Cruise lines use initiatives to break free from the pack

Food and film pairings at the Rooftop Terrace on Celebrity’s Millennium-class ships is part of the line’s Celebrity Distinction program.

Cruise lines are increasingly bundling their innovations under a catchy title or phrase that draws attention to what they’re doing in the hope of differentiating themselves from the pack.

The latest to do so is Celebrity Cruises, which announced its “Celebrity Distinction” moniker in July.

Norwegian Cruise Line coined “Norwegian Edge” in January for a package of culinary, shipboard and private island improvements.

And before that, lines created platforms such as Fun Ship 2.0 (Carnival Cruise Line), Royal Advantage (Royal Caribbean International) and Signature of Excellence (Holland America Line).

What unites them, said one marketing expert, is the desire to create a more premium image for their brand.

“These are all elite positionings within the overall category,” said Liz Dolinski, a New York marketing consultant and founder of the social media marketing firm Luminosity.

Dolinski said that cruise lines often struggle to convince travelers that their products are different from the rest “especially when you think about which are the customers who are going to pay a higher price. So they’re trying to create some specialness that rises up above their brand.”

Celebrity Distinction brings together a host of initiatives that Celebrity has launched in the past year. It includes some traditional elements, such as drydock upgrades to three older ships. It also applies to more novel ones, such as the pairing of food and cinema on Celebrity’s outdoor Rooftop Terrace on Millennium-class ships.

And it has some singular features, such as Celebrity’s naming one of its ships for the first American-born female captain.

Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president for sales, trade support and services, said what motivated the new platform was that Celebrity was not gaining enough attention for its unique features when it announced them individually.

“Platforms like these give [us] the ability to be able to tell a wonderful story in a way that encompasses more than one thing at a time,” Ritzenthaler said.

Speaking to a group of travel agents at an event in New York Harbor last week, she said that although Celebrity was communicating its distinctiveness, “people weren’t really grasping it, weren’t appreciating the value we were adding or the money we were spending, because it came in one at a time.”

Labeling programs can be particularly vital to upmarket lines, where service programs and other tweaks can be subtle, Dolinski said.

Mass-market lines such as Carnival have used labels to aggregate the hardware improvements on their ships. Fun Ship 2.0 is devoted to physical improvements such as new restaurants, bars and entertainment venues.

Likewise, Royal Advantage began as a refurbishment program for Royal Caribbean’s older ships.

But Celebrity Distinction includes things not so easily communicated, such as an increased number of overnight stays in key ports or more cruises that are tied to high-profile events.

Dolinski said that making features better known can be a key to higher pricing.

“If all the brands feel the same and you want a high-end customer who will pay slightly more, you have to give them something that you can’t get anywhere else,” she said. “As soon as you add an element to your product that is not present in another place but is truly unique it helps create the extra price differentiation.”

Perhaps the prototype for marketing an upgrade package was Holland America’s Signature of Excellence, launched in 2004. It grouped not only hardware improvements, such as new bars and stores, but soft goods, including special linens, and onboard enrichment programs, such as free classes on Microsoft’s Windows software.

Last year, Holland America announced a $300 million fleetwide improvement program focused initially on suites, but bucking the trend, it did not give the new package a name.

WATCH: Celebrity Infinity Slams Into Pier in Ketchikan, Alaska

Celebrity Infinity crashes into the pier

Celebrity Infinity crashes into the pier

The Celebrity Cruises cruise ship Celebrity Infinity ran into a little bit of trouble pulling up to a pier in Ketchikan, Alaska on Friday afternoon.

Video of the incident posted online shows the ship approaching the #3 berth at the Ketchikan cruise ship dock before crashing into the pier almost in slow motion, but hard enough to cause visual damage to the ship and what looks like major damage to the pier.

Weather on scene was reported to be gusting at 45-miles per hour when the incident occurred.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it was alerted to the accident on Friday afternoon by the ship’s pilot. No injuries or pollution have been reported.

“The Coast Guard is grateful no one was injured as a result of this accident,” said Lt. Dianna Robinson, command duty officer at Sector Juneau.  “Our personnel are working to determine the cause of this accident and will work with local partners to ensure the continued safety of those using the cruise ship docks.”

Crystal replaces Turkey port calls on two cruises

Crystal Cruise
Crystal Cruises said it would substitute Greek ports for Turkish ones on two upcoming cruises “in response to ongoing security concerns for travel within Istanbul.”

Revised itineraries for the Crystal Symphony’s April 24 and May 1 voyages will drop calls at Istanbul and Kusadasi.

The April 24 voyage will substitute Souda Bay/Chania (Crete), Hydra, and overnights in Nafplio and Athens/Piraeus, while the May 1 cruise will include Patmos, Rhodes and an overnight in Athens/Piraeus.

Crystal also said that pre-reserved Crystal Adventures in Turkey will automatically be canceled, while the line is in the process of developing new shore excursions.

On Jan. 12, a suicide bomb killed 10 people in Istanbul, mostly German tourists. Before that incident occurred, Disney removed Greece and Turkey calls from a summer 2016 cruise. Last summer, after an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Celebrity and Costa canceled calls in Turkey.