Keeping a Cruise Ship Current

How do the cruise lines know what passengers will want three and four years down the line

Think about how long it takes for a ship to be designed, ordered and then ultimately built and finished off. Lets take for example P&O Cruises, they have recently ordered a new ship which will become the largest in the P&O fleet but she will not enter service until 2015 so i ask again how do cruise lines know what passengers will want years from now?

Yes i suppose changes could be made to certain aspects of the ship's build but it's 2011 now and who's to say facilities onboard that ship when she is introduced four years from now will still be current

I know they have years of experience and some take note of what other cruise lines offer but really i think it is a valid question to ask but then again maybe it doesn't matter what is onboard as long as there is something to keep everyone happy to a certain extent

Maybe this is another blog post i need to do further research on and develop into something a little bigger.