Cunard Social Media Communications

I'm sure I'm not in the minority in being a huge fan if Cunard but I feel their Social media communications could and should be improved. I see from forum responses that Cunard used to communicate much more effectively through the We are Cunard page.

I've just had a scan through its Facebook page (specifically the posts to it's page) and have seen, while it's clear Cunard do monitor it on a daily basis and do respond to the occasional questions/complaints they receive on it. I however also noticed, many extremely polite questions simply ignored by Cunard. For example I have noticed people, excited about news of the Victoria refit and wanting to know how the refit has gone, ignored. Would a response of "We will share footage of the exciting improvements to Queen Victoria over the coming days; I'm sure you'll love what we've done to her" take more than five seconds for someone to do.

I've posted glowing reviews of my trips to the Facebook page/twitter, which people commenting that it's inspired them to book a voyage. Did I even get a like or a Glad you had a great time :) comment from Cunard, of course not! I totally understand if the forum is not designed for questions but yet they do monitor it and do use it to respond, especially to negative comments. I do think that choosing to simply ignore many questions, which they've seen and could easily answer, just looks unprofessional.

I could run through an average day of posts on their Facebook page and within 10 minutes respond to all of them. Surely Cunard shouldn't ignore questions, if they didn't think the question was appropriate to be answered on Facebook, they could simply post, please give Customer Services a call and they would only be too happy to respond. It just demonstrates an acknowledgment. If you look at most companies they do respond to all Social media questions, even if it's just directing them to the most suitable place for an answer.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I set up a facebook and twitter account once to see what they were like. Drivel is what they are like.

One reason I still check in here is to get and give information without the sacrifice of privacy that comes with a Facebook account. The final straw came when at each login a popup screen appeared: "A password is not enough. Please enter your mobile phone number." (Positively, absolutely, not!) I would not want to re-establish a Facebook account just to get answers from Cunard.

Cunard & social media - well, that clearly isn't a marriage made in heaven (or even cyber space).

Attention needs to be directed towards repairing and maintaining the Cunard website. Repeated problems with Voyage Personalizer, accessing World Club information, and the current position/itinerary of the ships is more often wrong than right. Just as a latest example according to http://www.cunard.com/cruise-ships/queen-elizabeth/ - "Queen Elizabeth is currently docked in Nassau, Bahamas" We know that port was cancelled last week. "Book a cruise like this" is the next line of script, like some kind of joke.

My personal opinion is that Cunard needs to focus primarily on the Cunard website, which clearly is problematic. Tweets and Facebook thingies matter less are aren't really working well either - but deal with the social media issues after the website problems are rectified. In a word: prioritize. -Salacia

I agree with points to date. A few other telling problems with the US website:

1. Ships profiles are not consistently correct. Queen Victoria is shown as Queen Elizabeth, voyages on QE show side profile of QM2. Not all the time, but enough so it's obvious no one is attending to details.

2. AskCunard FAQ's don't seem to be available on US website, US FAQ's are a simplified, condensed version.

This all points to a Line with a personality disorder or split personality; UK and USA. Clearly final decisions come from Carnival House UK. In the US we have executive offices in S. California and yet are left with call center support jobbed out to Princess (a call I made was even answered this way) in Washington state. A recent dissatisfied Aussie customer (poster to this board) suggested that Aussie call center support was being jobbed out to another WCCL line office, possibly in Asia.

What is the role of Cunard USA office? Just travel agent sales? And, no disrespect intended Richard Meadows, why do we have a Cunard USA president if decision making is happening in Southampton?

Cunard needs a solely dedicated team with no cross brand loyalties or responsibilities. This Line needs to be run essentially as a startup so shoreside employees, wherever they are located, speak for THEIR brand and have the support they need and can provide timely answers and make decisions for better or worse without being second guessed or waiting for Carnival House to open the doors for business each day. Remember, this is WCCL's flagship Line and it only has to manage 3 ships!

Customer service can only be outsourced so far without affecting brand satisfaction. I would suggest we're near that point. Cunard Line is showing signs of being top heavy and micro-managed to a fault.

