Chapter 3: Building a World-Class Cruise Ship Business from "Zero.

Round-the-world inspection trip by test drive for cruise research

At the time, the NYK head office in Tokyo thought of the "cruise ship" business as a Japanese market.

When people in Japan think of cruises, they usually think of prewar cruise ships that were used for transportation on regular routes.

Until World War II, NYK had regular passenger liner service from Japan to Europe, China, North America, and other destinations.

Most of these passenger ships were called "cargo ships" that could also carry cargo. Aircraft had not yet been developed. At that time, airplanes were the main means of "ocean travel". 

In prewar Europe and North America. Liner cruise ship routes became somewhat established and entered the "blue-ribbon wars," the competition for circumnavigation speed between Europe and North America.

However, many of these were primarily liner cruise ships rather than circumnavigational cruise liners, and the main purpose of transporting ship passengers, especially between Europe and North America, was to send immigrants and other passengers to the United States.

In other words, they did not leave the realm of "emigration lines" or "boat trips" that connected dots with dots. The "Titanic," which tragically sank in the North Atlantic, was also a passenger ship with a new emphasis on livability, but it was still a liner concept.

Mr. Maeda first. On January 16, 1987, Mr. Maeda returned to Tokyo with only a desk and a telephone in a corner of the Planning Department at NYK's headquarters.

When Mr. Maeda returned to Tokyo, all he was given was a desk and a telephone in a corner of the Planning Department at NYK's headquarters. He had no subordinates. Mr. Maeda's solitary struggle literally began. However, his boss, the head of the planning department, was Kentaro Kawamura, who later rose to become president of NYK.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that Mr. Kawamura was a good partner for Mr. Maeda. He was a good partner for Mr. Maeda, who later worked behind the scenes to persuade upper management, who were not familiar with the American situation, to continue supporting him.

After a month of internal discussions upon returning to Japan, Mr. Maeda came to the point of saying, "Well, let's see what's really going on with cruises in the U.S. first. In early March, Mr. Maeda returned to the U.S., which he had just left. The purpose was to inspect a ship that was already in Miami.

Thus, Mr. Maeda's round- the-world cruise inspection trip began in Miami.
Maeda-san first sailed Royal Caribbean's 38,000-ton "Song of America" in the Caribbean.

After the cruise test drive of the he summoned me to Miami. We met up there, and the two of us also inspected a Holland America ship and the "Cunard Contesses" ship.

Mr.Maeda then ordered me to conduct a detailed study of the "American cruise situation" within two months, and we traveled across the Atlantic to Europe. At the time. Many cruise ship companies in the U.S. were European capital.

Therefore, I scheduled interviews with the shipowners and presidents of the major European cruise lines and home lines that were active in Europe and in the U.S. market. Although the embarkation tour from Singapore was not part of the original plan, the group was hastily planning to board a Princess Cruises ship that would start from Singapore. ("Home Line Company" -- at the time. Two large vessels operated from the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda Island, among other locations, and they wanted to sell the company. The ships were then sold to Holland America Line and others.

The owner, Eugenides, was the Greek agent for NYK and created a company for inland services in Greece to coincide with Crystal Cruises' Mediterranean expansion.)

However, Mr. Maeda felt that there was one thing missing from his visit to the U.S. and Europe. It was about the services provided in restaurants, bars, cabins, hair salons, etc., which could not be checked by men.

A woman's eye was desperately needed to check these things. Finally, Mr. Maeda called Mr. Kawamura in Tokyo and made a request. Mr. Kawamura's reply was very clear: "Yes, I would like to board the Royal Princess with my wife. Mr. Kawamura's answer was very clear: "Yes.

Thus, Mr. Maeda traveled with his wife on a trial cruise on a Princess Cruises ship from Singapore, and returned to Tokyo for the next few days. 

As a result, it was a round-the-world trip.

Mr.Maeda checked out Caribbean cruises and talked about a Greek Eugenides living in Switzerland ("Home Line" shipowner: their two ships for sale, etc.

Later, Holland America Line purchased the two ships, and the "Homeric" entered service as the "Wes Terdam"), and exchanged information with many well-informed people in Europe and the United States.

Upon my return to Japan, Mr. Maeda gave me a new set of instructions. He instructed me to conduct a multifaceted survey from a completely new angle, positioning NYK's "international cruise business" as NYK's "global cruise business" rather than the existing "cruise business in Japan," which NYK had been studying for some time.

The survey request from Mr. Maeda was extremely detailed and time-consuming. It was completely different from conventional surveys of cargo shipping companies. It was also a customer business, a business-to- consumer survey, including a consumer (traveler) survey and a customer demographic dynamic survey, with many social psychological aspects, and was completely different in character from the logistics surveys I had experienced in the past. Furthermore, I had no colleagues or subordinates to work with, in the office. Maeda-san's request, as was his nature, was for precision, and to satisfy it, we had to be meticulous.

The survey needed to be done and a lot of time was needed.

Since that time, I have been interested in the development of the hospitality business in Havana, Cuba and Las Vegas, where diplomatic relations have been broken off. I had heard that the diversity and development of hotels, etc., and their backgrounds were based on a thorough analysis of the customer market and their behavior patterns, and the construction of a system to attract visitors by creating "hotels and facilities" to meet their "needs," thereby expanding and establishing the market.

We understood the importance of marketing analysis and building "things (boats)" that meet the needs of the visitors. It was easy to guess what Mr. Maeda was looking for as he attempted to paint the picture of this project from now on.

When Mr. Maeda arrived at the head office in mid-January, I was instructed to further investigate the cruise business situation in the U.S.

However, my boss in New York complained that I was working only on cruise ships at the direction of Mr. Maeda, rather than on work due to the deficit at the time, and Kyo Kasahara It was around this time that complaints were made to the West Coast Branch Manager, Mr. Yasushi Kasahara, who was my supervisor. Fortunately, Mr. Kasahara made a favorable judgment.

Market Analysis and Cruise Liner Company Research

Ask the experts and the market.

When Mr. Maeda asked me to "gather information and report on the site in the U.S. and the potential for future development," I had no idea what I was getting into, and no knowledge of the site, even if I wanted to absorb knowledge of new businesses.

We do a lot of research, but we are amateurs and we don't know the terms used in the industry. We don't know where to start when planning a new business. Since we are starting from scratch, there is no one who can take over from the predecessor in the company.

The traditional NYK method of "taking over from the predecessor"
cannot be used. No one will help me. We have to do something... We have no subordinates, partly because of our secret investigation intentions. We have "money" because of the strong yen, but we have no wisdom, which is the most important thing.

No one in NYK, let alone myself, was familiar with the "current cruise ship business".

Vaguely based on the prewar history of NYK, there were some who said that cruise ships were "hotels floating on the sea. I thought it was best to avoid it as much as possible.

I was convinced that a blank sheet of paper, about which I knew nothing, would be an advantage when drawing a picture on a blank sheet of paper. Rather than pretending to know something, I thought it would be better to gather as much information as possible in the form of facts, share it with Tokyo, and then figure out how to cook up this project.

