A confession: Until recently, the only time I spent a night on water was at age 8, when my parents booked our family of three on a cruise to Finland. I remember gaping at the ice cream selection and gazing into brightly lit boutique windows, and not much else. So when I boarded the Regent Seven Seas Explorer, the luxury cruise line’s newest ship, on its recent voyage to Mexico, it was with limited expectations: copious food and stuff to buy. Regent is targeting travellers like me, millennials green to cruising, with promises to go above and beyond their assumptions. But it’s a delicate balance, appealing to a generation of thrill seekers — a 2014 Harris survey found that 72 per cent of millennials prefer to spend money on experiences rather than material things. There are other big ships wooing millennials: In 2015, Carnival Cruise Line started Fathom, which has programmes designed for 20- and 30-somethings’ hunger for purpose, like onboard self-improvement seminars and on-the-ground activities.