I hope these thoughts are taken as intended: constructive criticism.

P.S. I'm not a facebook user but if you (Cunard Line) are going to show your 'face' here the least you can do is respond to your customers. If nothing else it would seem to be more efficient.

2. AskCunard FAQ's don't seem to be available on US website, US FAQ's are a simplified, condensed version.

Some excellent points noted by people, a few I'd not noticed but are quite glaring errors. With only a small fleet you would hope such errors wouldn't creep in. I took a look at the P&O Facebook etc and it's obvious it's run as a combined operation and I think that shows. I think both are excellent brands but feel both need people to specialise on one company

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

http://ask.cunard.com isn't linked from the main Cunard.com page but it's accessible if you know the URL.

Exactly my point. So a new customer or a potential customer in the US has a few more detailed FA questions and because they can't easily find the answers online they have to call Cunard customer service. This makes no sense.

http://ask.cunard.com isn't linked from the main Cunard.com page but it's accessible if you know the URL.

Under "CONTACT US" on that page is this:

"Please note that should your enquiry relate to your specific booking you will need to call our Customer Contact Centre on 0843 374 0000 between the hours of 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Saturday & 10am to 4pm Sunday."

So it would seem that's Cunard UK and some information contained there might not the be same for US passengers (as one example the response to the question Will I need travel insurance?

There is a FAQ section on the Cunard US page, but I don't think it's as extensive as the link geared to UK passengers. See http://www.cunard.com/frequent-questions/

An article, published today, titled "Carnival CEO steers cruise giant in new directions" has some interesting comments, for example "... Donald is transforming the company, diversifying its leadership, spurring the company's nine separate brands to collaborate rather than compete..." quoted from http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2015/01/22/carnival-ceo-putting-his-stamp-on-worlds-biggest-cruise-company/21867385/

I wonder if that collaboration between brands will result in less brand distinction. But no doubt it will result in cost reduction.

I'm sure you're right with respect to cost reduction. Less buyers and more leverage. This works great until the company gets so large and requires too much costly management (bean counters and such) and overall value of Carnival drops. Then in swoops private equity, breaks up the company and frees the profitable divisions (or in this case Lines) to grow while hobbling the weaker ones with increasing debt, or foundering so to speak. Yesterday, I looked up the FLL port site to see when the QE was scheduled to depart and the agent was Princess. This doesn't necessarily signify anything other than in this case Cunard operations are in the hands of Princess; maybe in reality it's just a paperwork thing and that Cunard operations in North America have been run out of Seattle for a long time. Anyone know how this works?

OP, sorry about the minor thread hijack, let's get back to your original topic.

I'm sure you're right with respect to cost reduction. Less buyers and more leverage. This works great until the company gets so large and requires too much costly management (bean counters and such) and overall value of Carnival drops. Then in swoops private equity, breaks up the company and frees the profitable divisions (or in this case Lines) to grow while hobbling the weaker ones with increasing debt, or foundering so to speak. Yesterday, I looked up the FLL port site to see when the QE was scheduled to depart and the agent was Princess. This doesn't necessarily signify anything other than in this case Cunard operations are in the hands of Princess; maybe in reality it's just a paperwork thing and that Cunard operations in North America have been run out of Seattle for a long time. Anyone know how this works?

japyke, I saw the same thing on the FFL port schedule website and also found it curious. Another Princess connection I noticed was that on the Cunard US website, clicking on 'Careers' at the bottom of the opening page will bring you to a page with the heading 'Princess Career Centers' http://www.cunard.com/careers/

In recent years, I've noticed an increased Princess related presence on Cunard North America. My hope is that this does not lead to an erosion of what makes Cunard different from Princess and other CCL ships. -S.

Here is the ad CCL aired during the Super Bowl tonight: https://www.yahoo.com/travel/carnival-corporation-debuted-its-first-ever-super-109838974552.html

Beautifully filmed, perhaps effective?