In February 1987, I decided to venture into a cruise-related travel agency near me (easy to recognize because of the pictures of cruise ships in the show window), even though I had no idea what I was getting myself into. For starters, I saw a picture of a Cunard cruise ship in the show window of a just-opened travel agency in Palos Verdes, where I live, and jumped in to talk to them about cruises.

I had to ask Mr. Kilgore of "Travel Door, Inc." for his opinions on just these two employees afterwards (as a result, they have grown to become the leading travel agency for Crystal Cruises and now have a staff of 30. ) In addition to this, I also visited travel agencies in Beverly Hills and other cities to talk to other travel agents.

Of course, I wanted to gather general cruise information, including insight into the "real" corporate environment of the U.S. market, but I was most interested in the kind of people and connections that were being made to get this business underway.

In other words, in order to learn about this unknown world, we thought that we could get some hints by first "getting to know the field. We were convinced that knowing the actual site would lead to solutions to the many information-gathering problems that were expected to emerge in the future. We had no local, blood, or social ties, so we were in a completely blank slate. We decided that the only way to make a judgment was to create our own network of contacts through the field, listen to their professional opinions, and use objective figures such as statistics to further characterize the situation and diagnose it.

At that time, under Mr. Maeda's leadership, I was in contact with many logistics consultants regarding the introduction of a new transportation system (Japanese factories > Port of Los Angeles > double-stack wagons > Japanese-affiliated factories in the Midwest) for NYK's main business, logistics in the US. In their opinion, the U.S. is a "consumer" country. Their opinions told us that the U.S. is a consumer market and that there are plenty of consulting firms run by groups of customer analysis specialists and social psychologists. In the process, a consultant specializing in hospitality business pointed out to me that subjective "assumptions" on the part of management are the biggest "enemy" in the hospitality business, which I found refreshing. This was the source of my subsequent idea to "listen to the opinions of the people who use this service, if there is anything to be done. In the consideration stage of this project, I actively asked such a "rice cake maker" for his/her opinion on market analysis.

I decided to set up a structure and utilize their expertise. This was the best option for me, as I had no subordinates, and at the same time I was confident that their neutral analysis would help NYK's headquarters make a decision.

After comprehensively weighing these opinions, my intuition told me that the ability to build a network of contacts was required first. Recognizing that a network of contacts (including experts and people involved in
the cruise business) was important for rapid information gathering, I hurried to gather information and build a network of contacts.

This thinking persisted even after the new company was formed. He was keenly aware of the need to build an information network that would make him an "ally" to rival cruise ship operators, with whom he could always talk.

Along with this search for market conditions and network of contacts, it was also necessary to analyze, i.e., "lay bare the existing cruise lines. In order to explore the possibilities of this new business in the U.S., where the market existed, and to start from "scratch" as a company, it was important to thoroughly expose the Scandinavian cruise lines that controlled the world at that time. We decided to analyze the "essence of success" behind their success.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to keep in mind that the Japanese parent company, although considered prestigious in Japan, is a complete unknown in this world and industry, and how to draw the "grand design" of the new company from such a "zero" situation, as well as the future process. Knowledge of prewar cruise liner service is not at all applicable, and the idea of a "hotel on the sea," as it was often called in Japan at that time, was a completely wrong decision.

This, too, turned out to be an extremely childish Japanese interpretation of self-serving, Galapagos-like stereotypes in this industry. The reality of the cruise ship business in the U.S. was, as the word "cruise" suggests, a "round-trip type," and the concept of a liner used to transport passengers between two points, such as the "Titanic" and the gorgeous prewar "Kitano Maru" (on which Einstein and his wife sailed) in Japan, did not exist a long time ago.

The cruise ships of that time (long term) were a world of lifestyle and entertainment that included accommodations and meals for living on board. In this sense, the concept of Havana in Cuba and Las Vegas in the U.S. was basically a device loaded on board. For the ship's passengers, the "price" was determined by the "value of satisfaction and excitement" of enjoying life on board the ship and its ports of call, in addition to the cost of transportation n the liner era.

Mr. Maeda asked, "Report on the current situation and possible future developments in the U.S."

I did a lot of research when I was asked to do so, but I am also an amateur and do not understand the terms and jargon used in this industry. We have no knowledge of their trade secrets, and we have no subordinates. With the strong yen, we had the money, but we lacked the wisdom. However, a very fortunate turning point came. Sometimes, a chance encounter with a person at a certain time in your life can be the catalyst that opens up a new world for you. When I was planning and promoting this project in the U.S., Juan Lóvez, a Mexican national, was the person I met. When I told him about the new mission project, he agreed to cooperate in any way he could. He was running a freight forwarding company in Mexico with close ties to NYK, but his main business was transporting wealthy Mexicans to cruise ship operators in the United States. He had extensive contacts with influential executives in this cruise ship industry and introduced me to many of them.

I decided to ask the person he introduced me to to find out the "golden rules of success" of the Scandinavian cruise companies that now control this industry in the world. It also means that I have to know in the hands of my opponent, who may become a good adversary in the future.

The team began contacting a number of cruise-related experts and critics, including Jim Gottsman, president of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a group of cruise operators in the U.S. that works to promote cruises, as well as a number of hotel-related contacts at Conair College.

I am familiar with the realities of the cruise industry at that time. Through these methods, I learned a great deal of impromptu knowledge from interviews with the current executive class involved with Royal Viking, including Warren Titus, Arthur Lordney of Princess Cruises, and Kirk Kirkpatrick of Society Expeditions. Reports of these interviews were immediately faxed to Maeda-san as reports. Each report was further verified by Mr. Maeda.

After that, he would repeatedly re-examine the questions and conduct another in-depth research.

First suggested by "cruise ship critic" Douglas Ward.

First suggested by "cruise ship critic" Douglas Ward.
I purchased several cruise-related books at a bookstore. In one of them, I found Douglas Ward's name. I immediately sought out his contact information through a PR firm. I called him from Los Angeles, and surprisingly, an appointment was easily made. So I went to New York to meet with him and other leading cruise professionals.

On February 12, 1987, I visited Douglas Ward in his office on the 15th floor of a rundown building in Manhattan. Unlike Bill Miller, the cruise ship historian I had met earlier, he seemed to want to base his new work on a relative comparison of current cruise ships. In fact, he would later begin "rating" cruise ships as a career.

He rated 130 of the world's cruise ships based on 500 checkpoints and became a world authority on the subject. By the time I visited his office, he had already made it his hobby and job to write dozens of pages of cruise ship travelogues, publish them in booklets, and distribute them to those who wished to read them.

The room was neatly organized with cruise ship company brochures and menus.

They were stacked in cramped places. In that room, he handwrote and penciled his experiences on the ships he had recently sailed on.
I decided to have dinner with this "cruise ship critic" Douglas Ward at the Suibi restaurant in New York. Since then, he has given me a lot of advice on how to build my onboard product.

