Carnival Mirical in Liverpool

Carnival Miracle Arriving in the Historic port of  Liverpool on the 25th June 2025 at around 7:50am.

Click on the Above Image to Watch YouTube

Name	Carnival Miracle
Owner	Carnival Corporation & plc
Operator	Carnival Cruise Line
Port of registry	Panama City,  Panama
Builder	Kvaerner Masa-Yards Helsinki New Shipyard Helsinki, Finland
Cost	US $375 million
Yard number	503
Launched	June 5, 2003
Sponsored by	Jessica Lynch
Christened	February 27, 2004
Completed	2004
Maiden voyage	February 27, 2004 (Bahamas)
In service	2004–present
Homeport	Long Beach, CA
Identification	Call sign: H3VS IMO number: 9237357 MMSI number: 354277000
Status	In active service
Notes	[1]
General characteristics
Class & type	Spirit-class cruise ship
Tonnage	88,500 GT
Length	963 ft (294 m)
Beam	105.7 ft (32.2 m)
Draft	25.5 ft (7.8 m)
Decks	12 decks
Installed power	Six diesel engines 62,370 kW (combined)
Propulsion	Two ABB Azipods (17.6 MW each)
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity	2,124 passengers
Crew	930

MSC Orchestra - Ship Tour

MSC Orchestra video

Click the Image above to view the Video, Thank You

WATCH: Carnival's New Marketing Video Best of Recent Cruise Line Commercials

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line released a new marketing video on its YouTube page today, breaking down what a vacation onboard its ships is all about, and it does so in a refreshingly down-to-earth way, particularly compared to the recent commercials released by competing cruise companies.

Carnival’s spot, embedded below, is relaxed, emphasizing its playful philosophy and history of delivering on its promise of “fun for all” and “all for fun.” It presents a welcome antidote to our lives that are often “too fast” and just “too much.” It even takes a note from the McDonald’s playbook, sharing that it has provided joy for 60 million guests and counting, but the commercial is anything but fast food-like in its approach.

In fact, the video is slow-paced and focused on friends and family. After all, Carnival was indeed started by Ted Arison and passed down to his son Micky Arison. They believe that all people, not just the well-off, have a right to fun, and to have as much of it while on earth, and the commercial perfectly says Carnival is exactly where they can find it.

Comparatively, Royal Caribbean International’s latest commercials are much shorter for television and cram as much in as possible. They speak to a millennial crowd, of which I am included, and they mostly succeed, even though the song in the one below is rather headache-inducing. This variety grabs your attention but sustains on a different level and definitely speaks less to relaxation.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s one below comes somewhere in between with a Pitbull soundtrack that leaves more room to breathe in between the beats. The lifestyle presented is certainly youth-friendly without forgetting older generations and both demographics’ need for some negative space in a vacation as well. The “Feel Free” tagline is a good fit for the brand and for a broad target audience.

Focus on Social Media:

Focus on Social Media:Missing the big picture

By Jamie Biesiada

Although travel is among the most visual of products, a surprisingly small number of agents are engaging with social media platforms built for photos and videos.

Facebook has become a place where many travel agents have successfully built a personal brand through posting photos of their travels and in many cases themselves. It has turned into a lead generator, often creating business or sparking a desire to travel in a past client, thanks to a well-placed destination photo or video.

But while their Facebook presence has grown, agents have largely been underutilizing other social media platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube, which because of their inherently visual nature lend themselves to travel products and could be powerful lead-generation tools.

Earlier this year, the travel search website Hipmunk released a study touching upon where millennials get their travel ideas. The data shows the potential of social media platforms other than Facebook: The study found that 44% of millennials get their travel inspiration from YouTube videos, 28% from Instagram.

"Overall, social media within the marketing media landscaping has officially arrived as a major opportunity for our industry for a few reasons," said Sam McCully, vice president of marketing at Avoya Travel.

Moreover, McCully said that potential opportunities are not limited to millennials, as more and more travelers in a wide range of ages are taking to social media throughout their entire vacation process, from the planning stage right through their return home.

"Is there an untapped opportunity?" McCully said. "I would say absolutely."

Avoiding common social media mistakes

By Carrie Finley-Bajak

 

Are common mistakes keeping you from social media marketing success? While word-of-mouth and email marketing are effective ways to reach your target audience, most travel agents agree that social media can also yield results. 

When it comes to attracting attention on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr or LinkedIn, competition is fierce. Avoiding common mistakes can result in more brand exposure and leads. 

