Carnival Cruises 2008 Annual Report Download - page 19

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excursions, casino gaming, gift shop sales, photo sales, spa services, art auctions,
cellular phone and telephone usage, bingo games and lottery tickets, enhanced dining
experiences in alternative restaurants, onboard promotional advertising for merchants
located at our ports of call, internet cafes, entertainment arcades, laundry services,
libraries, golf lessons, snorkel and bike equipment rentals, training conference facilities
and video diaries.
Our casinos, which are operated directly by us, contain slot machines and gaming tables
including blackjack, and in most cases craps and roulette. The casinos are only open when
our ships are at sea in international waters or when otherwise specifically permitted by
law.
Sales to our guests of shore excursions at each ship's ports of call include, among
other things, general sightseeing and adventure outings and local boat and beach parties,
typically utilizing locally-owned operators. For the Holland America Line, Princess and
Carnival Cruise Lines ships operating to destinations in Alaska, shore excursions are
operated by Holland America Tours and Princess Tours, as well as locally-owned operators.
In conjunction with our cruise vacations, all of our cruise brands also sell pre- and
post-cruise land packages of one to four nights. Vacation packages offered in conjunction
with homeports in North America include nearby attractions or other vacation destinations,
such as Universal Studios and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, Busch Gardens in Tampa,
Florida, or individual/multiple city tours of Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, New
York, Seattle, Washington, San Diego, California and/or Vancouver, British Columbia.
Vacation packages offered in conjunction with homeports in Europe include stays in well-
known European cities such as Athens, Greece, Barcelona, Spain, Copenhagen, Denmark, London,
England, Paris, France and Rome, Italy.
In conjunction with our Alaska cruise vacations, principally on our Holland America
Line, Princess and Carnival Cruise Lines ships, we sell pre- and post-cruise land packages,
utilizing, to a large extent, our transportation and hotel assets.
XII. Sales Relationships and Marketing Activities
We are a customer service-driven company and continue to invest in our service
organization to assist travel agents and guests. We believe that our support systems and
infrastructure are among the strongest in the vacation industry.
We sell our cruises mainly through travel agents, including wholesalers and tour
operators. Our individual cruise brands' relationships with their travel agents are
generally independent of each of our other brands, except for certain brands sourcing UK and
Australian guests as discussed below. These travel agent relationships are not exclusive
and most travel agents also sell cruises and other vacations provided by our competitors.
Our policy towards travel agents is to train and motivate them to support our products with
competitive sales and pricing policies and joint marketing programs. We also use a wide
variety of marketing techniques, including websites, seminars and videos, to familiarize the
agents with our cruise brands and products. As with our brands' travel agent relationships,
each of our brands' marketing programs are generally independent of each of our other
brands. In each of our principal markets, we have familiarized the travel agency community
with our cruise brands and products.
Travel agents generally receive standard commissions of 10%, plus the potential of
additional commissions based on sales volume. During fiscal 2008, no controlled group of
travel agencies accounted for more than 10% of our revenues.
Our investment in customer service has been focused on the development of systems and
employees. We have improved our systems within the reservations and customer relationship
management functions, emphasizing the continued support of the travel agency community,
while simultaneously developing greater contact and interactivity with our guest base. Each
brand has its own website, which provides access to information about our products to users
throughout the world, and substantially all provide booking engines to our travel partners
and to our customers. We also support booking capabilities through global distribution
systems, including Amadeus, Travelport and SABRE. Although the vast majority of our cruises
are distributed through travel agents, we also accept telephone and internet bookings direct
from customers who choose not to utilize the services of a travel agent.
We have pursued comprehensive marketing and advertising campaigns to promote our brands
to vacationers. The principal medias used for marketing and advertising are television,
magazine, radio, online, outdoor, direct mail, e-mail, and blogging. Our "Best Blogs at Sea"
website links our growing array of blogs, online communities and newbuild delivery sites,