The end of ‘Cruise Like a Norwegian’?

It looks like we won’t be cruising like Norwegians for too much longer.

Norwegian Cruise Line has put its creative and media accounts up for review. According to Ad Week, the current account holder, the Martin Agency, declined to participate in the review.

The move follows close on the heels of the departure of Maria Miller, the Norwegian senior vice president for marketing, who was behind the line’s “Cruise Like a Norwegian” slogan.

Devised after Martin won the business in 2011, the campaign celebrated vacationers who embodied the “passion, freedom and flexibility” of the company’s Freestyle Cruising concept.

“Cruising like a ‘Norwegian’ is for those who live life to the fullest, embrace new adventures and are passionate about their experiences,” is how the concept was described on announcement.

It coincided with a campaign by former Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan to root out use of the abbreviation NCL, which Sheehan thought was not understood by most potential guests.

Whether “Cruise Like a Norwegian” was any better understood is something I’ve always been curious about.

I’ve interpreted the slogan as a kind of creative conceit that imagined this group of fun and intrepid people that Norwegian chose to call “Norwegians.” Taken in those terms, cruising like them made some sense.

Taken in literal terms, it is hard to imagine that the average consumer would know anything about how someone from the country of Norway cruised. Why would they want to cruise that way? Too literal, perhaps, but for someone new to cruising it could have been a head-scratcher.

The campaign did have the virtue of pounding home the name of the brand at every turn. It would be hard to watch the company’s current ads, with their lively “Let’s Go” theme music and catchy “Cruise Like a Norwegian” coda at the end, and mistake them for an ad from some other cruise line.

Then, too, ad campaigns run their course over time. After four years, the mileage on “Cruise Like a Norwegian” was starting to pile up. Norwegian spent $33 million last year on measured media, according to Kantar Media, spreading the gospel on Freestyle Cruising.

Now Norwegian has a new president in Andy Stuart, and its parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, has a new CEO in Frank Del Rio. They’re entitled to a marketing theme of their own.

Norwegian Cruise Line offers weddings at sea

Photo not taken on a NCL Ship.

Norwegian Star exits drydock with Five O’Clock Somewhere bar

By Rebecca Tobin

Norwegian Cruise Line’s partnership with Margaritaville is taking shape on the Norwegian Star, which carries the line’s first Five O’Clock Somewhere bar following a two-week drydock.

The Five O’Clock Somewhere bar will sell Margaritaville signature drinks like the “Who’s to Blame Margarita” and LandShark beer. Norwegian, which announced its partnership with Margaritaville last year, will offer a Margaritaville restaurant and Five O’Clock Somewhere bar on the Norwegian Escape, which debuts this fall, and it also plans to construct Margaritavilles at its private ports of call.

In addition to introducing the Five O’Clock Somewhere bar, the line also eliminated a $15 cover charge on the Star’s Ginza restaurant. The Asian specialty restaurant will offer a complimentary menu and items priced on an a la carte basis.

An O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill was added to the ship. The Brazillian steakhouse-style Moderno Churrascaria was moved to what Norwegian called a “more intimate” setting on Deck 13, and a Sugarcane Mojito Bar was installed adjacent to the steakhouse.

Other additions to the Star include new carpeting and flooring throughout guest areas and updates to the pool deck. Touch-screen signage, which was introduced on the Norwegian Breakaway, was added to the Star.

On the technical side, the Azipod propulsion system was updated and the hull coated with silicone paint. Norwegian said the measures would improve fuel efficiency.

The ship will sail in northern Europe this summer.
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Correction: A scrubber system was not installed during the recent drydock.