Anyway, look at her now! If there was ever an award for "extreme makeover" of a cruise ship, surely HOLIDAY would be in the running for first prize!

She looks fantastic and I hardly recognize a thing about her. The gym and pools look familiar, but that is about it. Talk about a head to toe makeover. She went from being dated, off the strip Las Vegas tacky to something really quite stylish. It's amazing what an influx of capital and an interior designer with a sense of style can accomplish!

Enjoy the slide show at the following link:
Slide Show

Seriously, this is what Pacific Sun should have been. Instead they butchered her funnel, gave her a paint job and that was it. She has since had some more minor works and had her slide removed (rust apparently??). Nevertheless she is now seen as dated and the poor sister in the P&O Australia fleet and Ibero has shown how they could have avoided this perception.

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Originally posted by dougnewman:
She looks OK. Nothing special, but better than I thought she would. Definitely a case of low expectations here.

From the look of it I think the interiors were designed by AMK.

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Doug,
My guess is you never actually sailed on or visited the old HOLIDAY? Had you, I think you would be much more impressed with the results. This was a complete and comprehensive transformation, to the point that the old interiors (which were pretty awful) are pretty much unrecognizable.

This is a ship I would actually sail on now. I think the decor looks cool and smart, and certainly in line with the market the ship is targeted towards.

It's interesting that both CELEBRATION and HOLIDAY received comprehensive refits in comparison to JUBILEE, which was pretty much sent as-is down to Australia. I suppose Carnival feels the market in Spain is much more competitive and warranted the complete makeover?

Holiday has gone from a beast to a beauty. I went on her about 20 years ago and swore I'd never step on board again; and I haven't. She was the ugliest ship I had ever seen. I still remember the horrible Blue Lagoon lounge (or whatever they called it).....ghastly!

Now, I'd have no problem at all sailing on her.

Sorry Doug, but our reaction comes from the voice of experience.

-Russ

[ 05-13-2010: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Originally posted by DEIx15x8:

The one thing that I can't figure out is why they still have the whale tale installed. That is the signature Carnival Cruise Line feature and aside from the funnel many new Carnival Corp ships are identical.

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Yes, I have to question this as well. The winged funnel is truly a Carnival Cruise Lines trademark, and it's now used in all advertising for Carnival. In fact it's more pronounced than ever.

There was a time when cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival were insistent that the winged funnel and Viking Crown lounge be removed prior to sale, or re-assignment to another brand. Obviously they were protecting the brand image.

At some point I'm guessing the bean counters (who truly run the cruise lines) had their say and won out. The cost to remove those feature items from the ships is probably cost prohibitive. Also, I'm sure the argument is the ships no longer compete in the same market segment so any brand erosion is minimal. Just guessing but I bet it played out somewhere along those lines.

When Tropicale went to Costa its funnel was changed but maybe that was Costa's choice as the new funnel was very much a typical Costa unit.

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It's interesting that both CELEBRATION and HOLIDAY received comprehensive refits in comparison to JUBILEE, which was pretty much sent as-is down to Australia. I suppose Carnival feels the market in Spain is much more competitive and warranted the complete makeover?

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Ernie, I think at the time this was right but now the Australian market is much more competitive with Princess, Celebrity, RCI, HAL all ramping up their presence. Even Cunard is home basing a ship in Sydney in a couple of years.

This has meant that what was a easy solution 5 years ago now looks cheap and P&O risk devaluing their brand with a 2.5 star ship in a market rapidly getting used to seeing 4 star ships permanently based in Australian waters.

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Originally posted by Cam J:
Regarding the winged funnel, its a matter of common sense. Any one can tell the difference, even someone who has never cruised before can tell the difference. I mean co'mon people the Grand Holiday even says IBERO CUERECOS with big bright people on it for goodness sakes, and on top of that the funnel is painted blue.

