Summary
Carnival Cruise lines with 11 “Fun Ships” including the famous Carnival Destination Cruise has obtained the place of being the largest cruise company in the world. It has changed the perspectives of people about cruise travelling, from just work and business related travel to enjoyment and adventure. It was started in 1972 by Ted Arison, with the mission to provide a luxurious cruise experience to the passengers (O’Rourke & Gupta, 2011).
The rapid fame and growth business was majorly due to its marketing strategies and innovative approach used. It focuses on youngsters and fun loving people, which has resulted in a phenomenal increase in the number of Carnival Cruise passengers. Although, the growing number of passengers has augmented the market share and revenue of the Carnival Cruise, it has also been a reason of great challenges for the cruise, which has to be catered, in order to avoid losing the interest of passengers in cruise (O’Rourke & Gupta, 2011).
Critical Issues
Technological Issue
This is the most critical issue for the Carnival Cruise as the growing usage of technology has bought new challenges for the company. On cruise journey, people have started bringing their laptops and phones through which they wish to stay connected to the world at all times. As a result, the cruise has to expand its communication and the Internet facility on the cruise to satisfy needs of its customers (CISCO, 2010).
Competition
Carnival Cruise is not the only cruise in the industry that provides fun and luxurious experience and other companies are also competing to gain market share. Therefore, being at the top in the industry, Carnival Cruise has to look for improved marketing strategies and investment plans in order to maintain trust and interest of its passengers (Bazerman, 2011).
Expense of Travel
The company will certainly be facing the dilemma of increased costs of travelling by cruise. This could result in a decline of potential customers. The expense issue can result in conditions against company’s expectations, which may cause high level loss to the company (O’Rourke & Gupta, 2011).
Recommendations
Horizontal Integration
Horizontal Integration can provide a solution to many problems of the company. Merging the company with a similar brand will help it to get more customers and gain better position in the market. The integration requires high level managerial skills and decision making authority; hence, it needs to be done by owners of the Carnival Cruise after evaluating which company they should merge. Seeing the market competition, the company should take this step within two years before other companies take over its position in the market (Hill & Jones, 2008).
Starting new routes
The company can start new routes for cruise journeys to provide passengers with a fresh experience and motivate more customers. This requires the management and technical staff to coordinate in order to highlight and deal with legal policies and cost issues. It should do it by next summer as it will be vacations time and more people will be looking for cruise sail (Bazerman, 2011).
Communication Plan
To communicate company’s new plans and solutions to its stakeholders, it can start commercial advertising through television and social media to reach more people in shorter time. It can tell benefits of these solutions to its employees and passengers by printing posters and placards, and distributing them to all concerned people (Bazerman, 2011).
Reference List
Bazerman, M. (2011). Management Education for Integrity: Ethically Educating Tomorrow’s Business Leaders. Bngley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
CISCO. (2010). Cruise Line Simplifies Collaboration, Improves Guest Experience. Cisco Public Information.
Hill, C., & Jones, G. (2008). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. Virginia: Cengage Learning.
O’Rourke, J., & Gupta, J. (2011). Management Communication: A Case-Analysis Approach. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley.