MIAMI -- With the debut of Carnival Spirit on April 27, Carnival
Cruise Lines now features four ships with dedicated meetings space.
Facilities aboard the new 2,124-passenger vessel include a
1,100-square-foot conference room.
Carnival Spirit's conference center features mounted ceiling
projectors, roll-down screens and audiovisual equipment, including
an overhead projector, slide projector, LCD projector, VCR,
television monitor and handheld microphones.The ship also contains
an Internet cafe.
In January of next year, the launch of a second Spirit-class
ship, the Carnival Pride, will bring the line's number of ships
with meetings space to five.
Three others in Carnival's fleet of 15 vessels, all
Fantasy-class, also have dedicated space: the Fantasy, the Paradise
and the Elation.
Among cruise lines, Carnival is in the forefront of adding
meetings space to attract corporate meetings and incentive
groups.
"We're not only seeking the business, we're creating the
product," said Richard Weinstein, the cruise line's director of
incentive sales. "We're doing more to accommodate the meeting
planner in both ship design and activities."
One reason for the focus on meetings, Weinstein said, is a move
by incentive companies to expand into that market.
"The traditional incentive company is doing more meetings. It
has changed its growth model, and [the incentive firm] knows
cruises," he said.
Weinstein draws a parallel with hotels. Hotels were built first,
then added meetings facilities when they saw the market's
potential. Now cruise lines have seen the potential.
"Cruises offer incredible value for the meeting planner even
without a tax deduction," Weinstein said.
"We now have four dining times, which gives the meeting planner
flexibility, and the use of all audiovisual equipment is free,
which is unheard of in the hotel industry."
And companies are always looking for something new, especially
in the incentive market, which a cruise can provide, he added.
Many groups have done the cycle of such destinations as
California, Arizona, Orlando and Las Vegas.
"They need to charge up their sales force, to introduce new
products, and they've been to all the usual places," Weinstein
said.
The first ship with a dedicated meetings facility was Elation,
launched in March 1998, followed by Paradise, launched in June of
the same year.
The 2,052-passenger ships each have a 1,075-square-foot meeting
room on their Atlantic decks with a capacity for 60 people seated
classroom-style and 100 theater-style.
The Elation facility features a small foyer with alternating
panels of dark wood and light marble. One such panel can be opened
to reveal a white board that can function as a projection surface,
marker board or magnetic surface.
Audiovisual equipment ranges from overhead and remote-controlled
slide projectors to wireless microphones.
The largest conference facility is aboard the 2,056-passenger
Fantasy, built as part of a multimillion-dollar refit in late
1999.
The 3,900-square-foot room, called the Forum, on the Promenade
deck takes up part of the ship's former aft showroom.
It features stadium-style seating and drop-down projection
screens and can accommodate 300 theater-style and 200
classroom-style.
The Fantasy's facility, Weinstein said, " is working very
well."
According to Weinstein, although corporate meetings are a small
portion of Carnival's business, bookings are up 30% this year
compared with 2000, and incentives also continue to see growth.
Incentive groups are not new to Carnival and account for around
40% of group business.
A recreation products manufacturer, for example, recently
chartered the Fantasy-class Ecstasy for a dealer incentive, with
2,000 people aboard.
By taking over the whole ship and not having to work around a
ship's day-to-day activities, the group had many breakout rooms and
two showrooms were converted for trade exhibits.
Carnival's largest showroom spaces can hold up to 1,000 on the
three Holiday-class ships, 1,100 on the Carnival Spirit, up to
1,300 on the three Destiny-class ships and up to 1,500 on the eight
Fantasy-class ships.
By July, Carnival will release a meetings planning guide on its
Fantasy- and Destiny-class ships. Fact sheets on each class are
available now.
After its launch, Carnival Spirit was scheduled for a 16-day
Panama Canal cruise and a Pacific coastal cruise, followed by
Alaska cruises through Oct. 8.
The Paradise has seven-day itineraries from Miami, alternating
between the western and eastern Caribbean. The Elation has
seven-day Mexican Riviera cruises from Los Angeles.
The Fantasy offers three-day Nassau, Bahamas, and four-day
Nassau/Freeport cruises from Port Canaveral, Fla.
Carnival's toll free number for groups is (800) 327-5782.