Costa By Carnival. Adults-Only Brand?

[CruisingWalter]

I've been very intrigued by the confluence of two events over two weeks.

 

One: John Heald floated the question of whether Carnival fans would support an "Adults-Only" Carnival cruise ship? The overwhelming response both on his Facebook page and my TikTok channel was YES! In fact, most responses on my TikTok channel liked my idea of select itineraries across the entire fleet being 'adults-only' vs. a dedicated ship.

 

Two: A week later, Carnival announces Costa By Carnival keeping the two ships branded as Costa, but crewed and operated by Carnival. No whale tail, no red white and blue livery. Two completely unique ships in the Carnival branded fleet that are an elevated version of the Vista class.  The gondola setting and marble clad restaurant looks straight out of the Venetian in Las Vegas.

 

Connecting the dots made me wonder if Carnival is considering making Costa by Carnival an Adults-Only brand. While the ships do have a ropes course and some water slides up top, along with a sad mini-golf course, they don't have near the 'fun ship' elements throughout the ship that are standard on Carnival branded ships. We know the ships are going into dry-dock for some renovations, but with Carnival leaving the Costa brand in place, we can't expect all that much to be done other than cosmetic and upgrades to existing elements. 

 

The discussions in my Facebook group and TikTok channel have been interesting and I'm curious to know what you all think of this hypothesis. With two completely unique ships in the fleet, could this be a consideration and could Virgin Voyages have a very very large competitor come 2023? Could I be totally insane? I've been called worse. 😂

[groundloop]

 

It's an interesting theory, but I just don't see it happening. 

 

My guess is that they'll use those two unique ships to offer a more high end experience.

[Purvis1231]

I do not think adults only fits any of the Carnival cruise brands business model. While it is true that some brands have less appeal to families with children. Several years ago on a Holland American Alaskan cruise, there were only six kids in the children club in my child's age range and only a 100 kid onboard in total. 

[Charles4515]

Carnival is a family brand. A mass market cruise line. They are not going to have adult only ships. For sure not on large ships. Virgin is a boutique cruise line than can brand as adults only. As for Costa by Carnival brand  the simplest reason and probable one is that is that gives them the easiest  option for transferring them back to Costa if/ when the situation warrants.  

[CarolSW]

I like the idea, and I may just be insane enough to agree with the OP that it might happen!

[CruisingWalter]

1 hour ago, ChC said:

Plus, the move of Costa to Carnival did not happen within 1 week, it would have been discussed months in advance between two companies and CCL headquarters. Look for home port, arrange of marketing and staff...it is a long process before final announcement.

 

I never said or implied that the Costa by Carnival announcement happened in a week. Carnival Corporation probably started discussing this when the shutdown happened and figuring out which ships to scrap and which ships to redeploy. I believe with the sale of AIDAnova Carnival has shed something like 26 ships over the past few years. 

 

I said it was the confluence of the two events over two weeks with John's question and the Costa announcement that made me look at two dots that could possibly be connected. The overwhelming sentiment among the Carnival cruisers who have responded to his query, in the thousands, is YES we would support this. 

 

Having a single ship out of the entire fleet that is Adult Only is not out of the question for a brand as large as Carnival. Certainly hosting adult only itineraries on various ships would be worth testing. 

 

 

[pe4all]

I hope your "guess" is right.  Definitely wouldn't mind having an all-adult experience.

[tallnthensome]

1 minute ago, pe4all said:

I hope your "guess" is right.  Definitely wouldn't mind having an all-adult experience.

But why choose Carnival for that experience? You can cruise on Celebrity, Virgin, Holland, and Princess which have few enough kids to even notice them and get a much better cruise experience as an adult. I can't see it being a draw for adults who dispise kids when there are much better choices. If you're looking for the $299 budget no kid special then maybe ......

[pe4all]

Just now, tallnthensome said:

But why choose Carnival for that experience? You can cruise on Celebrity, Virgin, Holland, and Princess which have few enough kids to even notice them and get a much better cruise experience as an adult. I can't see it being a draw for adults who dispise kids when there are much better choices. If you're looking for the $299 budget no kid special then maybe ......