The first conversation I had with him reinforced my blank slate on cruise liners, and I realized that this was a completely different world than the one I had been used to for freight forwarding. He was sold on an assessment that would be as objective as possible and incorporate scientific methods in his analysis of cruise liners.

He was very helpful in understanding the trends in the industry at the time and what cruise companies were up to in terms of both hardware and software.

The following is a list of comments made by Douglas Ward during the interview, based on internal memos at the time. Although this is a bit lengthy, I would like to note all of them first because they contain many of the points that NYK needed to focus on when it launched its new cruise business, and I think they are extremely important.

1. market sentiment
・ The market is becoming bifurcated. The first is the luxury market, which is primarily comprised of repeatcustomers, and the second is the premium and casual market, which includes cruise ship beginners and relatively low-budget travelers.

・ If NYK wants to compete in the U.S. market, it should study the precedent set by Hapag-Lloyd's
"Europe" ship. The strength of the Japanese yen will increase the number of Japanese ship passengers. In such a case, the response of the Japanese market should be considered after fully examining how the current repeat customers will react. The target audience for onboard cruise products will be a larger number of customers. It is a culturally differentiated (?) product. It is also a product. Hapag-Lloyd's rapidly expanded the German market as German marques became stronger. It concentrated especially on the upper floors. As a result, American travel agents stopped selling "Europe". In the end, "Europe" lost ground in the U.S. market and decided to specialize in the German market.

• ・  Although still small in the cruise ship market, the American baby boomer generation is also the generation that asks itself if it is really worth what it pays.

• ・  If you are targeting the luxury market segment, the mainstay of your clientele will be experienced repeat travelers (Experienced Cruisers), and the market for travel agencies that specialize in this market (Experienced Travel Agencies) will be very demanding in their eyes (evaluations).

• ・  The market for Experienced Travel Agencies (ETAs), however, is very demanding in their eyes (evaluation). This niche market segment also follows the mentality or "psychological" aspect of the repeaters and travel agents mentioned above, and requires a more attentive and secure response.

• ・  The cruise industry (especially if it is currently the largest sales partner of professional travel agents) is extremely media oriented, and once the "misunderstood" and "misinformed" image of the new company takes hold, it will be extremely difficult to recover. The most important thing is how to absorb the needs of the luxury market and convince the market of the direction of the new company (later to become Crystal Cruises Inc.) when first embarking on the project. If the company fails here, it will take two to three years to recover.

•  A recent (at the time) example of failure in the market can be seen in Cunard Corp. It has three different squadrons under its umbrella. They are the Queen Elizabeth II (ultra-luxury liners), the Cunard Princess (casual market), and the Fjord-type ships (NAC: luxury), which are completely different markets, but which they are trying to control centrally. Travel agencies have lost their focus and are finding it extremely difficult to sell their products.

• The fjord-type ships can manage on the back of their software and the loyalty of repeat customers, but the company does not have a vision for the next 10 years, so they are unable to attract new travelers away from other companies. If they focus on the Queen Elizabeth II, which is a large ship, they will be competing with Cunard Princess, which competes on mass market prices.

• Travel agents are looking to sell to their own repeat customers from the luxury end of the market, and they do not like the idea of having three different products in the same company. If this is allowed, it is important to have Cunard as a holding interpretation as well as the major hotels, and to develop operations and other services independently.

•   The following opinions and trends are notable for American customers with regard to luxury cruises.

•   Nordic crew and hotel staff. This may be nothing more than a trend established over the years by the management of the Nordic hotel sector and the "selfish choices" of cruise ship passengers, or it may be a bias created by the market and ship passengers, because it provides a sense of cleanliness and security. But "there is no denying it."

• Italian employees have a well-established casual market image. They are friendly, mote and easy-going,

but not the image of luxury. In the hotel sector, they are still more likely to be Scandinavian or Australian.

 The number of Filipinos and Portuguese in the hotel sector is increasing, largely due to their language skills, cheerfulness, and hospitality. This will increase in the future.

•  The ease and composure in dining service (e.g., staff smiles and competence) is indicative of how cruise lines think about the product itself. Hotel staff training and the organizational structure and direction of the cruise line accounted for 70-80% of the ratings. An unpleasant experience on board is immediately conveyed to the ship operator via the travel agent after disembarkation, and any mishandling of the situation is passed on as negative information through fellow ship passengers. It is important to recognize that unlike air travel, this is a stay-and-go type of travel. It is necessary to develop a system to handle this situation.

• Repeat customers are becoming more and more selfish and do not want to be seated at a prearranged time or place. More and more customers do not want to be with the same customers all the time.

•  Cruise ship passengers like to evaluate the personalities of the key staff on the ship's side who were present. There are many topics related to the key staff's appearance, sociability, hospitality (including Appearance / Social / Contact, and the abundance of topics), and personality, which are also important items when analyzing the ship and its services.

•   (2) About the ship's facilities and services

•   The quality of accommodation on board, i.e., cabin and public room size, space ratio, quality of service, value for money, entertainment, quality of fitness facilities, and the mix of shore excursions are also important factors in the evaluation.

•  In terms of the quality of the food, the reception of the ship's passengers, and the service, the main course with a European-Italian undertone has a good reputation. In addition, there is a shift from a meat-driven diet to a plant-based diet.

•  Japanese food will be interesting in the future, but it is unclear whether it will be immediately accepted now. The teppanyaki sukiyaki found in upscale Japanese restaurants in New York is generally self-service and not suitable for a lifestyle cruise. Also, the preparation of food is highly hazardous and subject to complaints. Costume stains and odors linger. These are likely to lead to claims for laundry charges.

•  Meat dishes, including Japanese food, tend to be avoided. Bento, udon, and cold noodles are also interesting options for room service.

• However, beware of Japanese smells such as soy sauce. Some people have an innate inability to accept Japanese food. In the case of Japanese food, sushi, udon and soba will be acceptable to the baby boomer generation.

It is necessary to avoid set meals and bento lunches, and to offer a wide variety of menu choices. Also, be aware that if Japanese food becomes too much to the liking of the Japanese and Japanese guests take over, American guests may complain of a sense of discomfort and alienation.

The company NYK is about to start is a newcomer to the world of luxury products, selling a luxury product with only an "image" when there are no ships or products in the market, so it will be necessary to give the utmost consideration to the positioning of the product when starting out.

If you are targeting the Royal Princess market of Royal Viking and Princess Cruises, it is "absolutely necessary" (in the current state of the U.S. market) to have Scandinavian seafarers in the forefront.

Of course, this will require that Japanese employees have the entertainment skills to talk to American passengers about daily life and cultural topics.

Once the product is on the market and the image of the new company is well established, it may be possible to accelerate this period.These important suggestions were given to me, and finally Ward said. "In any case, first things first."
(3) Crew, hotel staff, etc.

・Repatriates are generally high-profile people (who like to be treated in a
discriminatory and special way), and as members of a repeater club, they even begin to complain about the shipowner's management. They often inquire about new routes (they want to go where they haven't been yet), who the captain and senior crew are, and the crew before they come on board. In particular, the captain of a ship has more followers and connections to attract customers than the president of the company.

