Carnival, Launch Facebook Cruise Planning App

Carnival Cruise Lines in its effort to broaden it reach into Social Media is impacting its business in a big way.   Earlier this month Delta Airlines, Inc. announced its Social Media “Ticket Window” on FaceBook and now Carnival Cruise Lines has just put the finishing touches on their on FaceBook application.  I see this as a good move in that it puts another media on the Internet for people who like to travel.  With a few key strokes to be able to share information about their travel plans, planning reunions with their family and friends. Both companies are expanding their reach to the computer savvy generation.  This trend is just the tip of  the iceberg and I forecast you will see more companies coming on board via FaceBook with their products and services.

Capt Bob

Carnival Cruise Lines announced the launch of a new Facebook application that allows users to view, compare, select and share Carnival cruises with their friends. The application allows users to engage their social network in their vacation planning through personalized news feed updates and invite friends to book the same trip.

The application, available on Carnival’s official Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/carnival), enables users to explore all Carnival cruise options without leaving Facebook by providing the functionality to sort cruises by date, duration, port of call and accommodation type. Once users decide on a particular cruise, they can share the information with their Facebook friends by simply clicking a button. Users can also customize their newsfeed messages, which include a link to the cruise, to invite friends to book the trip as well.

“A Carnival cruise is a very social experience and this application is a natural extension of our efforts to engage our nearly 250,000 Facebook fans in a unique and exciting way,” said Jim Berra, Carnival’s chief marketing officer. “By allowing our customers to share their cruising plans with Facebook friends, we are making it easier for them to plan group trips and encourage others to join in the fun.”

Digital marketing agency Razorfish helped conceptualize, create and design the application. Once users have taken advantage of the Facebook application to choose and share their Carnival cruise plans, they will be directed to the appropriate shopping cart page on www.carnival.com to finalize the transaction. For additional information, call 800-CARNIVAL or visit www.GoCCL.com.