I actually like the Carnival experience, especially with the casino offers I get.  Have not been on the other lines yet, and truthfully have no desire to go on them.  However, if Costa by Carnival doesn't give me the great prices I get with CCL I may wander a bit!

[CruisingWalter]

5 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

But why choose Carnival for that experience? You can cruise on Celebrity, Virgin, Holland, and Princess which have few enough kids to even notice them and get a much better cruise experience as an adult. I can't see it being a draw for adults who dispise kids when there are much better choices. If you're looking for the $299 budget no kid special then maybe ......

 

Who said anything about 'despising kids?' The discussion on the TikTok and Facebook pages are more about "wouldn't it be nice to have the entire ship to ourselves without the kids once in a while?" That could free up some more 'adult' games and entertainment all day long. No 'adults-only comedy show at 11pm,' they could have the show anytime for example. I don't mind having the kids, but it would be interesting to experience a Carnival ship with all adults, minus the 500-1000 kids. 🙂

Edited June 26, 2022 by WheresWalter

[CruisingWalter]

4 minutes ago, pe4all said:

I actually like the Carnival experience, especially with the casino offers I get.  Have not been on the other lines yet, and truthfully have no desire to go on them.  However, if Costa by Carnival doesn't give me the great prices I get with CCL I may wander a bit!

 

You might like NCL and Royal if you really enjoy the Carnival ships. NCL has some of the best specialty restaurants at sea, the main dining room is meh, but the specialty meals are awesome. Royal and Carnival are very similar in terms of food and entertainment value, but the alcohol is definitely cheaper on Carnival. 🙂 

[pe4all]

9 minutes ago, WheresWalter said:

 

You might like NCL and Royal if you really enjoy the Carnival ships. NCL has some of the best specialty restaurants at sea, the main dining room is meh, but the specialty meals are awesome. Royal and Carnival are very similar in terms of food and entertainment value, but the alcohol is definitely cheaper on Carnival. 🙂 

We love NCL, and use them for "more exotic" cruises - Italy, Hawaii, Greece, etc.  

[silvercrikhix]

We’d welcome an adults only option. A bit more elevated would be great too. 
We love the littles but a cruise without them would be more relaxing. 
Hopefully, it’d skip the hokey activities with a more adult focus! 

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

P&O Cruises is you could say is the UK version of Carnival. Also owned by Carnival as a group.  They have had adults only ship (in any otherwise family friendly line) for years.  I believe often selling for a higher rate. So never say never. 

One difficulty would be which homeports. Wherever the adults only ships are based will not be great for many who would like them. For example, if I am from Texas I might like Galveston but the adults only ship is in Baltimore. Do go I from my local port with other peoples children, or fly across the country to avoid such children.  What about families near Baltimore too? Can Baltimore support two ships? P&O only have one home port so no problem. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[Ilovesailaway]

4 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

whether Carnival fans would support an "Adults-Only" Carnival cruise ship?

This Carnival fan would. I like the fun ship vibe and I am sure a lot of adults would like to sail with Carnival kid free. If they had one ship that offered that experience I think it would be popular.

[Djptcp]

I'd go for for a high-end adults only ship with at least one sailing from Florida. More specialty restaurants, more special events for Diamonds.

 

Of course, with Carnival having difficulty finding enough crew now due to Visa issues and cancelling special Diamond events, why bother to add more ships and compound the problem??

[BlerkOne]

I put zero credence in any online non-scientific surveys, so that is immediately discounted.

 

As others have said, Carnival is a mass market cruise line. That is their core competency. To try to move beyond that is an invitation for disaster. Any time you limit the market, prices rise. Charters are available for those who want a limited market cruise.

 

If you don't like kids, cruise when school is in session and avoid holidays, spring break, short cruises, etc. Carnival isn't going to deliberately exclude anyone.

 

 

[ninjacat123]

If Virgin's cruise protocol of adult's only proves successful, then I think Carnival would be smart to "test the waters" (see what I did there😉) with a small fleet of ships that are not Carnival-specific.  I love kids but it would be fun to experience cruising from an adult only point of view.

