Carnival Cruise Line Marketing Strategy: A Hospitality Project

This project provides a comprehensive marketing plan for Carnival Cruise Line, a major player in the global cruise industry. It includes a background of the company, its mission, and an environmental analysis considering political, economic, social, and technological factors. The project features a trend analysis, SWOT analysis, segmentation, target market identification, and positioning strategy. It also analyzes competitors like Royal Caribbean Cruise and examines current marketing activities during high and low seasons. The marketing mix is evaluated, and recommendations are made for enhancing marketing services, focusing on place strategy, sales promotions, digital marketing, and pricing strategies to improve competitiveness. The project concludes with an evaluation of the current marketing activities, highlighting both pros and cons, and suggests improvements for a more effective marketing approach.

Running Head: Hospitality and Casino Marketing 0
Hospitality and Casino Marketing
(Student Name)
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background of Carnival Cruise Line...........................................................................................2
Mission.........................................................................................................................................2
Environmental Analysis...................................................................................................................2
Trend Analysis.............................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................3
Segmentation................................................................................................................................4
Target Market...............................................................................................................................4
Positioning...................................................................................................................................4
Competitors Analysis...................................................................................................................4
Analysis of Current Marketing Activities........................................................................................4
High and Low Seasons.................................................................................................................4
Current high season marketing activities.....................................................................................4
Current Low season marketing activities.....................................................................................5
Marketing Mix.............................................................................................................................5

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Pros and Cons...............................................................................................................................5
Differences...................................................................................................................................6
Marketing Strategy Formulation & Evaluation...............................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The marketing has a broader concept which includes the way the company can enhance its
performance to compete in the competitive market (Kotler, P., & Armstrong 2015). Carnival is
one of the world most popular cruise line with 22 fun ships that are operating voyages that are
ranging from three to 16 days in )the length. It is one of the leading companies that have created
great revenue from the international market. The three main features of Carnival Cruise Line are:
 The company is globally well known and it is considered as one of the main holiday
businesses in the global market.
 They offer a wide range of products as well as services to their guests.
 Carnival pride the aforementioned on bringing fun, unforgettable vacations to the visitors
by proposing a wide range of quality cruise with remaining value for the money (Park,
Ok & Chae, 2016).
Background of Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Cruise line is one of the largest global cruise as well as holiday companies in the global
market. They primarily manage and operate in North America, Germany, Spain, Australia, the
UK as well as New Zealand. The company offers a wide range of products with exceptional
vacation experiences outstanding values. Carnival Cruise line functions a fleet of 100 ships with
another seven ships that are shipped with approximately 2 lakh guests as well as 77000
shipboard employees, there are more than 277000 individuals that are sailing aboard CCL fleet at
any given time (Li & Kwortnik, 2017).

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Mission
The main missions of the company are:
 To target maximum consumers in the global market
 Competing their competitors in an effective manner.
 Sustaining a leadership position in such industry as a market-oriented company in the
cruise as well as vacation industry
Environmental Analysis
Political and Legal Factor
 Augmented protocols that are issued by the Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Health as
well as Federal Maritime Commission affect the management of the company as they
will be disturb and act accordingly
 Periodic political tensions that occur in cruise areas that cause cruise competition to
intensify in safe waters (Lallani, 2017).
Economical Factor
 The government has increased its spending on infrastructure as well as the creation of job
and there is also a great opportunity for private sector investment
 The recession in the year 2009 adversely affects the economy of the country that affected
the overall sale of the company drastically.
Social Factor

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 A number of tourist visits such a place that influences the sale of the company in an
effective manner.
 Changing the trend of consumers as most of the consumers have a great focus on health,
the arrangement of the spa, more diversity in dining as well as other selling points (Dale,
Robinson, Fallon, Cameron & Crotts, 2016).
Technological Factor
 Most of the population are diverted towards the internet
 Role of the travel agent changed
 The number of online booking is increasing and increasing more every year that increase
the opportunity of the company to target their consumers in a more effective manner
(Chen et al., 2018).
Trend Analysis
It has been analyzed that the number of visitors is increasing day by day in the recent years that
represent that the people visit the country to enjoy their weekend therefore, the company can able
to target those consumers in an effective manner. It represents that in recent years the demand for
the cruise increase that affects the overall sales of the company in a more effective and efficient
manner.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
 It is considered as the largest cruise operator in the world

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 Carnival is one of the most profitable companies in such an industry
 Able to purchase the fuel at the time of lowering the price
 Carnival has the power of negotiating with vendors, ports as well as political
Weaknesses
 Devaluation of Currency
 Revenues are dropping
 Long term debt on new ship construction
 The company generate major revenue in North America that represent that the economy
can affect the company
Opportunities
 There is still the market share in the vacating the market
 The United States is the untapped market
 The superior vessels are being made that can able to bring more individuals at a time
Threats
 The loopholes of US tax may be expiring
 Accidents on the ships
 Security of the ships from pirates
 Cap and Trade (Piniella, Alcaide & Rodríguez-Díaz, 2017)

