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Carnival Cruises
seaworthy?
May 9, 2005
A cruise on Carnival promises to be fun, fun, fun, and furthermore, fun. But does that promise carry over to the website?
Carnival Corporation manages a portfolio of cruise brands such as Aida, Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Swan Hellenic, and Windstar Cruises.
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In its own words, the sub brand Carnival Cruise Lines prides itself on being "The World's Most Popular Cruise Vacation." A visit to the website of this flagship brand reveals a clean, plain white home page ornamented with generic pictures and a stylistic blue wave. Although the tagline is "The Fun Ships," there is little on this website to connote such a positioning. Instead, the overall impression is closer to the image of travel agent.
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If Carnival's mass market positioning is not subtle, it is efficient. Most of the pictures involve fitness, relaxation and service. Besides emphasizing the word "Fun"—as in Cruising Fun, Getting Fit Has Never Been So Much Fun! or 7 Days of Sun Fun and Slots!—Carnival emphasizes prices and deals. On the left hand side is a bright red "Quick Pricing" tool, which would be considered pretty nifty if it weren't necessary to "Sign-In/Register" to use it. Yes, your email address and phone number are required information if you want an answer to your question. Expedia or Travelocity are more user-friendly to the spam adverse.
On the bright side, foreign visitors can access international pages in many different European languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German and Dutch.
The navigation menu answers all the right questions from the user's perspective: Find a Cruise, Fun Ships (again), Destinations, Onboard Experience, Shore Excursions, etc. The Onboard Experience is centered around meals and food, as well as traditional Vegas-style activities: casino, spa, entertainment. The kids are also addressed to assure the viewer that they will be taken care of: "Every ‘Fun Ship’ has programs and activities for different
age groups."
We may regret that Carnival is too much about price and not enough about emotion. If Carnival's branding is not raising Oohs and Ahhs, it is however on target. And that, after all, is a form of good branding. The cruiser may not fall deeply in love at this communication point, but he will likely not be turned off from experiencing more.
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*Due to the constantly changing environment of websites, some reviews may no longer reflect the current website for this brand.
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Nov 21, 2005
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Peugeot - pedestrian
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Peugeot.com causes us to wonder what drives automotive brands to be so mediocre.
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Nov 14, 2005
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Kodak - well developed
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Kodak.com focuses on the online market with new innovations for an old brand.
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Nov 7, 2005
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The Gap - no browsing
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The Gap launches a new site after a publicly painful build. We gleefully search for flaws.
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Oct 17, 2005
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All Blacks - solid
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The focus and precision of New Zealand’s All Blacks brand is carried from the pitch to the Internet.
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Sep 5, 2005
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Petsmart - needs fixing
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Petsmart scores high in the pet supply battle but it doesn’t exactly win our hearts.
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Jul 25, 2005
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CIA - exposed
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The CIA tries to protect identities from being revealed… apparently this includes its own.
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Jul 18, 2005
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Fortis - unaccountable
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Financial institution Fortis lacks strength in its online corporate identity.
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Jun 20, 2005
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Philips - unfulfilled
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Philips.com makes a good connection with the customer but loses the deal when it comes time to purchase online.
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May 30, 2005
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Hasselblad - focused
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Hasselblad may have conquered the moon, but how’s it doing on the web?
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May 23, 2005
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TUI - escapes
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How does the world leader in tourism navigate the web?
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May 16, 2005
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Parker - scripted
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Parker: An old classic makes its mark in the online medium.
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Apr 11, 2005
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J Records - beat
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J Records may have the hottest new artists, but what it really needs is a good webmaster.
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