Personally I am very much displeased by the use (or misuse, as the case may be) of a verbal quote from the long-diseased, assassinated United States President to promote Carnival Cruise Lines. Again, just my opinion, but I believe that commercial to be in very poor taste. And for the amount of money spent on filming and placement during the Super Bowl, that money could have been much better spent.

I'm wondering how you feel about it.

Thanks for your response. -S.

Here is the ad CCL aired during the Super Bowl tonight: https://www.yahoo.com/travel/carnival-corporation-debuted-its-first-ever-super-109838974552.html

 

Beautifully filmed, perhaps effective?

 

Personally I am very much displeased by the use (or misuse, as the case may be) of a verbal quote from the long-diseased, assassinated United States President to promote Carnival Cruise Lines. Again, just my opinion, but I believe that commercial to be in very poor taste. And for the amount of money spent on filming and placement during the Super Bowl, that money could have been much better spent.

 

I'm wondering how you feel about it.

 

Thanks for your response. -S.

Edited to add: I just popped next door to see how the ad was received on the Carnival Forum. Apparently, it got mostly good reviews

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2160922&page=4

I don't share your opinion. It was a fitting statement about what draws us to the sea from a man who is widely loved even 50 years after his death. I don't think the intent of his words was twisted at all for the purpose of the ad.

You may also know that CCL puts a float into the Rose Parade every year. $4 million or $10 million is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of their operating or advertising budgets.

I don't share your opinion. It was a fitting statement about what draws us to the sea from a man who is widely loved even 50 years after his death. I don't think the intent of his words was twisted at all for the purpose of the ad.

 

You may also know that CCL puts a float into the Rose Parade every year. $4 million or $10 million is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of their operating or advertising budgets.

Hi Undewatr. Thanks for your response, and I agree with you President Kennedys words were not "twisted"; as far as I now it was a old recording, unadulterated. But there can be no denying that his words and voice were used for commercial purposes by CCL in an effort to establish some sort of connection with CCL and JFK. And apparently, CCL succeeded to some extent.

Following the same commercial principle, the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saying "I have a dream..." followed by the Carnival Dream coming out of the mist...

Voice recordings of Churchill, Gandhi, and other deceased public speakers used on commercials - oh yes, there is great potential for this marketing campaign.

Not sure about this, but I think statements made by public figures in a public forum are not subject to copyright laws. No royalty charges apply.

I set up a facebook and twitter account once to see what they were like. Drivel is what they are like.

I didn't, I knew they were drivel.

David.

I took the trouble to email Cunard to suggest improvements to how they deal with Social Media communications. Here is my email I sent to more than one person in the media and communications team. A few weeks later, despite asking for an acknowledgment I have sadly not received a response.

I'm writing to express my concern at the inconsistency of Social Media use by Cunard. This Is a tool that as you are both aware is so important in modern business. To put this into some context, I am a regular Cunard customer, having sailed on 3 voyages in the last few months. I'm other a younger generation (34) so Social media is clearly a regular tool. However through my business commitments and the like I am well aware that people of all ages are now actively using Social Media forums, especially Facebook. In fact, in my experience the demographic of Facebook is shifting towards the older generations, whilst Twitter and Snapchat being more common but not exclusive of the 18-35 market. I love Cunard and may I add have always received excellent customer service and have never had a complaint. However I do have issues with how the Facebook page is dealing with posts from individuals.

I've just had a scan through your Facebook page (specifically the posts to it's page) and have seen, while it's clear Cunard do monitor it on a daily basis and do occasionally respond to the occasional questions/complaints they receive. I however also noticed, many extremely polite questions simply ignored by Cunard. For example I have noticed people, excited about news of the Victoria refit and wanting to know how the refit has gone, with no response. Would a response of "We will share footage of the exciting improvements to Queen Victoria over the coming days; I'm sure you'll love what we've done to her" take more than five seconds for someone to do.

I've posted glowing reviews of my trips to the Facebook page/twitter, with many people commenting that the reviews have inspired them to book a voyage. For your interest here is a link

http://pictureherethereandeverywhere.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/qe-review-and-comparison-with-qm2-and.html.

