields easy-to-interpret, cost-effective results. Segmentation attached to the conjoint analysis results reveal segments with homogeneous mind-sets that are easy to satisfy with targeted offerings, thus increasing the likelihood of success.