Originally posted by kaladorn:
Another interesting point of interstellar commerce:
Why are all passages of equivalent cost? What about differing levels of service, internal appointments of the ship, speed of delivery, etc.? And since it costs more to board a J4 ship (the J4 ship cost more to build and more to operate in fuel and upkeep), why should a high passage on such a vessel cost the same as on a tramp freighter with J1?
Passenger trade is as badly broken as other forms of trade.
I'm working on passenger travel costs, but its a fairly complicated issue. It involves multiple product offerings (variance by major passenger line, plus generalities of tramp travel, plus differeing accomodations, quality of accomodations, quality of service, meal plans, entertainment plan, time of travel by regions, etc.), so it's bending my poor little brain a bit.
The standard 4-dTon Cabin is hardly the only type of travel accomodation, here's an excerpt of what I'm working on, the highest of the high end passenger accomodation:
Imperial: At least twenty staff members are permanently assigned to this suite per guest, each available around the clock, with a medley of expert skills from bath assistant/scrubber, hair dresser, fashion advisor, multiple tailors, pedicurist, masseuse, doctor, financial advisor, lawyer, workout coach, combat instructor, entertainment scheduler, personal staff liaison/manger (who directs the others), etc. None of these personnel are ever out for their first time, they are veterans, and they are paid the most of all those crew directly serving passengers aboard a super liner. This means that as many as 80 crew members are assigned to a single Imperial Suite.
Every need of the occupants (maximum of 4 per Imperial Suite, 2 in each bedroom) is met instantly. The Staff Liaison will make every effort to politely discover and meet every preference of the guest, and repeat meeting those preferences throughout the voyage.
The accommodations are staggering, including main entry, primary and secondary sitting rooms, conference room, master bedroom (with large dressing and clothes storage areas), master bath (including plenty of space for the many assistants mentioned above), secondary master bed and bath, private dining room, total surround entertainment theater, live play theater, g-weighted swimming pool, zero-g swimming pool, exercise machine room, general workout room, lockers rooms for the aforementioned with separate shower and cleaning facilities, the list goes on. Everything throughout the giant super suite is decorate in the finest materials brought together from across space. Two smaller suites are always provided (20 dtons each) adjoining. Each Imperial Suite is it's own unique assembly, even if a hundred were installed aboard a ship, each would be different, both in layout and in equipage. Such a facility requires a 300 dton investment in space (plus a 95 MCr cost) by the liner providing it, not to mention mandating crew staterooms for up to 80 staffers who go along with the suite (passengers in the two adjoining 20 dton junior suites are aided by only 10 staff, each, not the 20 assigned to the main suite per occupant). In addition, the presence of Imperial Suites aboard a vessel additionally requires the presence of one or more Ultra Class lounges, those which allow only Imperial Suite passages inside.
Imperial Suites are usually only installed aboard super liners. Super liners themselves are, of course, creations of luxury and beauty, and are ideal vessels to carry a collection of Imperial Suites. A typical install will be 20-40 such suites (including the necessary 1600-3200 crew dedicated solely to these rooms, plus the crew dedicated to serving the small adjoining rooms (10 each), 400-800 crew, total of 2400 to 4000 crew whose sole job it is to handle Imperial Suite passengers).
Imperial Passage costs 2 MCr/Jump, plus 100 KCr per Jump Point above 1 (Superliners jump between key worlds, usually 3 or 4 parsecs, but in central areas this can be less), plus 200 KCr per occupant above 1, plus 50 KCr per Jump Point above 1 per each extra occupant. The wealthy elite who can travel this way do so as a matter of course, thumbing their noses at all who cannot.
In many cases, the wealthiest business people assemble their staffs, embark on a lengthy voyage aboard a super liner (keeping their staff in lower-quality rooms), and then power broker the biggest deals in the Imperium over drinks in the private side-rooms of the Ultra Class lounges available aboard such vessels.
The wealthy, of course, are not the mere billionaires of today, but the trillionaires (and a few ultra-elite quadrillionaires) of several thousand years from now.
