The Fun Ship Experience at Carnival Cruise Lines

CASE # 1: THE FUN SHIP EXPERIENCE AT CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES

Case Problem / Executive Summary

From it's acquisition of the Mardi Gras and the founding of the company in 1972 by Ted Arison, Carnival Cruise Lines has constantly invented and reinvented the concept of cruise vacations that are affordable and 'fun', making the option of cruise travel one that has become increasingly viable for a wide variety of vacationers. Despite being brushed off by it's competition RCI as the 'K-mart' of the Carribean, the vice president of marketing & planning for Carnival Cruise Lines was quoted to have said that as a corporation they are “perfectly happy to be the Wal-Mart of the cruise industry. Like Wal-Mart, Carnival Cruise Lines entered a market that was and still is fiercely competitive, and had to develop new and visionary methods to gain a competitive advantage within the cruise vacationer's market. Just as Wal-Mart had to establish itself in small towns and focus their marketing strategies on providing cheap and affordable prices, Carnival Cruise Lines chose to package and market itself as a 'fun' ship as compared to the contemporary luxury ships transiting the world's waterways at the time. Accompanying the 'fun' ship tag was the necessity to attract customers as vacationing on cruise lines at the time was perceived to be a 'snobbish affair' and prohibitively expensive, affordable only to the rich and affluent. In order to accomplish this, a combination of low and affordable cost vacations in addition to making the trip 'fun' was identified as the marketing strategy for Carnival Cruise Lines which served as their business mantra for the next 30 years (Harrison, J. S., & Enz, C. A. (2005)).

As a result of their business and marketing strategy, Carnival Cruises attracted the young, middle class segment of their target market with the 'Fun Ships' theme and entertainment experience. To entice their target market, Carnival Corp created a form of market communication...