NEW YORK, April 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- There's an old saying that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. While it may not be applicable across all industries in practice, from a perceptual standpoint a single brand's negative publicity can often have repercussions for its industry competitors as well. Such has been the case with the cruise industry, which has been embattled over the past year by brand-specific crises which appear to have impacted perceptions across many industry mainstays. Following the Carnival Triumph's struggle to shore in February 2013, perceptual measures suffered – not just for Carnival, but across seven leading cruise brands – and continued to dip through May. A recovery appeared to be underway more recently, with perceptions trending upwards in January 2014. However, norovirus reports aboard several cruise line ships in February 2014 seem to have effectively stolen the wind from the industry's collective sails, with consumer perceptions of these top brands now dropping again. 

These are some of the results of TheHarris Poll® of 2,059 U.S. adults surveyed online between February 10 and 14, 2014 (following norovirus incidents on Princess Cruise Lines' Caribbean Princess, the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas and the Norwegian Star). Results are compared, where applicable, to Harris Poll EquiTrend® data collected from January 3 to 24, 2014. (Full results, including data tables, available here)

Perceptions flow with the tide

Looking at these seven industry mainstays in aggregate, Quality, Trust and Purchase Intent scores were all still down significantly before the recent norovirus incidents, when compared to the state of these brands prior to the Triumph debacle. With all three measures dropping further still in the wake of the reported outbreaks, this leaves the average perceived Quality score down by 11% vs. its pre Triumph level, with Trust down by 12% and Purchase Intent down by 13%.

As with the Triumph incident, the impact of this more recent series of issues has not been limited to the cruise brands involved firsthand with the incidents. All seven brands declined from before to after the norovirus incidents in at least one of the measures, and most were down from pre-Triumph levels to begin with.

"We've all heard the saying that a rising tide lifts all boats," says Deana Percassi, Vice President and Public Relations Research Consultant with Nielsen, "but the inverse also holds true. In a field as crowded as the cruise industry, bad press for a small handful of brands – or even a single one – can have negative repercussions for major players across the board."

Air travel perceptions remain above sea level

Americans continue to profess more favorable attitudes toward air travel than toward cruises, with roughly six in ten (59%) agreeing that air travel is much more reliable than taking cruises and a majority (54%) agreeing that air travel is much safer than taking cruises.

A majority of Americans (54%) also agree that they're less likely to take a cruise now than they were a year ago, with this sentiment proving stronger among those who have never taken a cruise (58%) than among those who have (44%).

One-third of Americans (32%) agree that cruises are "worry-free," with past cruise experience again playing a role in agreement with this perception: those who have taken a cruise (50%) are more than twice as likely to agree that cruises are "worry free" as those who have not (23%).

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Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United Statesbetween February 10 and 14, 2014 among 2,059 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, The Harris Poll avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Poll surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Poll panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of the Harris Poll studies referenced herein may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of The Harris Poll.

The Harris Poll^®#33, April 9, 2014
By Larry Shannon-Missal, Harris Poll Research Manager

About Nielsen & The Harris Poll

On February 3, 2014, Nielsen acquired Harris Interactive and The Harris Poll.  Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence and mobile measurement. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

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SOURCE The Harris Poll