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

Deployment - A Look Inside the Planning Process

There is a strong desire amongst the readers of this blog and the followers of our live chats to know more about our deployment planning process, i.e., where we choose to put the ships. We want to respond to this desire but we need to balance it against the competitive and legal framework that applies to this critical subject. In an upcoming guest blog entry, I will ask Diana Block, VP, Revenue Performance & Deployment, and Chris Allen, Director, Deployment & Itinerary Planning to comment in more detail.

Because most readers live in the United States, most of the expressed commentary is in the form of questions about why we don’t have more or longer programs around the U.S. Our readers are frequently asking about more cruises from Galveston, New Orleans, Tampa, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Hawaii, Jacksonville, Mobile, etc.

This interest reflects a significant shift in U.S. consumer preference over the last 15 years. While a lot of our guests still get on a plane and fly to San Juan, South Florida, New York, Los Angeles or Seattle to board one of our ships, there are many cruisers who prefer to skip the flight and drive straight to a ship based much closer to where they live.

We offer cruises out of many homeports around the U.S. either year-round or seasonally. However, this important trend towards “homeporting” inevitably bumps into another very significant trend of the last 15 years – the whole world is catching on to cruising and there is demand for our cruises globally. This conflict between two important market preferences is exacerbated in the northern summer by the seasonal attractions of Alaska, Bermuda and Europe.

In the end, we have 22 ships (including Oasis of the Seas and Allure of Seas) to deploy and hard choices to make every year. We are very cognizant of Texans who want to cruise year-round from Galveston as well as Spanish who want us to offer summer programs out of Malaga, and many others as well. We are constantly monitoring guest satisfaction, operational experience, revenue performance, fuel and other costs, consumer research, customer commentary and strategic opportunity to determine what the right deployment of our 22 ships should be. I look forward to your comments on this compelling subject.

BY:Adam|29th July, 2009 71 Comments

The Role of Innovation in our Brand - MSI 2009 Annual Conference

In June, 2009 I had the opportunity to speak at the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) annual conference at the University of Miami. MSI is where marketing professionals and academics specializing in marketing meet to understand and further each others’ interests. I gave a talk on the role of innovation in our brand. Afterwards they taped a brief segment related to the speech.

Watch the segment here.

BY:Adam|27th July, 2009 4 Comments

Guest Post: Bark Blog

Psychology 101 teaches us that first and last impressions have a disproportionately large impact on memory formation. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the process of departing a cruise figures prominently in our guests’ recollection of their experience with Royal Caribbean International. Guests have been asking us for a long time to improve the debark experience. Lisa Bauer, our Senior VP, Hotel Operations is my guest today to tell you what have done in this regard. Congratulations to Lisa and her team as well as Craig Milan and his Guest Port Services team for moving us forward in this important area.

Lisa Bauer

You may wonder why I’ve titled this particular blog “bark” and what it could possibly mean. The subject matter is actually about the enhancements we’ve made to the departure, or debark processes. So, when we formed the working team to review guest feedback, recommendations and current practices with a focus on materially changing the process, my staff thought that it would be fun to name the project “Bark” because I love pets and have 3 dogs, and that it would be one of my favorite projects if it was named “bark.”
The review of the “bark” processes highlighted that we had the opportunity to improve the guest experience.
Before I get into the disembarkation process I wanted to make one small comment regarding our embarkation process. One of the best ways our guests can ensure a speedy embark process is to complete the online ‘Set Sail’ check-in prior to arrival. This greatly expedites the process so that you can be well on your way to enjoying a wonderful cruise vacation.
With regard to our disembarkation procedures our customers told us what was most important to them was not to be “kicked out of their rooms at 6am;” that all the announcements created a hectic environment; and that we had the opportunity to improve the overall experience. We also had some challenges with the length of time the process takes. The majority of these items are directly in our control, so we listened to the feedback and made changes. However, to truly have an expedited departure, we are also highly dependent on the local customs and border patrol staffing and support, and this is an area that we don’t directly control. We continue to work with local officials to improve in this area as well.
Based on the suggestions and requests, on departure day, guests now have extended access to their staterooms, as well as continued in-stateroom TV entertainment. In addition, guests are receiving an “As You Depart” notice the day before departure, which communicates the location of departure lounges offering refreshments and light entertainment as well as information related to local immigration and customs and the anticipated timing of departure for various groups. We also saw the opportunity to ensure that families had a unique experience, so one of the departure lounges is now a dedicated Family Zone, which will include refreshments, toys and games geared toward younger cruisers. One of the key highlights of the new process is the minimal amount of ship-wide public announcements all morning to maintain a relaxing atmosphere, with nearly all departure updates limited to the departure lounges and through the in-stateroom TV programming. The overall feedback so far has been very favorable, and we continue to focus on how we can improve both the embark and debark process.