Here are some social media mistakes to avoid, plus a few quick-fix tips:

1) Irrelevant or cumbersome user names and handles. It might seem fundamental, but social media user names, handles and personal URLs need to be user-friendly. Make sure the name reflects branding, is easy to read and is short.

Even expert social media users have challenges with handles. For example, Jean Newman Glock, consultant at JNG Worldwide and Signature Travel Network, admits that one of her biggest social media mistakes was creating a long Twitter handle. Jean learned the hard way about the importance of choosing handles carefully. 

"My first and ongoing mistake is obvious: creating a user name with too many characters," said Jean, whose Twitter handle is @JeanNewmanGlock. "What was I thinking? I only figured this out after setting up the same name across all social media platforms." 

Although Jean has done a good job branding herself online, she said long user names can pose a character-limit problem, especially for people who want to repost her Twitter updates. 

Tips:

• Before selecting a investigate character limitations across all social media channels.
• Pick short social media user names and handles to make it easy for customers to mention your brand.
• Be willing to change your user name if necessary. Facebook page administrators can change their page's user name once. To learn how to customize the Web address for your profile or your page, visit www.facebook.com/username.

2) Posting about topics not related to your business. Unlike using social media for personal accounts, travel agents need to stay disciplined to comment on, share or post only content that is relevant to their business. Posting actionable content that is relevant to your audience is an art. The best way to make sure you are on target is to rely on social listening to determine what your customers want while staying true to your brand.

Your social media goal should be to maintain a steady stream of posts that reflect your branding, as President Obama has done.

A common mistake that dilutes brand messaging is posting updates that are not related to your business. Jean mentioned that when she started on Twitter and Instagram she "shared everything, on any topic." But the expertise she has to share is about travel, not politics, etc. Jean now "keeps a laser focus on travel and tourism with a few family, personal shares to keep it grounded."

Tips:

• Your goal should be to post regular social media updates to help keep you top of mind. Maintain a steady stream of travel-related posts that reflect your branding. Mix up your messaging with a combination of text, images, infographics and videos.
• Try combining a quote with an image to generate visually appealing graphics. UsePicMonkey for a quick way to generate shareable graphics.
• Utilize Facebook's Milestone feature to celebrate events. To add a Milestone to your Facebook page, click Offer, Event + at the top of your page's Timeline.
• Expand your technology toolkit and experiment with Haiku Deck, a presentation program that offers access to free images that can be used to tell your brand's story in a unique way.

3) Failing to use marketing materials provided by suppliers. Travel agents who do not take advantage of marketing materials available to them from suppliers, tourism boards and public relations firms are making a big mistake. 

Let's face it, unless you have marketing budgets for large ad buys to reach your target audience, social media updates will have to be delivered manually. On Facebook, that means attempting to get engagement from your friends while fighting for coveted newsfeed positioning. 

Tips:

• In order to save time recreating marketing messages, use supplier content. Use existing marketing materials from suppliers to help showcase expertise. Use images and text from collateral materials to entice your prospects and leads. Most suppliers have large repositories of marketing materials available for agents to use for promotion.
• Ask your sales reps to show you where you can find the supplier's press/media assets online. Don't be shy about sharing posts from your preferred providers on social media; just add your own take to personalize messaging.
• Use Twitter lists and Facebook Interests for quick access to information posted by your favorite suppliers. Most likely new offers, products, services, and news will be streamed on their social media accounts, which you can repurpose.

4) Failing to use social media monitoring and management tools. Insights from data can positively impact your business by helping you create content strategies that will deliver your message to the right people. Active monitoring of social media channels by using tracking programs can help you streamline efforts while saving valuable time and resources. 

The following free programs are worth exploring to gain insight and to fine tune your strategy:

• Facebook administrators can access the Facebook Insights dashboard to review analytics data to track growth and to learn about what resonates with followers.
• Check out Twitalyzer to access metrics for Twitter accounts.
• Use PeerIndex to help determine online authority and brand advocates.
• Manage, collaborate and monitor multiple social media channels with Hootsuite.

5) Failing to put the social in social media. If social media streams are not capturing the audience's attention, make sure you are not just broadcasting information about deals. Over broadcasting links to deals and offers is one sure way to get unfollowed or cited as a spammer. Instead, build relationships with your audience and provide value to ongoing conversations. Put the social into social media and watch engagement levels rise. 

Remember to follow up on leads. Keep in mind too, that some people might be watching, reading, listening or interested in what you have to say online but prefer to call you instead. 

