Pause/Proceed with Caution
Stability should be the most important concern right now. The recent acquisition of Princess Cruises fulfills an area of tremendous growth for Carnival. Also with the economic conditions around the world impacting disposable income of travel consumers, it may best for Carnival to focus on the following:
* Continue working internally to improve their current ships and activities, but hold off on contracting
to build more ships.
* Incorporate Princess Cruises into the overall strategies, policies and procedures of Carnival.
* With the instant growth Carnival has obtained with the purchase of Princess Cruises, focus on
realigning current ships and markets and taking advantage of opportunities of the various markets.
* Focus on finances to make sure spending is relevant to the current objective of stability and in
areas of needs rather the wants.
* Continue to reach past and potential clients via marking and advertising. Use of personalized
Customer Relationship Management practices should be part of marketing plan.
* Create exciting promotional programs to entice people to spend their vacation dollars cruising
rather than on land �based vacations.
* Create a defense plan in case Royal Caribbean decides to challenge Carnival.
* Capitalize on the large Spanish speaking population by providing cruises dedicated to specific
cultures and nationalities.
While the Pause strategy will be used in the acquisition strategy, Carnival should continue to proceed with initiatives that improve current operation and address future needs and desires of their customers. Their future objectives should focus on retaining new customers and developing new niches so that they are the �firsts� to the marketplace with new product programs and services. This will allow them to maintain a leadership position.