The executive crew of a cruise ship should have the ability to talk, socialize, and entertain the ship's guests for more than two hours (during meals), and leave the services that involve direct physical contact with cruise ship guests (such as dancing) to the professionals.

Dancing with ship's employees, captains, and other ship passengers is especially important because it can easily become the subject of criticism and rumors among ship passengers, and the distance between the two is important. Since body touching with cruise ship passengers can easily lead to claims of sexual harassment against the ship, companies such as Royal Viking have on board hosts who can also specialize in dancing. This trend is becoming more and more pronounced.

In the early stages of market recognition, excessive exposure of Japanese employees (crew) may be counterproductive. We know that the Japanese are excellent in the world of manufacturing, but in the world of hospitality, Americans and Britons are not yet ready to accept Japanese employees (crew) in uniforms as a leisure activity.

This will be a particularly difficult challenge for luxury cruises with their large Jewish clientele.

The German ship "Europa," one of the world's most famous cruise liners, is a precedent that should be taken into consideration. Even after the war, German ships are still associated with the German uniforms of the U-boats, which are etched in our minds through movies, and this is the same mentality that keeps the British from paying their own money for a ride on a German ship.

Diplomatic declarations and true intentions are completely different.

Unlike the world of cargo transport, where convenience and high quality can be demonstrated and the value of the product is easily understood, this business will not succeed unless we recognize that it is an industry influenced by the "subjective" psychology of human beings.

The mixed crewing system for senior officers and crewmembers is also a method that is determined by the convenience of the ship operator. Initially, there is a method of dividing the nationalities of crew members
according to rank, such as "A" for senior and "B" for intermediate, but this has never worked well on other ships because of differences in work methods and language (English comprehension) problems in each country.

Miami Beach: at the Fontainebleau Hotel

In March 1987, Mr. Maeda returned to the U.S. to further investigate the cruise ship business in the U.S. During a chat at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, they drew up a scenario and direction for future information gathering and future "decisions," even though they were vague fantasies among amateurs. The two of them were talking at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

In the course of our basic research, we discovered that many Caribbean cruise operators, while ostensibly American companies, are in fact, not American companies at all.

(1) Mainly European, and Norwegian, shipowners.
(2) They had a hold on the fact that they were operating in the U.S. customer market.

They were moving in the direction of dominating the U.S. market with a large "fleet" of ships that were accepted into the U.S. market in order to survive in the destination market for the Caribbean Sea zone.

As a newcomer to the market, NYK could not enter the casual (mass) market as a Caribbean shipowner, which would force them to build a large number of vessels, considering the current status of their core business and their immediate financial resources.

Therefore, it was realistic for them to focus on luxury cruises, which they could enter with a smaller fleet.

Nevertheless, the company is starting from scratch, with no knowledge of the current cruise ship business in Europe or the United States.

How to achieve this? In addition to further analysis of the market situation, it was necessary to consider what form of mechanism to create. The following options were considered.

1. NYK acquires an existing company in the U.S. and develops the cruise ship business within that existing structure.

2. If the company were to operate in the U.S. market, it would purchase existing cruise ships (Cunard Contess, Homeric, etc.), which would then be operated by a newly established U.S. company, which would absorb the know-how of the cruise ship business and then operate the ships in the U.S. The new U.S. company will operate the cruise ships and absorb the know-how of the cruise ship business.

3. build an entirely "new state-of-the-art ship" and create a "new concept" cruise company "starting from zero" (a new ship and a new corporate structure). This will be a very strenuous challenge.

First, we decided to further examine the current status of the cruise business in the U.S. and the direction to take in the cruise business.

Mr. Maeda instructed me to immediately make a list of suitable candidates for the consultants that we might need to hire. At the same time, while Mr. Maeda was on his round-the-world trip, it was necessary to quickly identify and plan the following matters.

Conduct market research from various perspectives to analyze the market situation, i.e., customer base and clientele .

Based on this, we will narrow down the market in the U.S. that NYK should consider in the future.

We were already aware that the cruise business was a brand business. Therefore, the initial stage of this business is positioned as a "brand-building business." How do we build that brand and penetrate the market before the "ship" is ready? In the case of a newly built ship, how to connect the three years until the ship goes into service?

If NYK were to develop its business in the U.S., NYK would be a completely amateur company.

Generally speaking, the formula for success in building a brand is "people," "goods," and "money." In this project, however, there are no "people (cruise ship employees)" and "goods (cruise ships). Does NYK have the foundation to find human resources in the U.S., i.e., castings that satisfy the scenario that NYK envisions, in a short period of time? And how will this be done in the future? What will be the sales strategy until the "product" (the new ship) to be sold is ready? How will you deal with your sales network of travel agencies, etc.?

In the American market, I was faced with the problem of how to quickly penetrate the "brand" to the customers in the industry under the given circumstances. Thus, despite being scolded by my North American manager at the time, I began to devote my days, partly due to time constraints, to researching the American cruise industry, as instructed by Mr. Maeda.
Secure "human resources" for your hospitality business: ......
(Drawing a strategy of buying "professional experience" in the cruise industry rather than the name "NYK")

From March to April 1987, I spent a lot of time contacting three to four PR firms, including Saatchi & Saatchi, in order to get a better understanding of the actual state of the hospitality industry and the cruise business in the United States.

The main purpose was to gain their wisdom, as I needed to draw up a "pull-pull plan," a strategic scenario for starting a "cruise ship business," including the establishment of a company, the start of the business, and how to deal with the launch of the ship two to three years later (after the announcement of the construction plan).

The purpose of the project was to obtain their wisdom. Unfortunately, the name of NYK and its long-established presence, which we had been proud to work with, had no immediate impact on the field we were considering, and the industry itself was completely different from the transportation business for goods, which is NYK's specialty. It did not take long for us to realize that the industry itself is completely different from the transportation of goods, which is NYK's specialty.

Unfortunately, NYK's capital strength, prestige in the world of logistics, and nostalgia for the old days of liner shipping all contributed to a cold-hearted realism that the company had "no appeal" to today's American consumers.

This was completely different from the way I had been taught since I joined NYK, which is to learn from one's seniors and predecessors while passing on one's work, and it was not a world in which such experience could be applied as it was. It was not the world of "goods" transportation, which is NYK's strongest point, but a job that appeals to human psychology and emotion, "satisfaction of travel," and engraves it in people's memories.

We came to the conclusion that it is important to know "people. Therefore, the cruise ship business in the U.S. is not a business-to-business transaction with a strong "goods" transportation aspect, which has been NYK's forte, but a completely new challenge in which the so-called "customer value" of individual consumers (consumers) takes priority, backed by its world-class track record and technological capabilities. = A new recognition that it is a hospitality business.

We felt that it was necessary to take on the challenge of "a completely new system centered on customer value," without being bound by the values built up by the existing classical "product" business.

