Exploring motivation via three-stage travel experience: how to capture the hearts of Taiwanese family-oriented cruise tourists

The study addresses how to attract and serve Taiwanese family-oriented cruise travelers by examining their motivations and experiences across three stages of travel: anticipation, participation, and recall. Against the backdrop of rapid pre-pandemic cruise growth in Asia (with Taiwan a top-10 Asian source market) and the disruption caused by COVID-19, the research seeks to understand post-pandemic recovery through travelers’ motivations and needs, including the phenomenon of revenge travel. Family travel is positioned as a key segment that enhances children’s development and family cohesion. Drawing on systems theory, the paper frames family travel as a complex system of interconnected members whose roles, communication, boundaries, and adaptability shape the cruise experience. The purpose is to identify what motivates families to choose cruises, what service elements matter most in each stage of the experience, and how these insights can guide product planning and marketing in Taiwan’s growing family cruise market.

The review situates family cruise travel within post-COVID “revenge travel,” where pent-up demand and willingness to spend have increased. It outlines the growth and diversification of cruise products, especially in Asia, and CLIA-identified trends (e.g., personalized technology, Gen Z preferences, off-peak adventures). Family travel has evolved toward multi-generational and varied family structures, emphasizing shared memories and children’s learning. Prior cruise research largely focuses on Western markets and topics such as satisfaction, environmental impacts, and motivations; Eastern family cruise experiences remain underexplored. Travel motivation is commonly explained via push–pull factors, with cruise-specific dimensions including self-esteem/social recognition, escape/relaxation, learning/discovery/novelty, bonding, and socialization. Travel experience literature highlights memorability and multi-stage models (anticipation, on-site, recall), with factors like hedonism, refreshment, authenticity, engagement, and service quality influencing revisit intentions. Cultural differences are noted: Western children may seek independent experiences and new friends, whereas Asian families emphasize shared memories. The review also adopts systems theory to understand family dynamics onboard and emphasizes a three-stage framework (anticipation, participation, recall) for evaluating family cruise experiences and decisions.

A qualitative design using in-depth interviews and content analysis was employed to explore the motivations and three-stage cruise experiences of Taiwanese family travelers. Instrument development proceeded in two phases: (1) expert interviews with four professionals (one cruise tourism consultant/academic, one senior travel manager for family cruise packages, and two cruise education scholars) to refine interview guides; and (2) in-depth family interviews. The family interview guide covered the three stages—anticipation (e.g., price, duration, brand, activities, equipment, itinerary including ports of call and destinations, family members’ desires, reviews, travel agencies), participation (ship characteristics such as tonnage, cabins, restaurants, facilities, entertainment, children’s programs, service teams, shopping, optional activities, safety), and recall (re-evaluation of selection factors including food). Participants were recruited via referrals from experienced cruise tour guides, Facebook cruise communities, snowballing through agencies and interviewees. Inclusion required at least one prior cruise taken with children under 18; families could include grandparents. Thirteen families (one representative per family) were interviewed via online video for 30–60 minutes, recorded with consent. Demographic snapshot: most were middle-aged parents; 69.2% double-income; 76.9% family income > TWD 140,001; 69.2% nuclear families; largest travel party size 4–6 (46.2%); destinations mainly Northeast Asia (69.2%); typical duration 2–7 days (84.6%); cruise count most commonly once (53.8%). Content analysis followed divide–condense, coding, and category/theme development. Two graduate student judges (A, B) conducted categorization; reliability was assessed with intrajudge and interjudge tests exceeding 0.80 thresholds: intrajudge 0.96; interjudge 0.97 with an additional industry expert (Judge C). The coding framework encompassed motivation dimensions (self-esteem/social recognition, escape/relaxation, learning/discovery/novelty, socialization, interpersonal connection) and additional motives (new experience, family desire, convenience, topic/advertising), plus participation-stage service dimensions (cruise characteristics, cabins, restaurants, facilities, entertainment, shopping, optional activities, exclusive children’s activities, work teams, tour leader, others). Families also rank-ordered selection factors in anticipation and recall stages (1 most important to 9 least). Ethical approval was obtained; informed participation was secured.

