Posts Tagged ‘Nation of Why Not’

With Our Guests in Mind, These are Some of Royal Caribbean’s 2010 Initiatives

When I saw people at the Cruise Shipping Miami show, they invariably asked about Oasis of the Seas first and possibly Haiti second. This is understandable but it does not give props to the endeavors that are coming to fruition throughout the year for the benefit of all of our guests. While many initiatives are not ready for public airing, I will mention a few that have recently become public.

Our website is a major reference source for travel agents, repeat guests and prospective guests. This phenomenon only grows and therefore we must be responsive to the hunger for better information. If we don’t do a great job of informing people about our brand through our website, they may very well take their next vacation with someone else. We have recently completed a facelift designed to reflect the look and feel of our Nation of Why Not global marketing platform. We have also simplified the steps of the booking process for those who are interested to book on the website. While the people coming to the site for information far outnumber those who book on the site, we are pleased to provide an improved experience for those who wish to book. A work in progress is our effort to bring oasisoftheseas.com and nationofwhynot.com directly under the umbrella of royalcaribbean.com.

After enduring episodes of three steps forward and two steps backwards, we have launched eDocs. We still provide guests the option to receive paper documents for a $35 fee, unlike some of our competitors who have eliminated the paper option altogether. But our focus will be to leverage the new eDocs technology to provide our guests with much richer pre-cruise communications. With eDocs, guests can order self adhesive luggage tags pre-printed & customized to their specific ship, sailing & stateroom location and we’ll mail them to guests free of charge. When you consider this initiative in the context of the website, SetSail (pre-cruise check-in) and the ability to purchase and/or reserve many elements of the cruise in advance of sailing, the quality of the pre-cruise interaction between us and our customers has elevated considerably. We believe there are yet more opportunities to advance the pre-cruise experience and plan to bring more enhancements to market.

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BY:Adam|25th March, 2010 25 Comments

From Marketing to Dining - Innovation is Key

I would like to highlight two of our innovations that are unfolding at the moment, one in our product and one in our communication about our product:

Until now, [a limited number of] bar servers have roamed the tables in the main dining room to offer beverage service. As some guests have pointed out, it’s challenging for this number of bar staff to provide timely service to guests before (or after) their meals arrive. On average our staff level for this undertaking has been one bar server for each 150 guests. We are changing this and by the end of August the waiters on all of our ships will have taken over the responsibility of offering drinks as their guests are seated and thereafter. The ratio will become one server for each 24 guests. We are confident from our testing of this change that our wait staff will greatly improve the flow and timeliness of beverage service during the dining experience. This program further increases guest satisfaction by enabling the waiter to place all cocktail and wine orders on one check.

As with many changes, this initiative requires support and training that takes time and there will be inevitable hiccups. We are implementing a core competency wine and sprits training program and ensuring it is available to all Restaurant crew via the internet. The training encompasses Gold Anchor Standards developed for this initiative. After we overcome the initial learning curve and culture change, we believe this new approach will boost guest satisfaction.

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BY:Adam|4th August, 2009 9 Comments

Guest Blog: Introducing ChoiceAir

Today I have the pleasure of asking Doug Santoni, our Senior VP, Revenue Performance, to tell you in more detail about a new approach to combining a cruise with air travel. I hinted at this recently because I have been so anxious to get the word out that I could not control myself. In the 1990’s, we used to debate internally a concept we called “one stop shopping.” What some of us imagined is now here and actually, with the benefit of today’s technology, the new offering is far beyond what we had envisioned back in the day. Congratulations to Doug and his team.

Doug Santoni

Last month Adam shared some thoughts with you about the “Why Not?” philosophy that we subscribe to in our Nation. As he explained, “Why Not?” is supposed to expand our thinking about something that might surprise you, seem serendipitous, improbable – or even impossible. So it may surprise you that the topic today focuses on “Why not simply do what makes sense and will make our customers happy?”

When it comes to traditional cruise line air/sea programs, we have become more accustomed to hearing our customers ask “why?” Perhaps you have asked some of these same questions:

• Why can’t you tell me my flight itinerary at the time I book my cruise?

• When I finally see my air itinerary, why is it such an inconvenient schedule?

• Why does the fare seem higher than those I see on the internet?

• Why do I have to fly from one of your approved gateways?

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BY:Adam|31st July, 2009 15 Comments

An Inside Perspective – The Nation of Why Not

We are well into our first year of our new marketing campaign - The Nation of Why Not - and some of the key elements have crystallized while others will continue to evolve. We’re proud and excited to communicate that anything is possible on a Royal Caribbean vacation. Why is anything possible? 40 years of passion for guest satisfaction plus 40 years of commitment to innovation have produced myriad experiences for guests who want action and total relaxation for guests who just want to de-stress. It is our responsibility to keep the quality of our product high and keep the innovations coming so this equation endures into the future.

What have we learned about The Nation of Why Not? First, that the Why Not? part actually comes first in the sense of challenging consumers to become our guests, leave regular life behind and experience a Royal Caribbean vacation. Second, once onboard our guests come to understand the concept of the Nation. Our ships are unique environments that combine amazing features with Gold Anchor Service and interesting destinations. Over time we have been extremely fortunate to develop great loyalty from our resident (crew) and guest citizens as well as the ambassadors (travel agents) of the Nation. Each element of our citizenry is crucial to our success.

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BY:Adam|18th June, 2009 29 Comments