Tom Stieghorst
One of the more unusual experiences for cruise guests is to be on a ship where the majority of passengers speak a language other than their own.
That happened to me on a Costa Cruises trip I took in Europe. The cruise was a pleasure, but communicating with my fellow guests in passable Spanish and very rusty French was a challenge. With the Italians, I had no hope.
Do cruise companies blend cruisers from different countries, or market
to them with separate products? Outside of North America, there have
been different approaches.
One has been to offer the same product everywhere: the so-called global brand model largely pursued by Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line. Another has been to acquire and refine country-specific brands, the way Carnival Corp. has done with Aida Cruises, Costa Cruises and P&O Cruises.
The advantage of country-specific brands is that they can be tailored to cultural preferences, culinary tastes, holiday schedules and language.
The disadvantage was on display in Carnival Corp.'s latest financial report, where weak economies in continental Europe, especially southern Europe, led the company to reduce its earnings forecast for 2019, the second reduction in six months.
One analyst, Felicia Hendrix of Barclays Bank, asked Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald whether, in light of the problem, the company planned to revisit its reliance on country-specific brands.
"We've looked at the model all the time because it's just part of managing the business," Donald said. Some years it doesn't do as well as one that sticks to global brands, other years it does better, he said.
"But it's a portfolio, it's a portfolio approach and portfolio of brands, and overall it delivers," he said.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., while hewing to a global approach for its namesake brand, has country-specific joint ventures: TUI Cruises in Germany and Pullmantur in Spain. (Despite its strategy, Carnival did close its brand in Spain, Ibero Cruises, in 2014).
And all of the big cruise companies have modified their global brands for China, keeping mostly Western features that appeal to Chinese travelers while tailoring the shopping, food and entertainment more to Asian tastes.
Carnival isn't the first company that has tried to strike a balance between global and local branding. General Motors, for example, two years ago sold its German Opel and British Vauxhall brands to the company that owns Peugeot.
But given Donald's remarks, I wouldn't expect anything that drastic at Carnival.