Going Upstream – Seabourn Cruise’s Seabourn Refined added value program – Brief Article
Mike Beirne
Seabourn Spawns Ultra-Luxury Brand
At a time when high-end cruise lines are leaning on discounts to grab upscale passengers, Seabourn Cruise is bucking the trend with Seabourn Refined, an onboard program designed to differentiate the Carnival brand as the preferred ultra-luxury player.
The launch follows the reorganization of Carnival’s Cunard Line, which split the Cunard and Seabourn brands into two units with their own management and marketing teams. Both companies will share a sales force.
Rick Meadows, formerly the parent company’s vp-marketing, became Seabourn’s vp-sales and marketing. Edie Bornstein was named vp-business development with responsibility for creating marketing partnerships compatible with both brands.
Seabourn Refined is dubbed a refinement and enhancement program. It features open bars on all six ships, complimentary mini-massages on deck and exclusive shore experiences at ports of call, including private tours of Venice’s Guggenheim Museum and a torch light cocktail party after visitor hours at the ancient Turkish city of Ephesus.
Designer robes, towels woven from fine Egyptian cotton and new in-suite toiletries will be introduced to join amenities like Hadeland crystal and Taste-Sam-bonet silver service.
The Seabourn strategy twist: It presents consumers with added value for a top-tier product, rather than relying on price cuts to attract business, said Meadows. Recruiting brands that can meld that cachet into marketing partnerships will be part of the plan.
The strategy reflects the belief that luxury cruise lines like Cunard, which target empty-nest baby boomers with discretionary income, would be safe during an economic slowdown because those boomers are unlikely to change their travel plans.
Seabourn will launch direct mail and tap past cruisers in the Seabourn Club, eventually rolling trade and consumer print ads to tout Refined’s new features. The brand, which shares Tinsley Advertising, Miami, with Cunard, is not currently seeking its own agency.
Exuding the formal British essence of a high seas voyage, Cunard will continue with its “Advancing Civilization Since 1840” campaign as it prepares to float the Queen Mary 2 in 2003.
QM2 will be the world’s largest liner at 150,000 tons but not the most populated, carrying 2,620 passengers–about 1,000 fewer guests than megaships like Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas. The design will yield a generous space ratio from 195square-foot cabins to three-deck high staterooms with domed ceilings that can be leased for longer periods.
As all cruising segments that have added capacity, the luxury arena has seen more ships from Radisson Seven Seas and Silversea cruises designed to appeal to well-heeled passengers.
Even lower-priced premium brands like Princess or Renaissance are siphoning upscale passengers with upper level suites or itineraries that rival the luxury liners.
“In an economy like this, you’re going to see a lot of that happening,” said Todd Putman, Princess’ vp-marketing.
COPYRIGHT 2001 BPI Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group
