In the early 1990s, the cruise industry had an image problem. While companies were launching more and more cruise ships, the industry itself seemed tired and out of fashion. As journalist Matthew Grimm wrote, the "fact of the matter is, the cruise industry has an Oldsmobile problem: It is your father's, or your grandfather's, idea of a vacation."

Following the examples of casinos, restaurants, shopping centers, and other themed spaces, cruise ships began adding razzle-dazzle entertainment and a wider range of consuming opportunities. In his description of the "Jerde Transfer," where shopping is mixed with theater through architecture, author Daniel Herman states that the goal of this new architecture is to "subjugate the consumer... into a drone state of consumption." This is exactly what the cruise companies hoped for when adding new forms of entertainment on their ships.

Masters of themed entertainment, Disney announced its plans to enter the cruising industry in 1998. As Judson Green, prexy of Walt Disney Attractions was smart to note, Disney has "most of the core competencies [of the cruise business] already: knowing how to run a resort and take care of guests, managing food and beverages, merchandising, live entertainment, marketing and sales."

 

Disney built the second most expensive cruise ship in the world, the Magic, and raised the bar for onboard entertainment. Among its attractions, the Magic houses a 1,022-seat theater that stages a different musical each night, a 268-seat movie theater showing new releases and Disney classics, an internet cafe, the Beat Street nightclub, and it offers everything from wine tasting for adults, to DJ training for kids.

Magic's onboard movie theater.

The central idea behind the new cruise industry is to make an offer consumers cannot refuse. Cruise lines want to create a consuming experience that will outdo any other vacation opportunity - and any other cruise company - in the market. If they build it, they hope millions consumers will come with pockets full of cash. Back.

 

Sources:

Chuihua Judy Chung et al (eds.), The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (Taschen, 2002).

Grimm, Matthew. "Anchors Aweigh." American Demographics. Mar 2001 vol 23 no 3, p.74-5.

Paxman, Andrew. Source: Variety v. 371 no13 (Aug. 10-16 1998) p. 6.