CARNIVAL Cruise Line (CCL) is unshaken in its commitment to local sailing, as other brands around the sector continue to emphasise fly-cruise.
CCL is now the largest line in Australia, with four ships sailing out of the country each year, three of which are based Down Under 12 months a year.
Assistant vice president, sales & marketing Anton Loeb told CW these local sailings will continue to be its priority, as opposed to using them to promote more lucrative voyages overseas.
“If you look at our commitment here to this market and the team that’s set up here, this would be our key priority, to ensure we do well with the four ships that are based here,” he explained.
Only brand affinity built in Australia through its local fleet will prompt cruisers to explore Carnival’s product in destinations such as Alaska or the Mexican Riviera, Loeb expained.
“The challenge is to get people to take a very long flight to the East Coast [of the United States].” he added.
Loeb said CCL is now finally starting to benefit from its hard work from the past 12 months, which saw its former sister brand P&O sunsetted, and its ships integrated into Carnival’s fleet.
Meanwhile, Loeb said CCL’s delayed Rewards program, which will now kick off in Sep (CW 02 Dec), allows the cruise line to make sure it can provide what its most loyal passengers deserve.
“The project made sense to refresh it and to revitalise it – the challenge becomes if you can’t deliver on those rewards because so many people are hitting those levels and because the cruise line’s grown so much,” Loeb explained to CW.
“I think we’ve done a great job to go, ‘okay, let’s take this on board, let’s make some changes, and then let’s push it back further, allowing people more time to hit those top tiers’.” MS
