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.

Delta Debuts First Airline Social Media “Ticket Window”

Delta Air Lines launched what it says is the airline industry’s first social media “Ticket Window” enabling bookings directly from Delta’s Face book page and other social media sites. The Delta Ticket Window, along with a newly designed home page at delta.com introduced earlier this week, offers the first visual cues of the airline’s planned transformation in customer-facing technology.

“Our customers are spending more time online and are looking for new ways to connect with us,” said Bob Kupbens, Delta’s vice president-E-Commerce. “We’re now delivering technology where our customers are — from our own website to our Face book page to Internet news sites and beyond, We already know Face book is the most used website by inflight -WiFi users on more than 2,000 Delta flights every day, giving us the natural launching point for a new online Ticket Window.”

Delta’s Ticket Window allows any of Face book’s 500 million users to complete a full travel booking using a dedicated “tab” at facebook.com/delta without navigating to delta.com. Delta plans to expand its Ticket Window to other sites, including online banner ads to allow full booking capabilities within the airline’s advertisements.

The redesign of Delta’s home page is the first step toward a larger redesign which will continue to improve the online experience on delta.com and its affiliated technology, including airport kiosks, to offer more functionality to customers. The immediate home page changes include easier access to flight booking, status updates, online check-in and SkyMiles account information.

Earlier this month Delta enhanced its smart phone site and will continue to deliver other popular consumer applications. In the coming weeks, Delta plans to launch a new IPhone application to offer customers the ability to check in for flights, check flight status, review flight schedules, set a parking reminder, review SkyMiles account balance and use E-Boarding passes (in select cities) directly from their mobile devices. Future releases of the app will enable customers to book flights, select their seats and track their Medallion status and other features that will streamline customer real-time travel experiences.

Delta has continued to expand its interaction with customers on social sites, including facebook.com/delta, twitter.com/delta, blog.delta.com and is now providing real-time travel assistance at twitter.com/deltaassist. For more information on Delta, visit www.delta.com.via Delta Debuts First Airline Social Media “Ticket Window”.