Tag Archives: cruise ships

Royal Caribbean and Iglu top charts in Greenlight cruise search analysis

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By Travolution

By Travolution

Specialist cruise travel agent Iglu.com and operator Royal Caribbean are leading the way in terms of profile on Google according to the latest sector analysis from Greenlight.

The search agency analysed the 2.2 million cruise-related queries on the leading search engine, finding that brand queries were by far the most popular, accounting for 59%.

‘Royal Caribbean’, the world’s second largest operator behind the owner of UK market leader P&O Cruises’ parent Carnival Corporation, accounted for 6% of searches.

The line was also the most visible advertiser for paid search on Google.

Iglu topped the ranking for natural results and also Greenlight’s integrated search league table for natural and paid search combined having gained 67% share of voice in the former.

The 12 month view of search in the cruise showed November dip following a five month period when search volumes remained fairly static at around 2.5 million queries.

A significant spike in March saw the sector leap to 3.3 million from a low of 1.5 million in February following a period of declining volumes.

While brand searches accounted for 59% of the overall total, destination related searches were 12%, generic 14% and cruise ships 15%.

In the natural search table Iglu beat cruise.co.uk and Thomas Cook into second and third place respectively, with Wikipedia and P&O Cruises making up the top 5.

Key word ‘Royal Caribbean’ was queried 135,00 times, 10% of all brand-related queries, and the UK version of review site Cruise Critic claimed 61% share of voice by ranking for 1,469 keywords.

Viva Voyage, Planet Cruise (which was bought by Iglu this year), cruisedeals.co.uk and Iglu made up the top five most visible paid advertisers.

Royal Caribbean ships also fared well in the analysis, Independence of the Seas, which has sailed out of Southampton during the summer for the last six years.

This keyword was queried 18,100 times accounting for 5% of all cruise liner-related searches.

Analysis of destination-related searches found the ‘Caribbean cruises’, the world’s second largest destination for cruise behind Europe, accounted for 9% of searches.

‘Mediterranean cruises’ and ‘cruises from Southampton’ accounted for 5% and 3% of destination-related queries.

Of the 420 generic cruise keywords analysed ‘cruises’ accounted for 19% ‘last minute cruises 6% and ‘river cruises’ 5%.

Greenlight also assesses brand’s profile on social media. For cruise Youtube and Wikipedia claimed to the two top spots with Klout scores of 99 and 97 respectively.

They were followed by Thomas Cook, Thomson, Celebrity Cruises and P&O Cruises.

– See more at: http://www.travolution.com/articles/2013/12/20/7413/royal-caribbean-and-iglu-top-charts-in-greenlight-cruise-search-analysis.html#sthash.jb97ePHh.dpuf

In the mood for a melody? Hit the piano bar

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In the mood for a melody? Hit the piano bar

By Tom Stieghorst
*InsightBilly Joel made headlines recently with the news that he’s going to play a monthly concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the foreseeable future. Joel’s gig starts Jan. 27. The first four shows are sold out, and prices for a May concert range from $64.50 to $124.50.

The development got me thinking about all the great piano entertainers I’ve seen on cruise ships this year. To my surprise, the piano bar has become a must-visit venue as I check out a ship’s entertainment.

There’s a tendency to reduce cruise entertainment to the main theater offering, because that’s where the cruise lines put on their biggest show and spend the most money.

Last week Royal Caribbean International announced it would license the Broadway musical “Mamma Mia!” featuring the music of ’70s pop group ABBA, which will undoubtedly be popular. But there are a number of secondary venues at sea, and they can be overlooked, especially on bigger ships. The piano bar is one of them.*TomStieghorst

On ships this year, I’ve been thoroughly entertained by solo piano acts in Crooners, on the Royal Princess, in the Piano Bar on the Oosterdam and in Piano Bar 88 on the Carnival Sunshine.

These entertainers were every bit the equal of top players in Las Vegas or London, and in some cases they are one and the same. I’ve also seen a few performers that lacked the energy, the audience rapport or the spontaneity of the best acts, at least on the night I saw them.

One of the things that makes a piano bar such fun is the intimacy of the room and the chance to get to know some of your fellow passengers, with music providing the introductions. On a seven-night cruise with a good piano bar, once word gets out it can be tough to find a seat.

James Barr, a piano entertainer from New York I caught on a recent sailing on the Vision of the Seas, said the audience makes or breaks a piano bar, and the No. 1 job for a good piano entertainer is to cultivate interaction from the audience.

“The more you talk to them, the more they have the nerve to get involved,” Barr said.

London-born, Barr is a self-taught musician who has been playing piano since he was 7. Now 37, he has been playing on ships for 12 years and on Royal Caribbean for nearly a decade.

He honors plenty of requests for “Piano Man” but also likes to mix it up. “Playing things people wouldn’t necessarily expect, like Jay-Z, adds to the energy,” he said.

Many people, I suppose myself included, stereotype piano bars as a lounge for washed-up showbiz types. Agents should prod their clients, especially younger ones, to rethink that assumption. On at least some of the ships I’ve been on, there’s no better place to be entertained.

Amid Asia tensions, uncertainty over expansion

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Amid Asia tensions, uncertainty over expansion

By Tom Stieghorst
*InsightMaritime disputes in Asia have thrown a crimp into the cruise industry’s plans to expand in that fast-growing area of the world, and signs are the problem is growing worse.

The latest is a report in the Wall Street Journal that China is challenging archaeological exploration of hundreds of shipwrecks, many of them distant from its own shores.

The article says China views the wrecks as proof of Chinese exploration of islands in the South China Sea, in areas close to the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

According to the report, of particular concern was an incident last year off the coast of the Philippines, when Chinese vessels forced a French archaeological team to abandon its exploration of a 13th century Chinese junk.*TomStieghorst

Already, China and Japan are in a standoff over disputed islands in the East China Sea. As a result, Royal Caribbean International and other cruise lines are not including Japan on their itineraries from China, opting for only Korean ports on cruises from northern Chinese cities.

The tensions in that area have escalated, too, with China claiming air rights over a wide swath of international ocean, including the disputed islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.

In its new air defense identification zone, China seeks to require all aircraft to file flight plans before entering the area. Japan and the U.S. immediately sent military planes into the space unannounced, to challenge the newly asserted Chinese zone.

None of this can improve the chance that China will get more big cruise ships. Until the uncertainty clears, the cruise industry’s Asia expansion, certainly in China, will not be full steam ahead.

Speaking on a third-quarter conference call to analysts, before China asserted its new air defense rights, Royal Caribbean International President Adam Goldstein said Royal had been hoping in 2013 to announce plans to resume calls in Japan on its China cruises aboard the Mariner and Voyager of the Seas. Instead, it has been forced to open 2014 bookings with only Korean destinations again.

“This is, of course, frustrating particularly since we do not see any signs of positive geopolitical change in the dynamic between China and Japan,” Goldstein said. “We continue to build our brand, our distribution and our management team in China with a view to making the best of the itinerary options that are available to us.”