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Segmentation
The consumers want high-quality services with full facilities available on the cruise that made
them comfortable and relaxed. They would able to enjoy their weekend calmly.
Target Market
Therefore the company will target families, couple, singles, honeymooners, fun-lovers as well as
travelers with the age between 25-54 that are interested in a fun as well as the affordable cruise.
Positioning
Carnival Cruise Line offers family fun vacations that involve entertainment, leisure, food as well
as examination all in the unique home or any age. The business wants the target audience to view
the Carnival Cruise Line is a reasonable way to make the dream holiday of the consumers to
become a reality.
Competitors Analysis
The main competitor for the company is Royal Caribbean Cruise that command nearly 23%
market share from the global market. The other notable competitors are Norwegian Cruises,
Mediterranean Shipping Company, as well as Star Cruise Line. The performance of Royal
Caribbean Cruise is better than Carnival Cruise Line. They provide a variety of services at a
reasonable price that made them competitive in the market. Carnival Cruise Competitors offers
limited packages as a comparison to the Royal Caribbean Cruise (Karlis & Polemis, 2018).
Analysis of Current Marketing Activities

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High and Low Seasons
The peak season for the cruise company is November to April and due to the main festival occur
during such season such as Christmas and peoples majorly planned weakened in such season
Moreover, The newly married couple also maximum visit at such place during such period and
the low season of such business arises between the month of May to October in which most of
the individuals are engaged in their work and have regular routine.
Current high season marketing activities
In the peak season, the company offers the first consumer’s devotion program in the form of
guest credit card. Moreover, the company arranges campaign in their cruise such as “Carnival is
breaking Record” that project the awareness of the fun vacation image that the carnival wants to
project. The company uses social media for marketing their products that attract maximum
consumers towards their company in an effective and efficient manner. Other than the social
media they have advertised their products in the newspaper to spread awareness of the services
that they will provide in their cruise during such season.
Current Low season marketing activities
In the low season, the company attracts their consumers by offering different discounts to their
consumers. Moreover, different services are also providing in the lean season of the company to
cover the actual cost that occurs in the business. In such a period the company majorly focuses
on their marketing strategies to attract maximum consumers in such season that made them
competitive in the market (Esteve-Perez & Garcia-Sanchez, 2017).

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Marketing Mix
Yes, they use all the 7 Ps of the marketing which includes product, price, place, promotion,
People, Process and Physical evidence.
 Product: The Company offer a variety of services as well as products to their consumers.
 Price: different prices are offered by the company according to the season in their cruise
 Place: the company uses the sources of the Internet. Carnival uses main website platform
to communicate with its target market that informs their guest, clients and travels
professional about the updates of the company.
 Promotion: They promote their product through social media and other traditional
sources.
 People: the target consumers of the company are a fun loving, old, young people,
honeymooner and so on for their product and services
 Process: the company will provide booking service from online and offline sources that
made easy for the consumers to book the tickets.
 Physical Evidence: they have more than 20 cruises that can cover a huge number of
individuals at a particular period of time (Ramoa, Flores & Stecker, 2018).
Pros and Cons
The current marketing activities of the company have pros and cons as they are explained in the
below points:
Pros
It attracts consumers in an effective manner.

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It helps in maintaining the brand image of the company
Create a healthy relationship with travel agents
Cons
Do not able to compete their competitors in the market
Do not able to cover a wide range of consumers while marketing their product
The marketing strategies of the company are not clear
Differences
There is little difference between the marketing activities that the company has adopted and the
things that we have learned. The marketing strategies have a wider concept that can be used in an
effective manner. The company is offering limited services to their consumers as well as uses the
limited platform to target their consumers that made limited consumers get attracted towards the
products. There are various ways that the company can target their consumers such as offering
attractive discounts in peak season and so on.
Marketing Strategy Formulation & Evaluation
 The company can enhance their marketing services by offering attractive services other
than they are currently offering that would help the company to be more competitive in
the market in an effective and efficient manner. They can create seasonal theme cruise
vacation such as Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine.

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 The company can focus on the place strategy. They should cover maximum travel agents
and increase their commission for selling their tickets due to the reason they are the main
sources of connecting consumers with the company (Ryan, 2016).
 Promotion plays a vital role in attracting consumers. For communicating with the
consumers, the company can adopt a sales promotion method in which they can offer
discounts coupons to their consumers that attract new consumers towards the product in
an effective manner. Moreover. The company can use digital marketing as most of the
individuals are available on the internet that helps the company to spread awareness for
their product at the maximum level. By adopting such method, the company can gain the
free promotion of word-of-mouth as the consumers will share their experience through
pictures and other ways that can attract other consumers as well (Lovelock & Patterson,
2015).
 The company can adopt Bundle pricing method in which they can set a low amount for
couple or family and high rates for a single person. It creates a great impact on the
consumers as the consumers will come with their family and friends rather than come
alone that will enhance the word of mouth publicity of the company and create a great
competitive advantage to such company in an effective manner. They can also adopt a
competitive pricing strategy in which they need to set low price than their competitors to
compete them in a more effective manner
 Other than the targeted consumers that have been set by the company, they can also
arrange theme party for youth or children, or old couple to cover the categories that have
not been still covered by them. It will give the company a new platform to target a
maximum range of consumers in a more effective and efficient manner.