Wave season seems to start earlier and earlier these days. I always have my eye on the cruise sector particularly at this time of year. First, the Black Friday deals are released and then the wave offers come soon after.
Inevitably, some cruise lines worry about customers not shopping in January so they then behave like a drunk employee at a free Christmas bar and order another drink. Or in this case, put out another offer. One more deal here, another juicy discount there.
Before you know it, the brand is stuck in a world of, what I call, "promo dependency". This is when brand value, brand equity and margins all go south and quickly the sparkly lights of a Christmas party are replaced by a rainy wintery day when the promo ends and demand stops.
Before I continue I must point out I absolutely loved my 14 years working in the cruise sector. Therefore I am certainly not an innocent bystander in all this.
I’ve been part of cruise teams that design these enticing offers. With the benefit of hindsight, a marketing MBA under my belt and brand consultant and marketing professor Mark Ritson in my ear, promo dependency is not the way to showcase a brand's true value long term.
Looking at the wave offers out in the market right now, the deals are big. In some cases, the biggest – or even "unmissable".
Add in the distribution partners who do an excellent job of distilling these offers, promoting them to customers and earning on them as well via commissions or incentives, the real margin erosion for cruise lines is quite stark.
But amid the bright flashing neon there is hope. Commercial and marketing teams who work in tandem to produce quality brand messaging, can create better brand connections.
Take Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' “It’s a feeling bottled just for you!” tagline, supported by a clean and simple offer that in my view is not overly generous. This, I feel, is a great example of something born from market orientation and a formal marketing process, not a tactic-led, panic-fuelled, last-minute wave planning meeting.
Choosing what to discount
Of the larger lines, Royal Caribbean has clearly put some thought into what it wants to discount (“Dash for Deals”) and what it doesn't, while trying to balance it with messages around its ships Legend of Seas, Icon of the Seas and Wonder of the Seas, as “newest, boldest and best”. It's a clever move from Royal to protect its brand equity.
They're making it clear what they don't want to discount while also dipping their toe in the sea of wave offers that we've all become accustomed to at this time of year.
In the river space, Uniworld is also being clever, leveraging the brand's 50th anniversary as a reason for a promotion, but like Royal is not going too deep. Amadeus River Cruises is also being smart, focusing on choice in 2026 with zero mention of a promo.
Being clear on what you don’t want to discount or promote is more important than what you do want to do.
Deep discounts aside though, cruise remains incredible value for all market segments. The rising numbers of cruise passengers, and overall awareness in the market, means demand will more often than not be there, and for such a brilliant sector of our industry that is the best Christmas present of all.