BY:Adam|24th July, 2009 16 Comments
CATEGORY: Guest Posts

A Look at Some Concepts We’ve Been Experimenting With

There is always something going on somewhere in the fleet or at headquarters. An experiment. A trial. An effort to make the Royal Caribbean cruise experience better for our guests. Sometimes the idea disappears without a trace. Usually something good comes of it. I’d like to mention a few concepts that you will probably be hearing more about in the near future.

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BY:Adam|22nd July, 2009 37 Comments

Guest Post: The Most Interesting Job at Royal

Continuing with our international theme this week, I thought it would be appropriate to invite Michael Bayley, our Senior Vice President, International, to be my guest blogger for today. As you can tell from my own posts, our international business is near and dear to my heart. It has been a year and a half since I asked Michael to take on the role of driving our global growth. You can see he already has the passion for it that I have had since I became VP, International Sales & Marketing in 1991.

Michael Bayley, Senior Vice President, International


Hello and greetings from Tokyo, Japan, where my travels for Royal Caribbean have taken me as we prepare for the Legend of the Seas Asia season. I think that I may have the most interesting job in the company as I am responsible for growing our business in all of the international markets outside of North America. This year, over one million guests have sailed with us from those markets. [Adam's note: in 1991 we had 26,000 international guests, i.e. now we have 40 times more international business!] We have offices in London and Manchester, UK; Oslo in Norway; Barcelona and Madrid in Spain; Genoa in Italy; Frankfurt in Germany; Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China; and we recently opened offices in Sydney, Australia. Next week I will be in Sao Paolo, Brazil where we are opening our Brazilian office.

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BY:Adam|20th July, 2009 3 Comments

Continuing My International Tour

How far would I go to sell a cruise? How about Miami to Hong Kong to Shanghai to Singapore to Brisbane to Melbourne to Sydney before returning home?

A trip such as this is actually about much more than selling cruises. It’s an opportunity for me to support and leverage the efforts of my far-flung colleagues to build our brand and help fulfill our strategic aspirations. My one or two days in each location is a blend of media interviews, discussions with top travel agents, port visits, updates from governmental authorities and of course interactions with my team. A lot of the attention is on selling and operating Legend of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas because of their programs in Asia and Australia, respectively. And, of course, on Oasis of the Seas, because there is excitement everywhere in the world about her approaching delivery.

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BY:Adam|15th July, 2009 9 Comments

An Unexpected Stop in Hong Kong

Greetings from Asia. I’m here on business once or twice per year. Sophisticated international traveler that I am, I forgot that my China visa had expired in early June. So instead of flying to Beijing as planned, I unexpectedly ended up in Hong Kong where I needed to get my China visa in order to proceed to Shanghai. Not a smart move on my part, but it goes to show that with a little flexibility and a lot of help from my colleagues there is always opportunity.

Despite no notice of my visit, Joseph Lam and Karen Lo, Royal Caribbean’s representatives in Hong Kong, created a highly productive day in one of the world’s great cities. Joseph and Karen work for Lotus Tours. By contract, Lotus is our International Representative (IR) in Hong Kong and has represented us for nearly 20 years. What does “represented us” mean? It means that Lotus Tours acts as Royal Caribbean in Hong Kong for Sales & Marketing purposes, training and supporting the travel agents, working with the government, media and airline partners, and taking the reservations of our cruises. Given that Legend of the Seas will have seven cruises based in Hong Kong next year, Joseph and Karen and their team are responsible for providing many of the guests for those cruises.

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BY:Adam|13th July, 2009 7 Comments
CATEGORY: Adam's Posts

Relying on Empowerment

Our customers understand the cruise business as a series of vacations that they experience over time. Each experience reflects the features of the ship, the daily activities, the personal service from the crew and the offerings in the destinations. And so it should be.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, whether on land or onboard, there is the fundamental business reality of people leading and managing other people to develop the strategies and execute the myriad tasks that enable a fleet of cruise ships to run successfully over time. The cruise business is extraordinarily complex because it mixes the worlds of hospitality and shipping, each of which on its own contains innumerable variables. The confluence of the two worlds yields something unique in the business world, IMHO.

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BY:Adam|8th July, 2009 18 Comments
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My Version of Summer Break

More than 20 years has now passed since I was last a student, but I still feel as if the year has just come to a close with the advent of summer. Never mind that I’m not taking a summer vacation this year as we ramp up for the introduction of Oasis of the Seas in the fall. It isn’t just that my children’s academic year has ended. It’s that my “athletic year” has ended in terms of competitive running events. I’ve been competing the last three years after missing 25 years because my back wasn’t cooperative. Sometimes people ask me “how do you balance work and family life with working out so hard?” I ask myself “how did I balance anything for all those years without being able to work out?”

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BY:Adam|2nd July, 2009 17 Comments
CATEGORY: Adam's Posts
 

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