According to the report from the Cruise Line International Association, the number of people who would like to have a cruise tour is increased, especially in the world and Asia. The average ages of having a cruise tour were from 50 to 74 years old. It showed that the main user group is the seniors for having a cruise tour. For this reason, the purpose of this study aimed at understanding what kinds of messages in print advertisements which could attract Taiwanese elders in planning a cruise tour. This study was exploratory research and adopted the qualitative study, such as the expert interviews and focus group method. The participants were three employers who were from the cruise industry and one expert who studied the field of the cruise industry. Meanwhile, this study also interviewed 20 seniors for four times. The data from three employers and one expert was collected by the expert interviews method, while the data from 20 seniors was collected by the focus group method. Furthermore, this study analyzed data by the content analysis method. This study concluded 11 factors of content in print advertisements of cruise tour and 64 advertising principles. For seniors, the results showed that there was no significant difference between seniors who have and have not haven a cruise tour on the attractive messages of print advertisements in Taiwan. All seniors recommended that “the features of cruise,” “prices,” “cabins” and “restaurants” were important in the attractive messages of print advertisements. However, “the spots” were also important for seniors who have haven a cruise tour, whereas “the entertainments” were important for seniors who have haven not a cruise tour. The results of this study could extend relevant theories of cruise tours for seniors and provide advertisement marketing information for the cruise tour agencies and travel ones.
