Just what the doctor (Seuss) ordered
Carnival line enhances family fare with favourite children’s author, as Rob and Nancy Dunn explain.
In the battle to see how cruise lines are playing to the youngest members of the family, Carnival’s back in the game. Disney is, well, Disney; Norwegian’s arsenal has Dora, Sponge Bob and their Nickelodeon pals; Royal Caribbean’s front line has Shrek and the Dream Works cast; and now Carnival has a marquee name, too: Dr. Seuss.
In the cruise news cycle for some time, it’s now official. The Freedom is the first Carnival ship with all things Seuss after what one executive called the cruise line’s “most significant upgrade” outside of the Sunshine. Sunshine was a 10-week, $180-million name change (from Destiny) and refurbishment: The Freedom required only two weeks and $70-million to become, among other things, Seuss-isized.
“Dr. Seuss will be fully realized on this ship,” said Jim Berra, chief marketing officer.
The proper name is “Seuss At Sea” and it entails a prominent place in Carnival’s new youth program, Camp Ocean, with a colourful and generous space called Bookville, where parents read Dr. Seuss to their children. To be clear, this is one component of Camp Ocean, which has five other rooms catering to kids up to age 17, but it’s the most visible and promotional component. And Carnival appears to have a hit.
There are photo ops with Seuss characters, plus a parade down the promenade deck to the theatre for Seuss-a-Palooza story time — all works in progress that Carnival will undoubtedly be tweaking, at least.
With 900 children on the Freedom (700,000 annually on all ships), last week’s parade had 44 participants and the story time probably ran a little long for mostly preschoolers (35 minutes) when Carnival’s committed to shortening entertainment so passengers have more options.
The finale for Seuss at Sea is the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast on the last sea day. This is not for food critics, it’s for kids, and well worth the $5 cover charge for them to get pictures taken with the Seuss foursome — The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, Thing 2 and Sam. It’s the Seuss highlight and expertly positioned on the last sea day. Green eggs? They taste like scrambled eggs with food colouring — don’t tell the kids.
Bookville is only on the Freedom. By 2016, Seuss at Sea will be on all 24 ships. Bookville and Camp Ocean are part of extensive refurbishing that includes Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint, the Red Frog Pub and Red Frog Rum Bar, the Blue Iguana Cantina and Blue Iguana Tequila Bar and some form of “Water Works” component to complement existing water slides.
“Guy Fieri’s has proven to be a home run,” said Lania Rittenhouse, vice-president of product development.
The Freedom will be changing ports in February, to Galveston from Fort Lauderdale, joining fleet mates Magic and Triumph as Carnival strengthens not only its family strategy but also its second-biggest market after Miami.
Nobody knows where all of this is going to take the Carnival brand. But as Dr. Seuss put it in one of his book titles: “Oh, the places you’ll go.”