‘The Ultimate Ship Tour' - are you ready to join an excirsion?

Due to serious technical problems at the editorial office of ‘Off Radar’ last week we were unable to bring you ‘Off Radar’. I apologise for the inconvenience. ‘Off Radar’ is now back up and running.

One of the most contentious points on a cruise today is the pestering by passengers to visit the bridge and other areas off limits to passengers, such as the engineroom, galley etc. While many cruise lines allow limited passenger access to the bridge, and some upmarket lines with small vessels offer an ‘open’ bridge policy, it’s just not possible on today’s Mega ships to have a continuous procession of passengers traipsing over the bridge, getting in the way of the deck officers and crew going about the operation of the vessel. There are a number of health and safety issues to be considered when passengers visit the bridge, as well as insurance issues, if something goes wrong. This is why it’s almost impossible to visit a ship’s engineroom today. However, Princess Cruises have come up with a novel answer to the continuing requests from passenger to visit the bridge and other ‘off limits’ areas. When its latest ship, Ruby Princess, enters service this November, passengers will have the opportunity to visit what the line calls ‘back of house’ areas that are normally off limits to all but the crew. Passenger will be able to join the three hour ‘The Ultimate Ship Tour’, which takes in not only the bridge but also the engine control room, medical centre, print shop, laundry, photo lab and other areas. The tour will be offered once or twice a cruise on a sea day for a limited number of passengers. Princess Cruises will also be offering this tour on the rest of its fleet. However, there is a catch. If you want to undertake ‘The Ultimate Ship Tour’ it will cost you $110!

Branding is a very important area for cruise lines. However, those involved in branding can get carried away slightly by the importance of it, or lack of importance, to the passengers undertaking a cruise. There’s an awful lot of drivel written about why a cruise line has developed a new brand image or company logo, with the marketing and graphic design departments waxing lyrical about the ‘thinking’ behind the new design. This was brought home to me last week when it was announced that the very successful Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention, held annually on Miami Beach, was being re-branded. Apparently the existing diamond logo doesn’t acknowledge the bond between the show and its location. From 2009 the show will be renamed ‘Cruise Shipping Miami.’ According to the show organisers, CMP Information, ‘the new corporate design evokes water without competing with the numerous cruise and ocean images used in business. It positions the show on the industry side, serving all sectors from shipbuilding through services, technology, operations and destinations. The graphic elements reflects rippling water imagery, while a C and concentric circles locate the event at the centre of the industry, Miami, underlined in the show tagline: ‘Home Port of the cruise Industry.’ Great stuff! But does anyone give at toss? Sphere: Related Content