Tips:

• The way to get people to engage is to ask open-ended questions and feel free to like, share or leave comments for strengthening relationships with your existing fan base.
• Poll your clients on Facebook to see what is important to them. Get the input from the community to determine what interests the group, and then create a content strategy from the results.
• Use analytics to determine where engagement spikes occur, and craft social media posts around pertinent topics. Make an content calendar to keep track of seasonal topics that are relevant to your fans and followers.
• Use Topsy to search and analyze your competition to see what type of content is getting the most play; then use this data to craft your own personalized posts.
• Go back to the basics. Create new ways to present popular topics such as travel tips, packing lists and expertise about your travel niche.
• Using screencasting software, make videos that explain a hotel, destination, cruise ship, port or unique experience.

Social media marketing can have a positive effect on your business. When executing your strategy, make sure to avoid common mistakes to take your business to the next level.

A new era for social media

By Carrie Finley-Bajak

Embracing technology and incorporating best practices can mean the difference between extinction and relevancy on the social Web, because the ability to connect and influence people via social media is part of a 21st century travel agent's marketing playbook.  

Agents who invest the time now to prepare for the next evolution of social marketing can get ahead of the competition as we move toward the new era being dubbed Web 3.0.

In order to use social media to become a trusted resource for clients and prospects, travel agents need to make sure their digital footprints are in order. For example, are your social media accounts current? Are posts up to date? Do posts reflect your travel niche, personality and expertise? Are you sharing travel experiences? 

While generating leads, nurturing relationships and providing customer service are worthwhile goals for using social media, travel agents who focus on improving their existing digital footprints will be in a good position to adapt. 

The first order of business is to evaluate the status of your social network.  Understanding the life cycle of a social network is important, because one's digital footprint needs to be adaptive to remain relevant. Messaging and outcomes are different depending on the status of one's network. 

For example, agents who have an established social network will focus on gaining more social shares and page views. However, for those who do not have an audience, the goal is to get likes, fans and followers.

A social network will fall under one of the following three phases: 

Growth phase 

The focus here is on gaining followers, fans or subscribers to your online accounts (website or social media interactions). Agents who are just getting started on social media need to focus on growing their audience share: Have you done everything possible to identify where your existing clients and prospects spend their time online? Do you have links to your social media accounts incorporated into email, direct-mail pieces and on your website? Have you tracked traffic via Google Analytics or other tool to determine which social channel is driving traffic to your website, landing pages or unique call to action?

Nurturing phase

This stage is marked by spending time engaging with your existing audience. As the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind." Agents who maintain a steady line of communication will see the best results in terms of engagement, social shares and an increase in page views. Don't expect to see results in social media marketing if you are not spending time nurturing relationships with the people who like and trust your brand online.

Maturation phase

This phase is indicated by a decline in new audience members and dwindling engagement. Agents can deploy a variety of techniques to reignite a stagnant network: enlisting the help of suppliers who can inspire you with new product developments or increasing interaction with influencers or brand advocates who can breathe new life into mature social media networks. 

Working smarter, not harder

One comment I hear a lot from agents is that there is not enough time to accomplish social media goals while trying to run one's business. I totally agree, and I'd encourage those agents who feel they could use more support to pressure suppliers and associations for assistance.

Sales reps and travel organizations can help time-starved agents generate fresh content about products, places, experiences and promotions. Though there are many tools available to help you learn about products, there is a shortage of support to help you thrive on social media, such as a weekly summary of suggested updates that agents can plug into an auto-posting social media dashboard. More needs to be done. 

Take, for example, the recent contest by Carnival Corp. asking customers to help design a 60-second Super Bowl ad (www.carnivalmarketingchallenge.com) for its nine brands. Participants are asked to vote for the video they like best, and everyone who votes for the winning idea is entered into a drawing for the ultimate prize: free cruises for life on Princess Cruises, Holland America Line or Carnival. 

In the world of digital marketing, this concept is called crowdsourcing, and it is very effective in getting people to talk about a brand or product. 

Agents who specialize in cruise sales could piggyback on the contest. By tapping the marketing power of Carnival Corp., agents could reach new fans and followers.

If you're in cruise sales, did you know about the contest? Did a district sales manager from one of the Carnival brands reach out with some marketing ideas, such as sample social media updates? Maybe now is a good time to start a dialogue with suppliers about ways you can work together, a sort of new co-op advertising opportunity.

Travel associations also have room for improvement where content development is concerned. 

Recently, while working on an assignment for a client, I went to the CLIA website looking for details about certain cruise ships. In many cases, I found outdated information, which indicated that the website had not been updated for some time. 

The point of discussing Carnival Corp.'s Super Bowl ad campaign and CLIA's website is to encourage more travel agents to look for ways to leverage the marketing power behind our product partners. 