We had to realize that the "customer value" of the business we were about to embark on was a job that tickled our human "subjective" sense by narrowing our focus to the subject, the cruise ship passengers, and that our priority should be to actively integrate into their culture and lifestyle value standards, and to be conscious of fostering new business together with them. First, we needed to gain their approval for our "symbiotic" reputation.

Then, we realized that in the U.S. cruise market, where "customer value" is a priority, cruise lines tend to "adapt to the market and introduce new ships that best meet its needs," based on analysis and trends in the U.S. market, rather than attracting customers by introducing new ships. The company has realized that "the market tends to adapt to the market and introduce new ships that best meet its needs.

The cruise industry must develop in a "market-driven" manner that meets the needs of the market and its distribution network, providing services tailored to the market, rather than the uniform services and corporate egos provided by the cruise operators as service providers.

In other words, the company must be "market-driven. In other words, it did not take long for us to realize that we could not survive in this business by creating a "boxed product" first and then uncovering demand for that "boxed product.

When I calmly considered what NYK could do, I had to think that, although we could probably make "Hakomono" based on our capital strength, we would not be able to operate and market it in the unknown world of the U.S. within the expected time frame by our own efforts alone.

At that time, I recalled that when NYK was founded more than 100 years ago, there was a period during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) when the company entrusted the operation of its ships to foreign crew members. In this new business, although it is a different type of business from the Meiji Era, we should seek out trusted personnel and experts in the cruise industry, solidify our "casting" as an organization, draw a blueprint for the project based on the "human credibility" of the group, and draw up a plan to gain the support of the industry and its customers through sales networks, etc.

The idea is to gain the support of the cruise ship industry and the cruise ship passengers who will be the ones to take on the challenges ahead. In other words, the key to success in the U.S. market, where NYK must now challenge itself, is not so much the NYK name as the ability to secure influential "human resources" in the cruise industry.

I was faced with an important proposition in my contact with the PR firm. How to launch a new business and build an image and brand for a new company with "no experience or knowledge of the industry, nothing to sell (as a product), no brand strength, no hardware (ship) prototypes, and no clear view of the market" was a major challenge. With no time for complaints, I contacted several PR firms to get second and third opinions.

Seeking Luxury Cruise Lifestyle

From what we had heard from industry experts and others, we understood that in the cruise business, the evaluation of the product cruise operators and cruise ships is determined by the subjectivity of each cruise ship passenger and the evaluation of the sales network.

Therefore, from the side of the product builders, it was necessary to conduct an objective survey to see what aspects and points their "subjectivity" was focused on.

The research had to begin with an understanding of the industry and the circumstances of the cruise ship passengers who would be the "onsite" of this project.

The first thing I did was to get to know the current state of the cruise ship industry, the market analysis and size, and the various conditions surrounding the cruise ship business I was planning, in order of priority and humility.

Although Douglas Ward's comments were helpful, we felt it was important to actively contact U.S. cruise-related travel agencies, industry professionals who handle cruise ship passengers, and cruise enthusiasts to gather further information on our own and to get an impression of the "modern cruise" taking place in the United States. As a result, the following findings emerged.
At the time, the U.S. market for cruise passengers traveling by ship for three days or more was 2.6 million in 1986 (and was expected to be around 2.9 million in 1987. The number was expected to be 3.3 million in 1988, when the project became a reality. The U.S. cruise market was specializing in luxury cruises, mainly for passengers paying around $300 per night (including meals); premium cruises, mainly for passengers paying around $200 per night; and casual and contemporary cruises, mainly on the mass market for passengers paying around $100 per night.

In particular, in the premium and casual contemporary markets, the majority of cruise passengers were on cruises of three to four days to a week at the most, mainly in the Caribbean and other destinations based in Miami and Puerto Rico.

On the other hand, the approximately 400,000 passengers, or more than 10% of the total, were a distinctly different group.

These are the so-called luxury travelers (repeaters), who enjoy cruising for long periods of time and several times a year. Many repeaters are lovers of round-the-world cruises and spend 10 to 14 days on a single cruise, with the longest cruises lasting as long as 100 days.

I contacted the president of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a New York-based shipowners' association, and others to request their cooperation, and promoted a survey of the cruise customer base (lifestyle) by gathering statistics from a variety of angles.

As a result, the following images emerged in the clientele, especially in the luxury cruise clientele.

1. Cruise ship passenger profile: $60,000 annual income, average age around 62 years old, large percentage of luxury cruises are repeat customers and many are Jewish.

2. the U.S. has passed the era of "ship travel" for two-point transportation and has already entered the era of "cruises" based on circumnavigational zones (sea areas) such as the Caribbean, but wealthy travelers want a variety of destinations (ports of call).

3. A "cruise" is a trip in which two "vacations" (One Trip Two Vacations) can be enjoyed in one trip: one to a port of call or destination and one to a place of stay on the ship. In other words, in addition to the means of transportation (ship) and "sightseeing" at the destination, the "stay-and-go" experience is also woven together with a diverse group of people from around the world on board the ship during the trip.

The "ship," a short-stay (resort) facility, creates a variety of living spaces, and each person's life style is tailored to his or her own. Therefore, it is important to plan not only the destination but also the "living experience environment" during the time spent on board.

The ability to enhance the value of the latter, in particular, is the basis of a cruise line's planning ability and service. We are convinced of the importance of the American-style "everydayness" of the lifestyle of the onboard living environment.

4. that there is a marked "differentiation" among cruise lines. In other words, travel agents and ship passengers tend to choose cruise lines and cruise ships according to their own needs.

In other words, NYK must recognize the importance of building a focused, passenger-driven onboard product, and must be thorough.
Hardware (ship) will become obsolete in a few years as new ships are built and imitated by subsequent ships, but software (onboard products = chemistry), which is woven by human resources, is difficult for other companies to imitate. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to these human resources.

5. Many first-time cruise passengers are trying out cruises after having experienced other types of travel. These shippers tend to dislike the packaged tours of other travel and are looking for a new form of travel in a cruise.

Although family and friends are the main reasons for cruise test cruises, cruise company advertisements and introductions by travel agents are also important. In particular, cruise passengers tend to decide on a ship based on the recommendation of a travel agent or other person with extensive cruise knowledge. In the cruise business, the retention (retention, maintenance, and expansion) of "individual" customers is a major growth gas pedal for cruise lines and travel agencies, and for this reason it is important for cruise lines to have the "foresight" to anticipate the lifestyles and preferences of their core customer base.

First-time ship visitors rely on travel agents.

The function of attracting (retaining) customers in the U.S. is not to attract customers in-house, but to build a powerful sales network (distribution network) of travel agents. In other words, the establishment of this system is a prerequisite for building close relationships with the major travel agencies that hold the market. In addition, once a passenger has been on a ship, they will use their experience to decide whether or not they will go on the same ship again, and if they are satisfied with a perfect vacation, they will recommend the company to their friends and family.

