It’s not the size of the ship….
Monday, 22 Dec, 2009
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CruiseMole Guest Opinion by Jo Rzymowska, associate vice president and general manager, Royal Caribbean International
Over the last couple of weeks the big question ‘does size matter?’ has been fired at my colleagues and I many times as we hosted travel industry professionals and media from around the world onboard the new ship Oasis of the Seas.
While onboard the largest cruise ship in the world (and bigger by quite some amount) it is hard not to think that getting bigger is the answer. Big means more space, which means more stuff to fill that space.
The reaction from the travel industry has been that this ‘stuff’ is the major ingredient that draws customers in and generates sales. As many people who experienced the ship stated, you’d run out of time before you run out of things to do.
Big grabs headlines, attracts interest and brings in revenue.
From a business point of view we cannot ignore that big also commands higher prices – yields per guest onboard Oasis of the Seas are amongst the highest in the fleet.
During the launch celebrations call volumes in to our UK office also increased by over 20 percent during the launch celebrations compared to the same week last year. We also saw google search engine traffic increasing by the hundreds of percent for the term ‘Oasis of the Seas’.
So, big is great when it stimulates business and fantastic when it exceeds the expectations of the guests and industry professionals who experience it. But more importantly, big is phenomenal when it grows awareness of something that can grow to be even larger.
We’re especially proud of what Oasis of the Seas does with its size. No one can argue that the huge space for onboard facilities – from parks to promenades – is impressive, but look beyond the ship and the big splash has delivered wonders for the cruise industry.
Talking to our industry partners onboard the ship we enjoyed hearing their optimism that 2010 would be a stronger sales year, and that Oasis of the Seas was not the only reason. However, the added confidence to the market that major investments such as Oasis of the Seas delivers is not to be sniffed at.
2010 has more new ships launching in the UK than we saw in 2009, and each new ship brings something new and exciting to shout about. Ship order books had been looking a little dusty and empty for some time, and now our largest competitors have confirmed a new order for 2012.
The broader travel and leisure industry needs these statements of confidence.
Yes, size counts, as long as you do the right things with it and make a big noise to match.
Phil Davies
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