Here are a few more ways to curate content from suppliers:

• Share suppliers' videos from YouTube, with a personal message that demonstrates your expertise.
• Create contests for lead generation and to promote sales. Look at current content from suppliers and modify for your audience. Work with your sales reps for appropriate prizes.
• Reward content contributions from within your social network. Ask your sales reps for insight into ways to incentivize (prizes like upgrades or added amenities are great motivators).
• Observe how suppliers are using social media advertising campaigns to reach new customers or promotions and modify accordingly.

UFO sighting on Carnival cruise ship?

When you’re embarking on your cruise voyage, you’ll look forward to delightful meals and drinks, exceptional sightseeing opportunities and the chance to explore new cultures.

What you do not expect to see, however, is a UFO!

Onboard a Carnival cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, passengers reported seeing an object in the sky they could not identify. The sighting immediately sparked discussion, with some claiming that it could have been a military drone, video editing technology or a wide manner of other things.

The object certainly looks unusual and does not have the traditional shape associated with UFOs through the media.

YouTube user ThirdPhaseofMoon uploaded the video, which has proved to be particularly popular online, recording 85,237 views to the current day.

However, the validity of the video has been questioned by some users, with scOtte1 saying: “Sorry, but when the ‘UFO’ entered the clouds you can tell that it was poor editing using the fade out tool.  Completely obvious.”

On the other hand, some people believe the flying object is instead a military carrier.

Whether people are getting carried away over nothing, or there really are aliens visiting Florida, the video has sparked a lot of discussion on YouTube and the cruise community in general.

It is not the first time UFOs have been allegedly spotted in the state, with a report from Mutual UFO Network recently reporting that another fast-moving object was seen in broad daylight on September 15th of this year.

A photo of the flying structure was taken by a witness driving on I-95 southbound near Fort Lauderdale.

Could it be that Fort Lauderdale is a preferred spot for visitors, or are all the claims false?

What do you think? Did the passengers see UFOs and have you seen any yourself?

Being heard above the din of social media

By Tom Stieghorst

Recently while researching an upcoming cruise in Alaska, I came across a blog about a similar cruise that captured my attention. It was written by a Vancouver teenager on a May cruise with her family.
The blog was well written, with lots of personality, and was accompanied by excellent photos, especially of the food served in the main dining room. There were also port profiles and examples of good and bad service.
The blog appeared in the community pages of the website Cruise Critic, and it drew many encouraging responses from guests on upcoming Alaska voyages or those thinking about taking one.
It was an example, as if we needed another one, of how social media has made information about cruising so much more available to customers.
A search for any cruise ship name on YouTube produces a host of user-generated video for potential cruisers to consider. Those actually on a cruise often are posting to their Facebook pages even before they leave the ship.Blogs about cruises are another source of information that sometimes make the first page of a Google search because they have struck a chord and received links and visits.
All of these new sources of information are a double-edged sword for the travel community, including cruise lines, travel agents and the travel media.
On the one hand, they usurp the control that lines, agents and the media used to exert over the depiction of the cruise experience. Now there are sources that passengers can use to bypass those channels of information, diluting the value that the more traditional sources bring to the table.
Agents who once were able to trade on their authority as cruise experts have some competition from the neighbor, the old college friend and especially the anonymous blogger or YouTube poster.
On the other hand, all of these new information channels increase the chatter about cruising and raise the level of interest and excitement that surrounds a cruise vacation.
And blogs and videos can’t take bookings. Only cruise lines or registered travel sellers can do that. So if the extra information leads to extra bookings, travel agents come out ahead because of social media.
The challenge for the travel community is to understand the various new streams of communication available about the cruise experience and to bring professional expertise to areas that amateurs, with all of their enthusiasm and immediacy, still fall short. 

CLIA seeking ‘better connections’ via YouTube channel

By Laura Del Rosso

CLIA unveiled Cruise Industry TV, a YouTube channel with videos aimed at consumers, travel agents and the cruise industry.

The content includes a message from Bob Sharak, CLIA executive vice president, describing CLIA's certification programs and the value of the designations to sharpen knowledge and the ability for agents to promote expertise to customers.

CLIA agents can share consumer-targeted video on the channel to showcase their expertise as CLIA members. One two-minute video aimed at the general public explains the benefits of using a certified agent, likening booking a cruise without a certified agent to undergoing surgery with an unskilled surgeon.

“Videos are a great, easily shareable way for us to explain the many different areas and unique features of the industry,” said David Peiken, a CLIA public affairs spokesman.

