On Board, I'm the Captain, so Climb Aboard

There’s always one in every class and I hate to say it, but I have officially taken that title.  While I enjoyed my previous topic, I’ve decided instead to look into a different company.  So on that note, I invite you to come sail away with me as I explore Carnival Cruise Lines.

Let me begin by taking a moment summarizing the first few blog entries but this time let’s focus of Carnival…

Mission Statement:

"Carnival prides itself on delivering fun, memorable vacations to our guests by offering a wide array of quality cruises, which present outstanding value for the money."

Brief History:

When holiday Cruising began, it was considered something for either the rich and famous or elderly people with plenty of money and time to spare.  But all that changed in 1972 when Ted Arison founded Carnival Cruise Lines and made cruising available to the masses.  Today, with over 20 different sized vessels, Carnival Cruise Lines is the largest in the Carnival Corporation & plc fleet offering shorter and less expensive cruising options. 

Products/Services:

Now I know that this is going to come as a huge surprise, but Carnival Cruise Line’s product is… affordable cruising.  As I said earlier, these cruises are cheaper but they still provide the Las Vegas Style shows, unique destinations and fine dining that one would expect find on every other cruise line. 

Target Audience:

Former Carnival President Bob Dickinson “once Identified Carnival’s target market as ‘everyone but curmudgeons.’” As the industries “Fun Ships”, Carnival is a family friendly cruise line that makes cruising enjoyable not matter what your age and interests are. 

Branding:

One of Carnival’s fundamental beliefs is that “it is the inalienable birthright of every man, woman and child to have as much fun as they possibly can while they are all together on this earth.” And so, Carnival guarantees one thing to all of its passengers; whether you are on a quick trip to the Bahamas or a 15 day transatlantic journey, if you are 5 or 55,  you will have fun time.   

Life is too short to take it so seriously so Carnival keeps the idea of FUN on all elements of their ships.  You can see this even in their smoke stack.  Instead of using a traditional one, Carnival uses a red white and blue whales tail that has turned into their mascot, Fun Ship Freddy. 

Fun for all, all for fun.  

And with that we set sail to this weeks blog…

Do you remember a few years ago when you had to be a college student to be on Facebook?  The website wouldn’t allow you to signup unless you had an active college email.  Today, it doesn’t matter who you are or how old you are, you can set up an account.  Even though I think it’s sad, I have even seen some accounts set up for pets.  Come on, does your dog really need a profile?  But that is a blog for another day.

With today’s technology, it seems that everyone is connected to some social networking site if not several of them.  So while the exclusivity of Facebook used to be nice, this change was amazing for businesses.  Think about it; it’s cheap and easy advertising. 

Utilizing these social networking sites also helps create deeper relationships with their target audience because it allows for direct interaction between the company and their stakeholders.  One example of this is on the blog that  John Heald, Senior Cruise Director, writes (appropriately called John Heald's Blog).  He begins his blog with a funny story or rant of what he has seen on board, or something that he did that day.  In his latest entry,“Some of a Beach”, he discusses why he dislikes the beach and can’t understand why people travel to Venice and ask him where the local beach is.  “To come all the way and ignore the obvious historical stunning sites to lay on a beach surrounded by Italian men in Speedos?  Each to their own I guess.” He then takes time to answer a few questions and requests from Carnival guests.  This gives the guests opportunity to provide feedback on the quality of their cruise and give their opinions letting Carnival know how they could better serve them.  Sometimes, guests will also ask John to help them with something special for their cruise.  If he is able to assist them with their request, it let’s the guest know that there is someone there that cares about them and wants them to have a fun time.  He ends each blog with a section on shipboard happenings.  This is usually where Carnival gets to shine about all of the good things they have been doing.  I think that Carnival set up this blog perfectly because it provides the reader and could not have found someone better to write this blog.  John has a way of pulling in any reader and making them want to read more.  For me, it is because I find him hysterical and completely entertaining.

How much can you say in 140 characters?  How about this: “Post your amazing Carnival cruise video to YouTube and send us the link; we may feature it on Facebook!” or “@JaxDad610 We’re pretty excited too! Hope we see you all back on bard again soon!”  Just like they do in the question section of the blog, Carnival uses twitter to reach out to their guests.  It looks as though the company has someone who is responsible to responding to every comment that is made in connection with the cruise line on their @CarnivalCruise  account.  But Carnival also has another twitter account @CCLSupport where there is live customer support there Monday-Friday 9-5:30 to help with any issue or question a guest may have.

I think that Carnival has taken to the Social Networking sites with a vengeance.   Even when you are on a specific social site there are links that can connect you, not only with their main website, but with all of their other social sites.  This is beneficial for when there is a contest on Facebook and I mention it on twitter, the guest can be brought directly to the Facebook page with the click of a button. I’m not sure I could suggest away for them to make it better.  But by chance, the best thing that Carnival does with is invite their guests to take part and share their videos and pictures.  It is one thing for a company to tell you that they are amazing because of X, Y, and Z or to show you the pictures that they have had a professional take but it is another when you have first hand accounts from your customers.