I doubt the revolution was Kevin Tugwell’s idea, but he’s exactly the right kind of cruise director to make it work. My wife and I first met young Kevin as an energetic and creative assistant CD on a Hawaii cruise in the fall of 2017. We said then, to him and to Princess, that he should be promoted as soon as possible. He was. He’s 31 now, a natural at the job, best we’ve sailed with, perfect for redefining and taking on his employer’s biggest challenge, keeping his passengers engaged.

As we said after that cruise, Princess faces a slow but steady reduction in its core audience – Baby Boomers. They’re fading out and dying off, not being easily replaced by the next generations, whose interests are more diverse and whose cash flow is not as plentiful.

The blunt end of the problem showed up every night: passengers go to a stage show after dinner, then disappear to their cabins, leaving what amounts to a floating ghost town behind them. In our experience, this phenomenon is most acute on Holland America, but it was afflicting Princess as well. The difference is that Princess took notice and took action. Read more