“We hope certified travel agents will use Cruise Industry TV to learn about topics ranging from the industry’s certification processes to some of the most popular options for cruisers, which will help create even better connections between the agents and their customers,” he said. “We look forward to the feedback from our incredible base of certified travel agent members to see what they have found most useful and how Cruise Industry TV has allowed them to provide even better service to their customers.”

Other videos offer tips and features to help vacationers book a cruise and an industry section highlights operational practices.

“Cruise Industry TV is the one-stop hub for videos about the industry and its commitments to its passengers, the environment, health and safety, and communities around the world,” Peiken said. “Our goal with Cruise Industry TV is to ensure the latest video content about the industry is easy to find and easy to share, and YouTube is the best platform to do both.”

Cruise Industry TV  is designed to complement CLIA’s other social media, including Duffy’s CEO Blog, Twitter feed and CLIA’s cruise fan Facebook and Twitter pages.

Social media listen plots impact of Costa cruise disaster

by Lee Hayhurst

A social media ‘listen’ conducted exclusively for Travolution by digital marketing specialist Shorthose Russell has suggested the impact of the Costa Concordia tragedy may be less serious than feared.

The results of the test underline the dominance of Tripadvisor-owned Cruise Critic which saw the vast majority of posts and chatter about cruising associated with the sinking of the ship.
Costa Concordia hit rocks off the Italian coast on the evening of January 13 and has since lain stricken on its side. It could be there for up to 10 months as salvage work continues.
To date 17 people have been confirmed dead and 15 are still missing and the ship’s captain has been arrested and is awaiting trial on manslaughter charges.
Shorthose Russell retrospectively conducted the listening exercise over the period January 6 to 27, finding two spikes in activity relating to the ship on the 14th and again on the 27th.
This secondary spike coincided with news of an €11,000 compensation offer to survivors and appears to have been a major topic of interest among dedicated cruisers on Cruise Critic.
Analysis of which forms of online media featured the most chatter revealed microblogging (Twitter) represented the vast majority of posts (3,269).
This initial burst of activity largely consisted of people signposting their followers to news of the disaster as awareness of what had happened became more widespread on the Saturday morning.
Many posts related to people blaming the captain for the accident, Shorthose Russell said.
Interestingly the level of chatter returned to pre-incident levels very quickly before the upturn on January 27, suggesting interest quickly waned despite the 24-hour rolling news coverage.
In terms of influence traditional media outlets, social networking and forums came a lowly second third and fourth behind Twitter while video and photo-sharing sites were, maybe surprisingly given the visual nature of the incident, in a distant sixth.
However, a more detailed analysis of activity on individual sites placed Youtube in second behind Cruise Critic.

Shorthose Russell said that when disasters like the Concordia sinking happen, video content is becoming increasingly important, as was demonstrated last year when right wing gunman Anders Behring Breivik ran amok in the Norwegian capital Oslo, killing 69.
What was thought to have limited the impact of this content in the Concordia incident is the relatively older demographic of cruise customers meaning they are less likely to be equipped to take video; however, some footage has emerged and been widely shared online.
Looking at the sentiment of the online chatter, the Shorthose Russell analysis found just 5.29% was rated ‘negative’, with the vast majority being ‘neutral’ – a reflection of the sort of sentiment included in most tweets about the disaster.
Negative sentiment was skewed by a post on Huffington Post about the Concordia sinking that prompted a heated row between Italian and German posters.
Positive sentiment was limited (just 0.16), but largely consisted of posting heartfelt message of support and condolence.
The exercise also looked at what was being said more generically about cruise holidays.
Here a similar pattern of volumes of mentions was found, except the secondary spike on the 27th was far more pronounced.
This was almost entirely down to Cruise Critic and a debate about compensation - clearly a hot topic of debate among experienced cruise customers.
Again, Cruise Critic was far and away the most influential site and similar levels of positive and negative sentiment were recorded, although 90% was rated ‘neutral’.
Peter Joyner, Shorthose Russell head of public relations, said what was notable by its absence was negative sentiment expressed about cruising from outside of the established online cruise community.
Although he said this does not rule out the likelihood that previously held negative views were endorsed by the incident, just that the disaster did not prompt people to express and disseminate them online.
“What we seem to have picked up here is that for those people who don’t cruise the incident hasn’t prompted them to go online and express their fears and negative feelings about cruising.
“Among those who do cruise it has not put them off in the slightest but clearly, as we saw from the increased activity around the compensation issue, how the cruise line reacted to the event appears just as significant as the event itself.”

Shorthose Russell launched Delve last year, the UK’s first social media listening agency which is accredited to use technology developed by US-based Alterian.