Motivations: Families reported motives consistent with prior cruise literature—self-esteem/social recognition (high-quality vacations, accomplishment), escape/relaxation (worry-free, time-saving, bundled accommodation/food/activities), learning/discovery/novelty (exposure to diverse cultures, new activities), interpersonal connection (time with family/friends). Socialization (meeting new people) was less central than family interaction. Additional motives emerged: new experiences, desire for cruise travel, convenience, and generating social topics/publicity. Content analysis frequencies (N=176 coded units) highlight emphasis on cabins (21/176, 11.93%), entertainment activities (12/176, 6.82%), restaurants (11/176, 6.25%), cruise characteristics (11/176, 6.25%), self-esteem/social recognition (11/176, 6.25%), escape/relaxation (13/176, 7.39%), learning/discovery/novelty (13/176, 7.39%), shopping (10/176, 5.68%), new experience (9/176, 5.11%), topic/advertising (8/176, 4.55%). Anticipation-stage factor rankings (mean rank; lower is more important): itinerary (ports/destinations) 2.54; price 3.77; travel days 3.92; brand 4.31; equipment 4.85; activities 5.46; reviews 6.08; family members’ travel desire 6.31; travel agencies 9.15. Participation-stage preferences: families preferred larger, newer, family-oriented ships for stability and facilities; balcony or ocean-view cabins, larger bed sizes/comfort; diverse dining with Chinese cuisine options and children’s offerings; essential facilities such as pools and water features (e.g., slides), courts (basketball/table tennis), shows and evening entertainment (including open-air cinema); simple, value-oriented shopping; strong emphasis on children’s clubs/programs and safety/security; friendly, helpful service teams and housekeeping; some planned their own shore excursions with a focus on safety. Recall-stage factor rankings (mean rank): itinerary 1.85; travel days 3.62; brand 4.15; price 4.38; equipment 5.23; family members’ travel desire 5.69; activities 5.58; reviews 6.15; travel agencies 9.00. Food emerged as a salient consideration in recall (mean 4.00; SD 1.00). Cross-stage comparison: itinerary is consistently the top determinant in both anticipation and recall. Price drops from 2nd (anticipation) to 4th (recall), while travel days rise from 3rd to 2nd. Brand importance remains relatively stable. Families particularly valued cabins, entertainment, and children-specific offerings during participation.

By adopting a three-stage framework, the study clarifies how motivations translate into concrete choice criteria before travel, experiential priorities onboard, and evaluative criteria afterward. The dominance of itinerary in both anticipation and recall suggests destination and port-of-call design remains the primary lever for influencing family cruise selection and repeat intention. During participation, families prioritize tangible, family-friendly onboard elements—spacious cabins, diverse dining (including familiar cuisines), water-based and court facilities, shows, and robust children’s programs—indicating operators should emphasize ship features and programming that foster family togetherness and child engagement. The reduced salience of price in recall implies that post-experience evaluations hinge more on perceived value and fit (itinerary, duration, food, brand) than on cost alone. The emergence of food in recall underscores dining as a memorable component influencing future decisions. Findings also reflect cultural nuances in Asian family travel: shared activities and family bonding are more valued than meeting new people, aligning with systems theory’s emphasis on intra-family interactions. For recovery and growth in the Asian market, operators should leverage these insights to tailor itineraries, onboard experiences, and communications to family motivations, including new experiences, convenience, and opportunities that strengthen family bonds.

This study contributes by (1) identifying a nuanced set of motivations for Taiwanese family cruise travel—including new experiences, desire for cruise travel, convenience, and social topic/publicity—in addition to established motivation dimensions; (2) mapping how selection factors differ across the anticipation and recall stages, with itinerary consistently paramount and food emerging as a key recall factor; and (3) detailing participation-stage priorities centered on cabins, entertainment, and children’s programs. Practical recommendations include increasing advertising exposure, introducing varied cruise brands/fleets, offering new destinations and shorter itineraries, differentiating travel agency marketing/services, and continuously upgrading onboard activities, software, and hardware. Future research should broaden samples, incorporate multiple family members’ perspectives (including children), examine cultural/regional differences in family composition and preferences, and consider quantitative surveys to enhance generalizability.

The study is limited by a small, non-probability sample (13 families) recruited via snowballing and online communities, which constrains generalizability. Only one representative per family was interviewed, potentially omitting other family members’ perspectives (especially children). Family cruise participation is relatively uncommon in Taiwan, making recruitment difficult; some participants, particularly children, had blurred memories or difficulty expressing experiences. Future studies could use simple, closed questionnaires to increase sample size and capture children’s views more effectively, and explore cultural/regional variations in family composition and their influence on cruise preferences.