Did I even get a like or a "Glad you had a great time :)" comment from Cunard, of course not! I totally understand, if the forum is not designed for questions but yet it's clear you do monitor it and do use it to respond, especially to negative comments. Which seems frustrating that those saying that Cunard is the worst company ever and being far from polite, get the responses. I do think that choosing to simply ignore many questions, posted on the page, which they've seen and could easily answer, just looks unprofessional.

I could run through an average day of posts on your Facebook page and within 10 minutes respond to all of them. Surely Cunard shouldn't ignore questions, if they didn't think the question is appropriate to be answered on Facebook, you could simply post, please give Customer Services a call and they would only be too happy to respond. The acknowledgment makes you feel more valued as a customer and is a simple way to improve customer services. If you look at most companies they do respond to all Social media questions, even if it's just directing them to the most suitable place for an answer. Other companies like Virgin use social media to my advantage, if my train gets delayed I tweet them and they respond with detail and suggest alternative routes and actually check back to see your journey was completed satisfactorily. As I said I love Cunard, I love the service they offer but I just think this is an area that can so simply be improved and help Cunard.

I would love it if it was possible to use the We are Cunard platform to share the great experiences of passengers. So much good stuff is put together and posted out there but isn't necessarily seen by all your followers. There is nothing like good customer reviews to help sell your product. There is such a loyalty to Cunard out there, with people putting in hours of work, to share their great experiences and I feel it's a real wasted marketing opportunity.

As you would probably guess I would appreciate a response to my email :)

Kind regards,

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I didn't, I knew they were drivel.

 

David.

I just wanted to be sure and to see what I was missing. I wasn't missing anything as it turned out.

Following the same commercial principle, the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saying "I have a dream..." followed by the Carnival Dream coming out of the mist...

Here's the text of the complete speech: http://home.comcast.net/~ceoverfield/sea.html

I've heard that the real controversial part of the Carnival Corp ad was the "we come from the sea" part. Apparently some of Carnival Cruise Line's target audience don't like the inference in that.

I know that some Cunard forum members aren't able to watch the Super Bowl (horrors!) so, assuming the link works, here's the CCL ad that ran last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQ-HyzAgRk

The article below discusses the ad that ran in addition to other ads that Carnival had prepared. according to the article "fans' were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite ad to be shown last night.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/02/02/carnival-cruises-quotes-jfk-in-super-bowl-2015-commercial/

I think that would be an excessive twist on Dr. King's speech. Kennedy's speech was made at a 1962 dinner for the crews competing in the America's Cup races.

 

Here's the text of the complete speech: http://home.comcast.net/~ceoverfield/sea.html

 

I've heard that the real controversial part of the Carnival Corp ad was the "we come from the sea" part. Apparently some of Carnival Cruise Line's target audience don't like the inference in that.

 

I know that some Cunard forum members aren't able to watch the Super Bowl (horrors!) so, assuming the link works, here's the CCL ad that ran last night.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQ-HyzAgRk

 

The article below discusses the ad that ran in addition to other ads that Carnival had prepared. according to the article "fans' were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite ad to be shown last night.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/02/02/carnival-cruises-quotes-jfk-in-super-bowl-2015-commercial/

Hi Underwatr. Yes, I noticed today how last nights mostly favorable initial reaction on social media shifted to negative due to the reference to evolution which upset creationists and some displeasure about the methodology for contest to select the Super Bowl ad. But it also seems that there were at least a few others besides me who thought it inappropriate that JFK's voice was used for commercial purposes to promote a cruise line. And now there's this added controversy: "Did Carnival Cruise Line’s Super Bowl Commercial Steal From An Artist?" http://www.theexpeditioner.com/travel-news/Did-Carnival-Cruise-Lines-Super-Bowl-Commercial-steal-From-An-Artist/

If Oscar Wilde was right when he said "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" then the CCL ad was successful. I understand the target audience was people who haven't cruised before; whether or not that ad will drive new customers to book a cruise with CCL ships remains to be seen. Cheers, -S.