February 2014

Two Carnival Cruise Lines ships earned top honors in Cruise Critic’s “Cruisers Choice Awards” with Carnival Liberty named best value for the money and Carnival Freedom best shore excursions.  The awards are based on reviews of Cruise Critic readers who rate ships in a wide variety of product- and service-related categories. The first ship to undergo the extensive upgrades of the line’s $500 million Fun Ship 2.0 enhancement program, Carnival Liberty received accolades for its wide range of complimentary on-board offerings, from Guy’s Burger Joint developed in tandem with Food Network personality Guy Fieri to the BlueIguana Cantina, a Mexican-themed eatery serving authentic tacos and burritos.  Other popular free-of-charge Fun Ship 2.0 choices include hilarious performances at the Punchliner Comedy Club…

Carnival Cruise Lines brought its signature brand of fun to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, sponsoring the Fun & Fit As A Family event at Miami’s Jungle Island for the third consecutive year. This year’s family-friendly event was made even more fun and memorable with engaging activities inspired by the beloved characters of Dr. Seuss. Carnival Cruise Lines recently launched a partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to create Seuss at Sea, a fleetwide program encompassing immersive youth, family, dining and entertainment experiences featuring the amazing world and words of Dr. Seuss. At an interactive play area set up in Jungle Island’s courtyard, kids could participate in a fun “One Toss, Two Toss, Three Toss” bean bag game, hit…

Construction on the 135,000-ton Carnival Vista is officially underway! Earlier this week at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, the first steel was cut on Carnival Cruise Lines’ newest “Fun Ship,” which is slated to enter service in spring 2016. Following the initial start-up of construction, workers will now begin building out the 4,000-passenger ship which will feature a variety of dining, bar and entertainment options that are part of the line’s Fun Ship 2.0 product enhancement initiative as well as several innovations unique to this vessel.  Carnival Vista will be the 25th vessel in the Carnival Cruise Lines’ fleet. Additional details on Carnival Vista’s homeport, itinerary and design innovations will be announced in the future.

Carnival Legend scored 100 during its United States Public Health (U.S.P.H.) inspection which took place this past weekend in Tampa. To earn a 100 score, cruise ships must receive perfect marks on all 44 items that comprise the U.S.P.H.’s comprehensive Vessel Sanitation Program checklist. The unannounced inspections, which are conducted twice a year and required for any cruise ship with an international itinerary calling at a U.S. port, evaluate vessels in a wide variety of areas, including adherence to proper food handling, preparation and storage procedures, and overall galley cleanliness. Ships’ potable water supplies used in spas and pools are evaluated, as well. The 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend will operate seven-day Caribbean cruises from Tampa through the fall then reposition to…

Interesting article on Carnival Cruise Lines’ brand recovery on Brand Index. http://www.brandindex.com/article/carnival-cruise-lines-perspective

Through a new promotion from Carnival Cruise Lines, vacationers can enjoy up to 40 percent savings and shipboard credits of up to $100 per stateroom on a wide range of “Fun Ship” cruises departing now through April 30, 2014. Cruises must be booked by February 16 to be eligible for the new “Pack & Go Plus” promotion, which is available in conjunction with a variety of close-in sailings visiting tropical destinations throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and The Bahamas departing from 12 year-round North American homeports. In addition to attractive cruise rates, consumers will receive a $50 per stateroom shipboard credit on voyages of two to five days and $100 per stateroom on departures of six days or longer.    Certain restrictions…

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES DEBUTS NEW TV SPOT AS NATIONAL EXCLUSIVE CRUISE LINE ADVERTISER FOR NBC’S BROADCAST OF THE SOCHI 2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES Celebrates with Carnival #ChampionSHIPS Instagram Contest and Other Social Elements Carnival Cruise Lines today announced it is the national cruise line advertiser of NBC’s telecast of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, debuting a new marketing campaign featuring a tailored TV spot along with cinema and digital elements.  The company will also provide other fun ways for fans to celebrate the season through social channels, including a Carnival Cruise Lines #ChampionSHIPS contest that challenges people to participate in a photo competition involving fun, cruise-themed categories on Instagram. The new campaign is designed to build additional consumer interest during what…

  Carnival Cruise Lines today announced it is the national cruise line advertiser of NBC’s telecast of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, debuting a new marketing campaign featuring a tailored TV spot along with cinema and digital elements.  The company will also provide other fun ways for fans to celebrate the season through social channels, including a Carnival Cruise Lines #ChampionSHIPS contest that challenges people to participate in a photo competition involving fun, cruise-themed categories on Instagram. The new campaign is designed to build additional consumer interest during what is known as “wave season” – a key window for generating cruise reservations.  Carnival recently announced a record reservations month in January citing unprecedented Web traffic and strong support from travel…

Carnival Cruise Lines set a one-month reservations record, taking net bookings (new reservations minus cancellations) for more than 565,000 guests between January 1 and January 31, 2014.  The record number of reservations was 17 percent higher than the same one-month period a year ago.  Additionally, traffic to the cruise line’s web site carnival.com also reached an all-time high with 13 million visits during the one-month period. Bookings were at unprecedented levels across the line’s 24-ship fleet, which operates three- to 23-day voyages from a wide range of convenient North American homeports as well as cruises from Australia. Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill attributed the record booking activity to a number of factors, including continued product enhancements and innovations being…