After multiple years of absolutely dismal and arguable
disastrous international consumer PR, the cruise industry may be bouncing back.
Royal Caribbean, for example has raised income expectations for the 2014 fiscal
year by more than $3 per share. Since then, RC’s shares have jumped more than 8
percent, and Ronn Torossian says, from a PR perspective, that news could be
good for the entire industry.
Not too long ago, some very loud voices were foretelling
the imminent demise of the entire cruise industry. Sales were lagging, rooms
were going empty, and ship after ship was meeting with logistical or medical
disaster. But, the industry weathered the PR nightmare and seems to have come
out ahead. There is even talk that the drastically reduced pricing structures
that lured cruisers back onto the boats will begin disappearing by the winter
cruise season and be back to “regular” levels by spring 2015.
Branching out has helped ease the blow of lagging
Caribbean cruise sales, and the industry’s big players, like Royal Caribbean,
are actually seeing respectable gains in Europe and Asia. Because so many of
the cruisers in this market are first-timers, particularly in Asia, both the
pricing and PR approach are different. Cruise lines can offer Asian and
European cruise passengers top rates without having to oversell or apologize
first.
Royal Caribbean doubled down in this trend by announcing
that it would be moving its newest vessel, “Quantum of the Seas,” to Shanghai
in May 2015. The announcement shocked many in the industry, but it served two
valuable Public Relations purposes. First, the move signaled to investors that RC was
interested in expansion, looking ahead instead of looking back. The emerging
economies of Asia are certainly ripe for what have been, until now, typically
western luxuries. And second, the move put attention on new waters and new
opportunities, and off the string of difficulties the cruise industry has faced
in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Proving once again that, it may not be
the most sophisticated PR move, but “hey, look over there!” still works.