When medium to large ships get approval from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to start the cruise over US Ports, travel agents will see a robust ad campaign across the cruise industry – similar to what the dairy industry does with its “I have milkCampaign in the past?
That’s a question that John Lovell, President, Travel Leaders Group, asked Arnold Donald, President and CEO, Carnival Corporation, during a fireside chat with advisors and the media last week. Covered during travel agency previously Lots of vital information (cruise bookings, trip restart schedule, and vaccine use) from that chat in a story over the past weekHere’s an additional glimpse into the bigger picture from Donald.
Cooperation on the industry restart campaign?
“When the dairy farmers really had problems, they got together and put together the“ Got Milk ”campaign,” emphasized Lovell (see photo on the right), adding that this was not the case, for example Bordens compete against other brands.
Lovell advocated that the cruise industry similarly “speak with one voice to say that cruising is safe”. He asked Donald if he believed the industry would work together to get to this point and improve the entire industry.
In response to the industry working well together from the beginning of the pandemic, Donald said, “We all voluntarily took a break before this was mandated, and it wasn’t just Carnival … It was the industry voluntary … We did that together with no pressure from CDC or anyone else. “
He believes that it’s an aspect of the cruise industry to be proud of, not that there aren’t times of different opinions, different approaches, etc. “But we’re working on it,” said Donald.
While Donald believes the lines are “all together,” when looking at a “Got Milk?” -Style industrial campaign, he said, “In terms of a single campaign, this is less likely. The reason is that our business is global. “
Donald said that because cruise lines are sourcing U.S. travelers not just for trips out of the U.S. but for trips from other locations around the world, they are dealing with different regulations, approaches, fleet levels, and more. “So there are legitimate but subtle differences,” said Donald.
Another factor he mentioned is, “The reality is that we don’t have a crisis in demand for cruises – we don’t.” Decreased berth capacity, as the lines dropped many ships, means pent-up consumer demand from previous cruisers – plus any reduced capacity steps that lines can take on board to create better social distance – means the lines have enough cruisers get dressed to fill the ships first.
“We just have to make sure that we are doing the right things and that they are comfortable on board, as we are doing now Italy and Germany“Said Donald, referring to large ship cruises on the company
Brands. “As long as we do this for people who have crossed, we’ll be fine. We don’t have to expand the market immediately just because we will have less capacity. “
So, “I think it’s unlikely you’ll have a big” Got Milk? “[style] Campaign because we may be addressing the wrong thing, ”he said. “I think we have to deal a lot more with where to go, how to get there. We have to make sure that we focus on making people travel, things like that. “
Lessons from European sailing
What are the lessons learned so far from European sails? Lovell asked. “Were you satisfied with everything?”
It’s never about being satisfied with everything, replied Arnold: “It’s always continuous improvement.”
Donald also noted that the voyages made so far (since it was first shut down early last year) have been limited: single vessels sailing with lower occupancy. It was a lot of change and Donald said it was important “to make sure we start slowly and our crew has the experience”.
Arnold admitted that the cruise lines had incidents COVID-19-Similar symptoms or COVID itself on board last autumn, also with the universal tests before boarding and testing on board.
“But that was well managed and handled correctly in the ports. It didn’t tie everyone else on the ship and we had some contact traces to make sure we knew what the exposures were and so on, “emphasized Arnold.” And that’s how it worked. “
He noted that other companies (such as MSC cruises) achieved similar results “and sailed for more weeks than we did.”
Weigh the risk
The European experience “has shown that you can do it successfully,” said Donald. “It also showed that you can’t guarantee zero risk … even if the testing schemes are in place.” That is the nature of this virus, he emphasized small windows in which to test, the person does not manifest itself [symptoms or a positive test]Then two days go by and then they do … Well, it’s difficult. But you can also mitigate the spread here. “
Donald also said that historically there is a lower risk of contracting the virus on a cruise ship than with similar activities on land: “As long as we have that in balance – since society has stated the risk they want to live with – then we feel good. “
Lovell agreed, noting, “There’s no such thing as zero risk in life – when you wake up and go outside, get in a car, cross the street, you are taking a risk every day.”
With hospital stay rates falling and the potential for fewer deaths (with vaccine use), Lovell is taking ?: “We’re going back to normalized risk, and I think that’s the most important thing to keep people from doing that.”
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