6 Initial research shows that, in general, travelers who have cruised rate their cruise experience as "cheaper than expected and more satisfying. Value for money (satisfaction), and that there was an abundance of onboard fun.
7. also, according to CLIA statistics, when analyzing why they become repeat travelers, about 50% of cruise passengers say the friendliness and service of the staff and their concern for the ship's passengers. For first-
time cruise travelers, 19% say cruise travel is more fulfilling than their previous land-based travel experiences. In particular, 13% said they liked the onboard experience, including room, food, and shows.
Cruise lines, travel agencies, and sales networks (・・・・・・) are connected through human networks.

Therefore, it is essential for new entrants to secure "human resources" to connect with this network. 12. luxury cruise ship passengers are sensitive to the US stock market Ship passengers tend to enjoy their cruises by taking advantage of stock investment gains.

On a luxury cruise, fast food and custom-made meals are not permitted on board, and the menu should be "left to the choice" of the ship's passengers. Food is an important part of the enjoyment of a cruise.

8. Luxury cruise repeaters were overwhelmingly the most frequent visitors, with 47% saying they cruise three or more times a year. They are also those who enjoy cruising to different ports of call with the same ship and staff.
9. statistics asked what is important for a cruise vacation,
(a) ports of call,
(b) variety and enrichment of time spent on board, and
(c) chemistry with the crew are the most important deciding factors for a cruise. Such as.

Based on the results of these initial surveys, I have come to the conclusion that the current cruises combine the "pleasure of visiting the regions where the ship sails (planning ability in selecting ports of call) and the enhancement of "experience value" on board (production ability)," and that cruise ship passengers who return are impressed by the human "chemistry" that is created on board. The cruise ship's "chemistry" on board is what impresses repeat cruise ship passengers.

We have come to believe that these are the most important factors. As a result of various market surveys, we have come to the conclusion that what is important for the cruise business is the "value of the experience" on board and the "chemistry" (compatibility) created by the people on the ship.

What is the "experience (emotional) value" that wealthy people seek? ......

What Luxury Cruise Ship Passengers Want: "Everydayness" is Fundamental
Temple Barker Sloane Inc. later commissioned a more specific study focusing on the lifestyle of luxury cruise passengers, and the company's response was that "the industry's view of the luxury market at the time was that cruise ship passengers would become more and more active in the future, and that they would require more of a Las Vegas theme park element than ever before.

The industry's view of the luxury market at that time was that cruise ship passengers would become more active in their lifestyles in the future, and that they would want more of a Las Vegas theme park element than ever before.
According to their report, the luxury cruise market looked like this

• ・  The luxury market is differentiated between large and small vessels.

• ・  Rooms will be larger and suites

• ・  (It goes from a ship-like "cabin" to a luxury hotel "suite" or "state room").

• ・  More choices (variety) and menus are required for dining. While dinner is important, a variety of breakfast

  1. menus are important for cruise passengers.

• ・  New should be avoided).

• ・  The choice of activities on board, such as casinos and lounges, is important.

• ・  Increased exercise (exersize) orientation on board.

・ Enhanced onboard recreational facilities.
・ Diverse entertainment (production shows, etc.).
・ Space on board per passenger and cruise ship passenger/employee (crew) ratio are extremely important factors in the evaluation of a luxury cruise.

The key to success for cruise ships in the future will be the perfect fusion of the hardware of the ship and the environment of the stay on board the people-oriented environment of the stay.

In general, to answer the question of what "luxury" means, one's personal values, subjective senses, and experiential experiences will have an impact.

What was clear, however, was the point that many of them are looking for "selfish time and choice" to be able to do what they want, when they want, as an extension of their land-based lifestyle. In Japan, cruise travel is advertised as an "extraordinary" experience, but at least for the wealthy in the U.S., the opposite is true: "everydayness" is most important. We were convinced that Americans seek value in the "curiosity" of the ports of call, where their daily environment (language, food, lifestyle) is brought on board as it is.

American cruise ship passengers were enjoying the real thrill of cruise travel by enjoying exotic destinations while maintaining their "daily lifestyle" as it is in the U.S. They hope to add color to the "human story" through the many interactions they will have on the ship. For this reason, the ship had to be a very natural "everyday" setting for Americans.

They say that the activities on board require a large number of choices that one can make at one's own convenience.

The new "cruise" format is not the leisurely life on board that has traditionally been portrayed, but rather a desire for a certain amount of activity and Beautiful Aging, even at older ages. They wanted their curiosity to be stimulated in their travels. They wanted to learn about the history of the next country or city, see a painting, learn to dance, learn to cook, etc., even during the cruise. These are the kinds of curiosities and explorations that are often the focus of cruise passengers. This kind of curiosity and inquisitiveness has led them to seek a higher quality of life. The "luxury" of these affluent Americans is no longer a "material value" but an "experiential value. They place more value on the encounters and experiences they have on board the cruise ship than on the pleasure of owning things. If NYK, as a newcomer to the luxury market, can proactively attract "the value of onboard experiences" based on this lifestyle, in other words, "the excellent human resources that form the core of the 'chemistry' that creates the value of onboard experiences," even NYK may be able to become a trendsetter in the luxury market. If NYK, a newcomer to the luxury market, can proactively bring in "talented people who are the core of "chemistry" that creates experience value on board. Such a premonition was beginning to emerge in my mind.
When I studied the value of the onboard experience, I realized that the key to this cruise was not the "extraordinary" as advertised in Japan, but the "everydayness" of the cruise. It was a form of travel that sold "ordinariness. The "stiffness" of the "unusual" is "not sustainable" in a stay-and-go type of travel, he said. Many Americans had discovered a new form of travel in which they traveled to a foreign country without changing their American lifestyle. They saw the advantages of cruise travel as the ability to travel to a foreign country while maintaining their "home life" (i.e., English and food), i.e., their daily lifestyle environment. In order to meet these new needs of travelers, cruise ship operators have been offering cruise passengers the ultimate satisfaction of "living" in a destination (a destination called a port of call and a stay/resort environment called a ship) with a "sense of freedom (for travelers)," "pleasure of receiving services," "many choices," and "freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want," which are the ultimate satisfaction for travelers.

The new travel market was pioneered by adding such advertising slogans as "openness (for travelers)," "pleasure of receiving services," and "a carefree (pamper) environment where you can do what you want, when you want, with many choices. Thanks to the consideration of service providers, cruise
travelers were impressed not only by the "leisureliness" of cruise travel but also by the "fulfillment per hour" of the cruise experience.

In pursuing this new form of travel, we recognized the importance of placing "time" on the axis of travel fulfillment and satisfaction. We analyzed the form of overseas travel at that time effective use of time and satisfaction per hour, placed time on the horizontal axis, and accumulated the degree of fulfillment for each hour of the day on the vertical axis.

When examining the actual conditions and possibilities of cruise travel, for example, in the case of a 10-day (240-hour) cruise, it is clear that the use of 160 hours of net activity time other than sleep, which is 8 hours (80 hours) per day, runs deep in the evaluation of "travel fulfillment and satisfaction. I decided that the key point is how to stimulate this time.

