For many, a vacation on a cruise ship brings up images of retirees basking in the sun or playing bingo. Royal Caribbean wants to change that with a brand new ship.
The new “Symphony of The Seas”, which cost $1.5 billion to build, is outfitted with everything from ice skating rinks to water slides to zip lines, Michael Bayley, the company’s President and CEO, told Cheddar Wednesday. It’s scheduled for its maiden voyage in the next few weeks.
“A lot of people have a stereotypical perspective of cruising,” said Bayley. But the company is offering “experiences, features that we think are really attractive to millennials. [And] we have short products, short breaks.”
Royal Caribbean’s stock has outperformed rivals such as Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Lines over the past year, but did see a pullback in December after [two](http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/royal-caribbean-cruise-passengers-gastro-intestinal-illness-sickness-bug-norovirus-ovation-of-the-a8095611.html) [separate](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/17/hundreds-get-sick-royal-caribbean-cruise-again/959102001/) instances of passengers getting sick. The company, though, still reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter.
The cruise line has focused marketing efforts on digital communications to capture the attention of tech-savvy millennials.
“We’ve moved pretty much all of our marketing, advertising from traditional to digital,” explained Bayley.
“We’ve been quite focused on attracting new-to-cruise [passengers] through our communication and through the way we present our product and the experiences that you can have,” he said.
“A lot of that is built on demolishing these perceptions that...it’s going to be really just for older people and there’s really nothing to do, which is so far from the truth.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/royal-caribbean-gets-ready-to-launch-the-worlds-largest-cruise-ship).
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
