Carnival Cruise Lines Case Analysis Essay

From an organizational and profitability standpoint, an efficient, easy to use, and unified CRM system, captures all key and critical data from sales and marketing to commercial operations, all the while focusing on sales process, sales efficiencies, and increasing sales, all contributing to the bottom-line profitability of the organization. Data has proven that CRM platforms increase the productivity and profitability of individual departments and subsidiaries, these same platforms and characteristics will have the same ramifications on a larger scale organization, especially an organization that spans the global footprint, such as

The reason why the company looked into implementing CRM software was because the sales cycle of the company was being adversely affected by integration capabilities and the absence of the latest technology. The management could not take effective and efficient decisions about the company problems with the absence of real time information which could be made available through CRM. The company then decided to implement Microsoft Dynamic 2011 after conducting an evaluation process and the software was implemented

Carnival is among the top financially and profitable leisure travel companies in the world. Carnival’s portfolio has many of the world’s best known cruise brands that are in today’s market. Carnivals mission is to take the world on vacation and deliver exceptional experiences that appeal to a large variety of consumers, all at an outstanding value.

The first true CRM system was not launched until the early 2000s. Technology made it easier to adopt CRM systems, and these systems became a common sight in retail stores. The goal of these systems was to analyze customer data with techniques like pattern recognition and data mining. With this information, management staff members could make informed decisions about business strategics, marketing and purchasing

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Lines are the three leading companies in the cruise industry and are listed in descending order according to their positioning. Carnival is the “largest leisure travel company” in the world and this is why they maintain the strongest position in the cruise line industry with operations of around 101 ships among nine cruise brands across the globe that offers contemporary, premium, and luxury cruise experiences (CCL Annual Report, 2016). Economies of scale are very important in the cruise industry and this is where Carnival exceeds when compared to the competition. By operating the largest fleet in the industry, Carnival is able to keep costs down on a per-passenger basis. The key to their

Carnival Cruise Lines set sail in 1972, and with more than 60,000 passengers sailing on any given week, they are the dominant player in the cruise line industry. Under the ownership of Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines is their most valued brand, alongside 12 other cruise lines such as Princess Cruises and Holland American Lines. With over 75 ships covering Europe and all of the North American market segments, from contemporary to luxury, Carnival Corporation is one of the “World’s Leading Cruise Lines.” From the beginning, Carnival Cruise Lines has lead the industry by focusing on the product design of their ships and by branding themselves as the “Fun Ships”. They built this image by offering a wide assortment of activities and

Shore excursions also provide tours for customers at the ports that also produce a large amount of revenue. It is currently one of the fastest growing areas of tourism. Carnival Corp. has cruise ships located around the world, with very different target consumers as well. The more exotic the location, the higher the cost for the company, which results in a higher price for consumers. Higher end brands appeal to the wealthier consumer and provide them with a more luxurious experience.

Something cruise liners can do to increase their sales to people outside the U.S. is advertising in areas where they will most be seen. Creating advertisements like commercials, billboards, and more can create more opportunities for people outside the U.S. to book a cruise.

The case analysis on the CRM implementation at ICS indicates that there are arrays of problems that are evident in respect to such process of CRM implementation. The problems are evident mainly with respect to the acquisition as well as the implementation process of CRM as carried out within organization. The problem in respect to the acquisition of the CRM software that has been considered across the organization, as the case analysis indicates that the CRM software has been chosen mainly because it has been supplied by the friend of David. This has been the major lacking factor in respect to the acquisition of CRM software at ICS because the acquisition of CRM software should be performed after establishing proper compatibility with the existing IT processes and the CRY systems. The acquisition should be carried out after making a detailed analysis of the compatibility of such systems. But in the given case, the CRM integration is carried out just because it has been supplied by the friend of David, and this is the major loopholes with respect to this acquisition strategy.

Carnival Cruise line has done a tremendous job “staying afloat” during the past recession where vacations and luxury items have suffered. Currently trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at $35.51 per share with a total volume at 6.2 million, this global cruise lines is one of the largest vacation companies in the world. With multiple cruise brands under the Carnival umbrella, Carnival has diversified globally and proven that every culture loves a good cruise vacation. According to the Carnival Cruise Lines Investor Relation website the Carnival Corporation has 12 brands under the Carnival Corporation. They include: Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourne in North America; P&O Cruises and Cunard in the UK, AIDA Cruises in Germany; Costa Cruises in Southern Europe, Iberocruceros in Spain and P&O Cruises in Australia. (Carnival.com)

In general, the cruise industry will continue to search for innovative ways to increase passenger volumes, on-board expenditures and ancillary revenue streams. The keys to the cruise experience appeal include the predictability of travel cost and the ease of the vacation decision. A telephone call to a single entity - and one check - will reserve a vacation, which at a minimum typically includes on-board dining, entertainment, children's programming, accommodations, and airfare to and from points of embarkment. In addition, cruise ships have greatly improved the quality of on-board experiences with more diverse food and beverage venues, entertainment and deck activities, meeting and conference

The main issue of the case is how the Carnival Cruise Line can improve their “Fun Ship” strategy without losing its original meaning. They are having difficulties on how can they innovate some of their facilities aboard the ship and their services to proved to their competitors and the industry that

Another corporation that turned into a learning organization is Carnival Cruise Lines, after the Costa Concordia accident. There are several mistakes that occurred in succession to cause the events to unfold as they did. The captain’s first decision was to get close to the shore of Giglio as a “salute” to the island, something that he had successfully accomplished several times. This would have been another successful salute, but the Costa Concordia was moving too fast for getting so close to shore. While the captain had consulted radar and maps, he seems to have been navigating based on what he could actually observe by looking, which was his second mistake. His third error was something that many people do: he was talking on the phone while driving.

CRM features and benefits -- generated from both customer-facing and operations-streamlining applications -- produce strong cost-value returns that average $8.71 for each dollar invested in development.[2] About 91 percent of companies with 11 or more staff members use CRM systems, and service-oriented B2B eCommerce platforms benefit from CRM systems at proportionately higher rates than do their B2C counterparts.[3] Integrated CRM systems are the fuel that drives user satisfaction, customer loyalty and sales in the B2B market, but between 25 percent and 60 percent of CRM implementations fail according to the previously sourced reference material. That 's probably because the CRM software wasn 't properly integrated with other business systems.

The paper on CRM roadmap introduces ten articles and describes the essence of each of those. The author presents eleven propositions on the known facts and potential pitfalls of CRM and also lists six recommendations [1]