The "lost time" of travel by air or land (time spent in airports, hotels, restaurants, and transportation), the difficulty of communication due to language differences in a foreign country (for example, when visiting a high-end restaurant in Paris, the French menu makes it difficult to understand what you have ordered until the food is served), and other problems that arise when traveling. ), etc., which are the "negative aspects" of travel, were tried to be eliminated or mitigated as much as possible in cruise travel. The establishment of such a meticulous system was becoming a golden rule for travelers to gain overwhelming support over land-based travel at the time. It did not take much time to realize the need for a "clean environment," "human factors," and "efficient allocation (of travel time) and its evaluation" to make this happen.

Wealthy Jews hold the key

The Jewish population of the U.S. was 5 million in 1987, which was about 2% of the total U.S. population (currently 6.5 million)

Note: Israel had 5.5 million, Mouthiah, 4 million in 1900, and is said to have 1 million today

But it was said to have an unthinkable influence on the U.S. economy and politics. They were said to be unthinkably influential, especially in influencing a quarter of the economy and politics of the United States. Their economic power and social organization stood out even among minority communities in the United States.

This trend was also evident in the travel industry. The mainstream of the travel industry was dominated by second-generation Jews whose ancestors had come to the U.S. at a time when there was no "immigration quota," and whose parents were of Russian as well as German, Polish, Austrian, and other Central European Jewish ancestry.

Many of them were concentrated in New York and other East Coast cities and cities represented by the textile industry during their parents' generation, but later (especially after the war), the U.S. economy underwent a major transformation, and with the expansion of the industrial base from the textile industry after the Civil War to the steel, automobile, and military industries around World War II, new With the addition of service and other industries, the large cities in the central and western regions were thriving. In search of new jobs, Jewish Americans scattered along the East Coast tended to "mass" migrate to cities in the "Great Lakes Industrial Area," the nucleus of this new American economy.

In this era, the second generation of immigrants, the generation whose parents had migrated to the Midwest in search of new jobs, was forming a large mass of relatively affluent people in the urban areas of the Midwest, but they themselves were a Midwestern-born generation that had never seen the sea.

At that time, many Scandinavian and German immigrants were living in urban areas in the Midwest, in newly emerging cities on the West Coast, and in the forestry industry as a base for supplying building materials for housing in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They wanted to avoid the harsh winters in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where they lived.

Around these European immigrants and Jewish communities, there were many small travel agencies because of the work of travel agents in arranging return flights (to the former European homeland).

For example, in the Chicago area, where there was a large Jewish community, there were many companies specializing in flights home for Polish immigrants in cooperation with Polish airline LOT (which began direct flights between New York and Warsaw in 1973), etc. They, too, were aware of the changing travel needs of their Jewish clientele. The company was also aware of the change in the travel habits of their Jewish clientele.

Their Jewish clients had long been pleasure-seekers who avoided the bitter cold winters and traveled to Cuba and other southern islands ("Snow Birds"). The rapid development of the U.S. airline industry, including Pan American and other so-called international flights, coincided with a yearning for a new form of sun-seeking travel, seeking escape from inland Chicago that resembled the Polish winters, forcing travel agencies to change their sales direction.

The Castro regime, however, left them with nowhere else to go, and many of them, with the spread of the automobile, drifted to Florida (Miami, Mai Mai Beach, etc.) and Las Vegas, which was consolidating its position as a tourist destination with rapidly growing entertainment value. Many of them, with the spread of the automobile, moved to Florida (Miami, My My Beach, etc.) and Las Vegas, which was consolidating its position as a stay-and-go tourist city. Decades after the advent of Castro, cruise ships again began to enter service in the Caribbean. Naturally, these cruise liners were once again moving out to the Caribbean as their main clientele.

At the time, I had lunch with a travel agent who dealt with Jewish tourists in Chicago and asked him why they had such a strong desire to see the sea. Their answer was simple: many of them were from Central and Eastern Europe and had never seen the sea. In the Midwest of this huge continent, the travel industry could not have developed without the development of the air route network. This deep psychology supports the seasonal migratory "snowbirds" of the Midwest.

As for the travel agencies that send these travelers, the deregulation of the airline industry has complicated the fee structure, while at the same time, there is a marked tendency to handle luxury products such as cruise travel, which offers a higher commission level than the home return flights and air travel, which have seen a decline in income.

Moreover, while the sales style is based on personal networking, the company has emerged in a niche market where personal ties are deep, solid, and expensive, due to the special networks and opportunities for interaction among the local community, such as land and blood ties and synagogue parishes.

The fact that they are repeat customers, with a strong tendency to come back repeatedly, has also been to their advantage. They are an important and valuable market for cruise lines that sell the "value of the experience" on board.

Jewish composers who fled Imperial Russia and Central and Eastern Europe have supported the American music and film industries before and after World War II.

For example, Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade," "White Christmas," and "God Bless America," George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Paris" and "An American in Paris," Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Carousel," "South Pacific," "The King and I," and "Sound The Sound of Music" have had a great influence on cruise travelers, and for the first year after Crystal Harmony's launch, the company staged a stage production centered on their music and others. For the next three to four years, their shows were always packed to capacity with standing ovations.

A special sales channel called the Jewish Network

It was said that around 150 passengers attended the religious meetings held regularly on Fridays by the rabbi on board the "Royal Viking Sun," an 850-passenger ship at the time. The cruise ship's sales channel was to be explored to find out how these cruise ship passengers were led to take cruise trips.

A certain Jewish travel agency in Los Angeles was sending 200 to 250 people a year to the Royal Viking Company at the time. The company's efforts to attract cruise passengers included weekly religious meetings at synagogues, frequent gatherings hosted by Jews, self-experience with cruises, and conversations with Jewish relatives. In addition, he actively and frequently held events such as "cruise evenings" at a golf club dedicated to Jews, and did not forget to talk about the appeal of cruises.

The evaluation of the "onboard experience" was a major motivating factor in attracting customers to luxury cruise ships, and for this reason, face-to-face activities and the oral communication of information in the activities of social clubs with strong local and blood ties were extremely important. In order to fully demonstrate the power of information transmission, it is necessary to send out information about the entry of a "new cruise company. From the standpoint of NYK, this was an extremely important market.

It was decided that it was important for these Jewish travel agents to become national "mom-and-pop" travel agents and spread throughout the United States. These Jewish community "mom-and-pop" travel agents were especially prominent in the smaller, predominantly white cities of the Midwest, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles-New York.

Understanding the Jewish social market was an extremely difficult challenge, as there were few statistics available. However, many of these markets strangely coincided with the groundswell of Jewish politicians throughout the United States.

Through them, I was able to understand the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe under Imperial Russia since the World War I era, their children's generation (born in the United States), the generation after the Holocaust, and Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet bloc (bypassing immigrants from Israel), which increased rapidly after the breakup of the Soviet Union. I also learned that the behavior patterns of these immigrants are different from each other. In particular, the recent immigrants of former Russian Jewish descent, with their wealth under the old regime, are aggressive in their behavior and are expected to have a new influence on the future of luxury cruises.