[sanmarcosman]

13 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

If Virgin's cruise protocol of adult's only proves successful, then I think Carnival would be smart to "test the waters" (see what I did there😉) with a small fleet of ships that are not Carnival-specific.  I love kids but it would be fun to experience cruising from an adult only point of view.

Hey now, be careful here, you're using the voice of reason 😉 

[CruisingWalter]

3 hours ago, pe4all said:

We love NCL, and use them for "more exotic" cruises - Italy, Hawaii, Greece, etc.  

 

SWEET. We have not made it across the pond yet. Hoping 2023!

[CruisingWalter]

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

If Virgin's cruise protocol of adult's only proves successful, then I think Carnival would be smart to "test the waters" (see what I did there😉) with a small fleet of ships that are not Carnival-specific.  I love kids but it would be fun to experience cruising from an adult only point of view.

 

On the Mardi Gras there are two beautiful aft infinity pools but we never used them because they were both full of kids pretty much all day and well into the evening the entire week. The Serenity pool was lovely too, but it doesn't have the views of the aft pools. Mardi Gras (Celebration and Jubilee) would be fantastic ships to experience an "Adult Only" cruise.  

 

The big differences between Carnival and Virgin are the massive Carnival customer base and the pricing. Carnival's pricing would most likely be lower than Virgin because I would not expect Carnival to include the soft drinks, WiFi and every dining venue. Plus Carnival's scale and purchasing power allows it to operate at a much lower per-guest cost. It would make good business sense to at least test the concept. 🙂 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by WheresWalter

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

If Virgin's cruise protocol of adult's only proves successful, then I think Carnival would be smart to "test the waters" (see what I did there😉) with a small fleet of ships that are not Carnival-specific.  I love kids but it would be fun to experience cruising from an adult only point of view.

You do know Virgin postponed the launch of their next ship until next year at the earliest?

[BlerkOne]

1 minute ago, WheresWalter said:

 

Plus Carnival's scale and purchasing power allows it to operate at a much lower per-guest cost. It would make good business sense to at least test the concept. 🙂 

 

 

Carnival would be smarter to let some other mass market line be on the bleeding edge. Carnival learned their lesson with Paradise.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, pe4all said:

I actually like the Carnival experience, especially with the casino offers I get.  Have not been on the other lines yet, and truthfully have no desire to go on them.  However, if Costa by Carnival doesn't give me the great prices I get with CCL I may wander a bit!

 

3 hours ago, pe4all said:

We love NCL, and use them for "more exotic" cruises - Italy, Hawaii, Greece, etc.  

So, which is it?  On your first post you state that you have not been on the other lines yet and truthfully have no desire to go on them. Then on your subsequent post you state that you love NCL and you've used them for Europe and Hawaii.  So, when did your desire change?

[CruisingWalter]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

I put zero credence in any online non-scientific surveys, so that is immediately discounted.

 

One of the roles of a Brand Ambassador, who is often an employee of or directly sponsored by the cruise line, as well as brand influencers is to 'test the market.' John Heald would never have posted that question unless someone at Carnival asked him to. The mere fact that he asked the question means that Carnival has had internal discussions about offering adult-only cruises. 

 

I've worked in marketing for almost 20 years and this is one of the ways we gauge market interest, but without the company itself asking the question. If Carnival were to send out a survey to a large selection of their loyal passengers about their feelings towards adults-only cruising, it would be all over the cruise media outlets. "Carnival is considering adults-only cruising according to survey sent to some 5,000 loyal customers."

 

That actually happened with Disney World when they sent out a survey to Annual Passholders asking about specific rides and some other features of the parks before the holidays. It broke all over the theme park news outlets because it was an official survey from Disney World to Passholders.

 

A more low-key way to ask the question to fly under the radar and gauge consumer interest is to have your influencers do it for you. Which is exactly what John did. I can guarantee you the responses were noted by Carnival. Whether they influence future decisions remains to be seen.