CELEBRITY CRUISES
Celebrity Cruises is one of the cruise lines to sail Alaskan itineraries and, like any crowded market, distinguishing itself is key to gaining marketshare in the destination.
Celebrity offers three ships that sail Alaskan waters, but they are not the line’s newest ships, which can also pose a challenge with competing brands’ new ships sailing similar itineraries in the Last Frontier.
Two of Celebrity’s ships happened to be docking in Los Angeles and San Diego, two of the biggest feeder markets to Alaska.
Strategies / Tactics:
Invite media and content creators to ship tours of the Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Millennium in Los Angeles and San Diego, respectively, and spend a day learning about the ships, the brand and what sets it apart.
Create an intimate familiarization trip with traditional media that was the perfect balance of free time, excursions, group activities/meals and personalized experiences and touches.
Results:
More than 30 media and content creators attended our ship tours with resulting in stories and social media content being posted about the ships and its itineraries, with interest from nearly all attendees to sail on Celebrity.
Eight journalists were taken on an Alaskan cruise from regional outlets such as Newport Beach Magazine, to national outlets including MSN.com, NewsBreak and Shondaland. There was one attendee who had sailed on Celebrity prior to our sailing, but all other attendees were new to brand, but had sailed several other cruise lines. The overwhelming feedback from our guests was the positive aspects of the relative quaintness of the ship size, the personal, genuine hospitality and the way the crew went out of their way to make guests happy.
As an example, one of our journalist’s celebrated her birthday on the ship and the crew not only decorated her stateroom (inside and out), but they created from scratch a mermaid themed cake, the writer’s favorite Disney character. We all came away as friends who created special memories together, that they then passed onto their readers.
Press:
