Arnie Weissmann
How does a cruise line decide what restaurants to put on a new ship? What plumbing hardware to install in a shower? Whether to put a lumbar pillow on upholstered furniture (and whether that pillow is attached or moveable)? Why a drinking glass at one venue may be chosen because it weighs more than others?
When aboard the Celebrity Xcel inaugural sailing last weekend, I had dinner with Michael Scheiner, the line's chief marketing and product officer, and he gave me insight not only into how major changes are made within a class of ship but also how decisions about onboard minutiae are made.
Much of what you see, touch and experience on a Celebrity ship has been inspired by work done by a somewhat anonymous consumer insights group that reports to him.
This team of six designs guest-satisfaction surveys, intercepts guests as they leave an activity, eavesdrops on crowds attending attractions, researches consumer trends and otherwise tries to discern how guests feel while sailing Celebrity.
The insights are passed along to Scheiner, who shares them with Celebrity Cruises president Laura Hodges Bethge and others as appropriate. The communication with Hodges Bethge is a two-way street; she spends her Sunday mornings reading guest comments and customer feedback surveys.
Her Sunday-morning reads help her find things that need urgent attention as well as the things done right but perhaps not consistently.
"They dream a bit in those surveys," she said. "They'll say, 'I wish it would have this or that.' You marry that with external research and focus groups. And trends, and not just in the cruise space. We look at the vacation space and we take trips, just for inspiration. When I'm traveling for work, I often get inspired about new products and experiences."
Does she share what she learns with other Royal Caribbean Group brands?
Yes and no. "We do share a lot of things because that's really beneficial to the overall company," she said. "But we are maniacal about keeping the brands distinct. If it were consistent across brands, you might get some homogenous [experiences], and we don't want that."
The Xcel is the second ship named by Hodges Bethge since she became president in May 2023, but since the Ascent was named only six months later, it was too late in the game to make significant changes. She considers the Xcel to be the first ship that reflects her and her team's vision, and it "holds a special place in my heart. It is, honestly, perfection. I'm really happy with it."
Perfect it may be in her estimation, but the next Edge-class ship, the Xcite, will be coming out in 2028, and it will not be identical.
"It will have all the seven new places and spaces [that are on the Xcel but weren't on the Ascent], and there are three areas that we're already thinking about how to transform," Hodges Bethge said. "It takes five years to build a ship, and we only had two and a half [for the Xcel]. The shipyard already had all their construction drawings, and there are only so many things that you can impact [at that stage]. So, we'll do these three on the next ship."
Hodges Bethge and her team have "already started dreaming up project Nirvana," the code name for the next class of ships.
Details?
For now, she said, just imagine what that project name may imply.
After a ship has launched, there may not be structural changes short of a complete refurb, but the evolution of the ship will continue. In fact, Scheiner said two members of the consumer insights team were onboard the Xcel's inaugural sailing.
A lot can be learned just hanging out and observing, he said, and gave an example. "For instance, bar flows: We had certain ideas of when and why guests were visiting the Martini Bar on the Celebrity Reflection. Of course, you can look at point-of-sale data, but it's a lot different when you're actually seeing what's happening.
"One of the insights was that a lot of guests were going to the Martini Bar to grab a drink while they were waiting for their table to be ready at a restaurant. So it sparked an idea. We could add a satellite bar so guests don't have to walk as far to grab a drink."
And it's not only the guests who may capture his team's attention. They, and all Celebrity management, are on the lookout for guest-staff interactions that rise above expectations. Keith Lane, senior vice president, hotel operations, was once sitting in a restaurant in Key West and saw a Celebrity butler in full uniform run by. "Where are you going?" he asked.
A family on the ship had asked for red Gatorade, which was not available onboard. "I'm looking for a CVS to get some for them," the butler said.
"We call these staff 'Plus-Ones,'" Scheiner said.
And they get recognition as such.