The Right Mix for Cruise Lines and Brands

We’ve seen how important it is for cruise lines to collaborate with celebrity chefs in order to draw potential travelers to the sea, but partnering with influential brands goes well beyond cuisine.

At this year’s Seatrade Cruise Global conference, representatives of Carnival Cruise Line and MSC Cruises spoke to the greater breadth.

Caroline Lombardi, Director of Youth, Family and Outer Decks for Carnival described why it’s all so important:

“Certainly, I think all cruise lines are aggressively trying to bring in new-to-cruise. But whatever it may be—whether it’s new to cruise, whether it’s someone on a different cruise line or even somebody’s who’s sailed with us in the past—these partnerships we hope create a reason, another reason to come back, a reason to look at us, a reason to think that you might have a great time on our Carnival cruise.”

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Lombardi came from the toy industry prior to joining the cruise world, which is quite appropriate given Hasbro has been a partner since 2013.

She pointed out that Carnival has more recently teamed up with Lip Sync Battle and SkyRide—both of which I experienced for the first time recently and really enjoyed.

The celebrity chef approach is also as influential for Carnival as it is for other lines. It turned out Guy Fieri was a perfect fit to roll out Guy’s Burger Joint and Guy's Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse onboard.

“Obviously, celebrity chefs is a huge trend,” Lombardi said.

“We looked at a lot of different celebrity chefs, and we found Guy was the perfect intersection with our brand from being really approachable, really fun, down-to-earth, kind of a guy’s guy—the kind of guy everyone wants to hang around. And the food was just really on point in terms of our guests; great burgers.”

READ MORE: What Restaurants and Chefs Will Cruise Ships Bring Aboard Next?

In the end, Carnival’s philosophy towards partnerships is that they are a good fit; Both partners fully understand each other and are in it for the long haul. The brands need to be highly experiential with a good mix of those developed in-house as well as by celebrities and consumer and emerging companies. Carnival also strives to never over-partner and thus overwhelm its guests while seeking support from all of its stakeholders.

According to Bonnie Levengood, Senior Vice President, Marketing, MSC Cruises, their line can take a somewhat different approach.

As a family-owned company, it’s easier for the line to invest, and its international nature frees up a global pool of collaborators from which to source from. Such partners include Lavazza and UNICEF.

That’s also crucial to MSC from a language perspective. Levengood explained, “We found that LEGO was this one activity where children of all different cultures—including Japanese, Asian, all different cultures—understood LEGO. Simply, you could explain it in English, and the rest of the kids would just look at what the other kids were doing, and they would understand the context and they would understand the concept.”

READ MORE: Who Might Follow Oprah as the Next Celebrity at Sea?

Of course, just like Carnival, MSC has its own celebrity chef.

Roy Yamaguchi is bringing his Asian fusion cuisine to the upcoming MSC Seaside. Another partnership that is coming to the new ship is Slideboarding for digital gaming while water sliding. In a way, its MSC’s answer to SkyRide.

Still, the reality according to Lombardi is that some partnerships that may be wished for just don’t work out due to feasibility or regulatory issues as applied to a cruise ship operationally. For instance, Carnival’s partnership with Build-A-Bear Workshop only functions thanks to a mobile stuffer that is far smaller than the shoreside equivalent.

Less dependent on infrastructure, but just as important at bringing younger kids aboard its ships, is also Seuss at Sea. The power of nostalgia and parents wanting to relive their childhood and share it with their own makes the brand a popular one.

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