Process Modelling of the cruise passenger travel experience

Decision making in the service industry, particularly in the experience business such as cruise services, is a multi-criteria and -stakeholder problem. It emphasizes the significance of decision-making models for navigating the unpredictable cruise industry, in which time spans and stakeholders associated with ship design, building and operations vary substantially. It also highlights the necessity for long- and short-term, as well as stable and adaptable, decisions. This thesis proposes viewing decision making as a multi-stage and multi-stakeholder process that involves learning from customer data, understanding data interrelationships and biases, and engaging users strategically. It integrates views from both passenger experiences (lower level, short time spans) and organizational perspectives (upper level, longer time spans). This thesis presents a framework to improve onboard environmental decision making on cruise ships in relation to the passenger experience. A comprehensive model is developed, integrating onboard environmental factors such as ambience, ship layout and design, social interactions, product and service quality, and overall enjoyment in the resulting customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is considered from the perspective of internal responses, including cognitive, affective, physiological and behavioural, and their influence on decision making is discussed. The cruise experience process spans from initial experiences during the purchasing phase of the journey and resulting expectations to the final, post-cruise satisfaction and resulting customer behaviour (e.g., loyalty, including word-of-mouth, recommendation, intention to repurchase, repeat purchase and regret regulation). A holistic understanding and interpretation of behavioural models is vital for making informed decisions in both the design and operation phases of the cruise ship within the experience-based tourism industry. The results derived from the developed model with actual customer data highlight the importance of fully understanding onboard environmental factors and their relation to customer reactions in enhancing the customer experience and satisfaction within the cruise tourism industry. This thesis offers a robust framework for future research and practical applications by synthesizing existing research and developing a comprehensive model for multi-criteria and -stakeholder decision making. The developed theoretical model offers insights for both scholarly research and practical applications in the cruise industry. It aims to assist cruise ship designers, builders and operators in designing and managing their ships, optimizing customer satisfaction and enhancing loyalty.