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The issue is not with the logo on the funnel, and of course anyone can tell the difference, it the shape of the funnel. The wing funnel is a Carnival trademark. I'm quite certain Carnival would not be too happy if Royal Caribbean built a new ship and topped it with a winged funnel just like Carnival's, but with the Crown & Anchor logo attached to it. I'm fairly certain Carnival would take them to court over it.

The difference with Ibero is that Carnival owns the brand. They don't feel threatened by it and again the lines are marketed to different audiences.

How important is the "funnel icon" to Carnival ... well this is from their press website:

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What are the basics of our identity? Well, it starts with the most important visual elements in the Carnival toolbox: the Funnel Icon and our logos. They're on every piece of communication we have, and they're the glue that holds everything together. So read on, and learn how to reinforce Carnival's brand identity inthe most effective way possible. Every time. In every communication.

After all, our brand identity is just that: a visual representation of who we are. And we always want to make a great impression.

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From the "Brand Center" at Carnival:

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Funnel becomes a symbol of Fun
Bold. Stylish. Sleek.
And all done up in shiny red, white and blue. This famous icon has been the root of our brand - standing proud atop our growing flotilla of ships. On land and at sea, she serves as a visual reminder of our unique brand of fun.

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There is a even a winged funnel outside Carnival headquarters here in Miami.

I would say it's rather important to them ... but apparently not enough to spend the money to chop it off for another brand that they own.

And from Carnival's point of view, the more winged funnels out there, the better. If someone wants to associate another brand with Carnival, so much the better for CCL! One would think they'd insist on keeping the winged funnels for all of their sold-off tonnage.

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Originally posted by Linerrich:

And from Carnival's point of view, the more winged funnels out there, the better. If someone wants to associate another brand with Carnival, so much the better for CCL!

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Personally I don't agree with that. Almost all companies fiercely protect their brand image, including logos and symbols that represent that company in a visual way. Logos and symbols are really the public face of any company to the general public, and having a instantly recognizable logo or symbol is like gold to a company.

While most cruise company logos may not be as recognized as Coca Cola, Disney, or McDonalds ... that winged funnel is just as important to Carnival as the golden arches to McDonalds. It represents who they are, and it's why the funnel is used in all advertising (TV, print, etc).

In the cruising world, Carnival is the most recognized brand in existence, even over Princess which had a TV show. A good part of that recognition comes from the winged, red - white - blue funnel.

As I mentioned before, if RCI built a ship with a Carnival style winged funnel, I have a feeling a major court battle would be in the making. It's different when your biggest competitor uses a trademark you are associated with rather than a brand the corporation owns. Personally I think the reason the wings were not removed is because it was too expensive. Had Carnival sold CELEBRATION and HOLIDAY to a company not owned by Carnival Corp., I bet they would stipulate the wings be removed, at the expense of the company making the purchase.

It's interesting the winged funnel was removed on the JUBILEE and TROPICALE. Either Carnival didn't want to be associated with P&O Australia/Costa or the other way around.

"Well, it starts with the most important visual elements in the Carnival toolbox".

"box" being the operative word for Carnival.

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Originally posted by eroller:

Personally I don't agree with that.

that winged funnel is just as important to Carnival as the golden arches to McDonalds. It represents who they are, and it's why the funnel is used in all advertising

Ernie

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So you mean to tell me, that if you saw a new company's logo and it was an M like McDonalds even though it was a different color, you would get the brands confused? I dont think so. Sounds bullishy to me.

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Originally posted by Cam J:

So you mean to tell me, that if you saw a new company's logo and it was an M like McDonalds even though it was a different color, you would get the brands confused? I dont think so. Sounds bullishy to me.

Cam J

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You're completely missing the point.

You claim to have connections at Carnival. Ask some people in Marketing just how important the "funnel logo" is to Carnival and then ask if they would mind if RCI built a ship with the same funnel design.

Ernie

[ 05-14-2010: Message edited by: eroller ]

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Originally posted by Cam J:

So you mean to tell me, that if you saw a new company's logo and it was an M like McDonalds even though it was a different color, you would get the brands confused? I dont think so. Sounds bullishy to me.

Cam J

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