Introducing a new brand and a new ship to Australia’s cruise market was always going to be a big assignment.  And when we dived in two years ago, it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

Think of it as the equivalent of going from being the best known kid in school to the new kid on the block having to make a lot of new friends – and very quickly.

We’ve learnt a lot along the way but, I think we’re there. And Australians can now judge for themselves with Carnival Spirit’s arrival in her new Australian home.

It’s no secret we deliberately set the benchmarks high for Carnival Spirit’s debut in Australia because we wanted Aussie travellers to think of Spirit as ‘their’ ship just as much as it is ours.

So let me walk you through what was involved when we made that historic decision two years ago to sail down under to stay.

With 24 ships, four and a half million guests a year and no fewer than 16 US home ports, Carnival Cruise Lines knows cruising, but could we make a decent ‘flat white’? 

Cruising and Carnival might be synonymous in the US where the majority of our guests are Americans but we had never before based a ship permanently outside the United States.

But we always felt confident about our decision because we knew Carnival and Australia were a great fit. Some

Aussie travellers had already sailed with us and the Aussies rated their Carnival Cruise experience even higher than our American guests.

Knowing that Aussies are so open-minded, social, gregarious, ready to have a go and try something new was a great place to start. 

We could’ve easily sent Carnival Spirit down under just as she was and she would’ve done just fine as the newest and largest ship to be home-ported year-round in Australia. 

But we think big, so we wanted to do much more than just turn up. Doing it right by our Australian guests meant upgrades and modifications to prepare Spirit for her new home. Sure, it was a bigger job than we could have imagined but that just makes the results even more satisfying – and exciting.

The obvious stuff was straightforward. Aussie pokies? Check.  Crazy green waterslide? Check. Shrimp to prawns, entr√©e to main and arugula to rocket? Check, check, check. All the big things were done seamlessly. However, we really had to be alert for things that might seem small to us but were actually very important to make Australians feel right at home. Changing machines and coffee beans became a ‘must do’ not an option after our VP guest operations came to town and tried Aussie coffee.

Then there was refining the great Aussie barbecue. Fancy buns and German sausages are okay but for Australian guests, there’s no substitute for an Aussie beef snag, a slice of white bread and tomato sauce!

We also knew from our Aussies guests who’ve sailed with Carnival before that they actually like a lot of the American things we offer onboard. So we thought very hard about what we should keep in Australia.

US-style entertainment, Mexican food and excellence in service delivery are all key elements of our US product which we very deliberately chose to keep here in Australia.

Then there was the task of launching a new brand. I quickly learned when I say ‘Carnival’ it could be anything from a horse race to a primary school sports day.

Cue the operation to make friends in our new playground while simultaneously educating consumers and our travel agent partners about the Carnival brand and product while filling the ship.  A tall order but we’ve done it with a great deal of help from our travel agent partners.

Let me tell you, getting up to speed while on a steep learning curve is certainly a good way to focus the mind.

Something we discovered early on is that we couldn’t just ‘cut and paste’ what we’ve previously done in the US.

And we couldn’t assume that people here would instinctively know that Carnival Spirit is great for couples and families – not just families – so we fine-tuned that message and ultimately hit on a winning formula that set sales off and running.

Here we are, Carnival Spirit now calls Australia home and her ‘Aussification’ will continue as we learn from our guests and travel partners’ feedback. It can only get better now that Spirit is in her new home.

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