We also discovered that Persian and Armenian Jewish communities differ from Western European (e.g., Spanish) and Latin American (e.g., Mexican) Jewish communities in their "view of travel. Furthermore, the "Americanized" Jewish Americans, who are descendants of pre-World War II immigrants and have taken root in the U.S., and those who fled to the U.S. due to the political unrest in Europe after the war, also seem to have different views.

For example, Jewish Americans who have settled on the East Coast for a long time before World War II are conservative and not so enthusiastic about Caribbean travel, while the second generation, who moved to the Midwest in search of opportunities as the economy developed, are said to be more inclined toward Caribbean cruises. It has been pointed out that this is because many of them are Jewish immigrants from Poland and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and they have a different attitude toward "sun, sea, and blue skies.

This is probably the same mentality as that of Goethe ("Travels in Italy") in the 18th century and the wealthy people of Northern Europe and Germany today, who seek winter homes on the coasts of Mediterranean Spain and the former Yugoslavia (especially Bosnia and Herzegovina).

For the Jewish clientele, the service area also proved to be important. A port call to Israel was a strong desire and dream of many Jewish ship passengers. Jewish travel agency executives and passengers from Spain
and France, who have travel agencies in the southwestern United States, suggested ports of call in Spain, southern France, and other countries.
On the other hand, there were very few requests from Jewish travel agents at that time to visit "Japan or Asia," which was the most distant and backward destination for them. The estrangement of their relationship with Japanese society was palpable.

Since the early 1990s, these Jewish "mom-and-pop" travel agencies with roots in rural areas have been consolidated with the emergence of major consolidators such as Virtuoso and Signature, and they now hold around 40% of the luxury cruise market.

Their preferred destinations, especially Israel and the South of France, were always welcome, but they overreacted around the time of the Gulf War and the Iraq War, and as a result, Mediterranean cruises were shunned by them. As alternative ports of call, American domestic cruises to Alaska, Scandinavia, and the South Pacific became more popular.)

Jewish Population: States with the Highest Percentage of Total Population

(Percentage of Population by Major State)
New York Jewish population 1,618,320 (people) 8.4% of total population California Jewish population 1,194,190 (people) 3.3% of total population Florida Jewish population 653,435 (people) 3.7 % of total population
New Jersey Jewish population 480,000 (people) 5.5% of total population Illinois Jewish population 278,810 (people) 2.2 % of total population Massachusetts Jewish population 275,030 (people) 4.3 % of total population Maryland Jewish population 235,350 (people) 4.2 % of total population Connecticut Jewish population 111,830 (people) 3.2 % of total population Nevada Jewish population 69,600 (people) 2.9 % of total population Washington Capital Jewish population 28,000 (people) 5.1 % of total population (From the 2006 edition of the "American Jewish Yearbook")

The cruise ship business is a "brand-creating business

The spirit of co-creation between suppliers (cruise lines) and sales networks (travel agencies, etc.) is fundamental.

As we proceeded with this research, it became tacitly clear to Mr. Maeda and myself that the luxury market was an avenue that NYK should target. Under this understanding, through contacts with these PR firms, executives of major cruise lines, many travel agents, people with cruise experience, PR firms, and members of the press, I drew up a vague basic strategy in my mind for the future establishment of a luxury cruise company and derived a scenario for the next 5 to 6 years' range We decided to Once the direction of the project was clear, it was necessary to draw up the arrangements to reach the ultimate goal. The arrangements must be shared at all times between Tokyo and the local side.

After making many contacts in the field, I came up with the following picture of the cruise business. Cruise ship passengers, primarily affluent, are repeat customers, often on the same cruise line's ships.

There must be a secret embedded in the cruise line's service to "surround" this segment of repeat travelers. Deep in the psyche of these repeaters is the "excitement" they gain from the "travel process = the events and people they encounter during the process.

The question is how to create this stage. The cruise lines must respond sincerely to their customers' requests, and the cruise lines, their customers, and the sales networks to which they send their customers must be one and the same, and mechanisms to enhance the effect of "co-creation" are also important.

The cruise business requires that safety and security, which are essential conditions for a successful trip, be ensured not only on board the ship, but also in the countries and ports of call.

Therefore, since it is a futures travel product that is planned more than a year in advance, it is susceptible to the occurrence of wars, incidents, earthquakes, and other disasters. Therefore, political and social factors need to be taken into consideration when planning shipments, and "foresight" is required when planning ports of call, etc." Many first-time cruise ship passengers have a strong sense of the high price of a cruise product, and because of the high price, there is generally a long lead time between booking and embarkation, during which time the passengers have a lot of time to think, imagine, gather information, and raise expectations. The cruise ship is the culmination of this process, and it is important that all employees have a clear understanding of the process, including the prelude to the cruise. The higher the price, the less likely it is to leave cruise ship passengers dissatisfied and feeling "lost".

Many women spend months on the ship pondering what to wear to the captain's reception, and they can spend ample time researching the local ports of call that the ship will serve. More important, however, is the process, which must culminate and culminate on board the ship. Luxury cruise lines are the shadows of these joys of life. In this sense, the culmination of the environment is nothing more than the personal bond between the cruise ship's passengers, who are the stars of the show, and the onboard employees (crew) who support them on their journey. It is only when the cruise ship passengers who experience the cruise trust them that they are recognized as a "brand."

The cruise ship business is a travel product created through this kind of mechanism, and it is positioned as a "brand-creating business" in which the expectations for the trip are maintained from the time of booking, and the excitement of the trip is maximized when the passengers board the ship, and those who have experienced the excitement and impression of the trip are able to pass it on.

The project was positioned as a "brand- building project.

It also did not take long for luxury cruise lines to realize that once a cruise ship passenger has been on board, he or she will become a repeat customer, coming back several times a year, depending on his or her time and financial situation, and that the maintenance of the ship will determine the life or death of the business. In other words, a mechanism was needed to instill the "life" of service and social interaction on top of the "hardware" of the new ship, and the "value of the experience" provided by NYK's new cruise ships was to be communicated through the company name and logo to the sales network (the distribution network).

The "experiential value" provided by NYK's new cruise ship experience will be embraced by travel agents (the company's distribution network) and cruise travelers (its customers), and their empathy will strengthen the company's foundation. In order to achieve this, it is important to constantly remind them of their desire for flexible product innovation (product planning and development, especially the onboard service system and accommodation environment) to satisfy their desires.

Thus, in the world of hospitality business, while the income and expenditures for a single year are important, the perspective of "creating a brand" is also necessary.

The cruise ship passenger experience is the driving force behind the value of the company's business, so the question for the operator is what kind of cruise vacation to offer to them to enhance their brand value. ]

The "corporate value" of a company in the hospitality industry will be determined over the medium to long term through the destination of the cruise ship and the environment in which the cruise ship passengers experience their stay on board.

However, for a cruise ship company that was "starting from scratch," with nothing to show to customers and no place to provide value-added experiences on board, the first question was "what was important to do" to build a brand. I thought it was most important for NYK to clarify the direction and policy that the cruise project would take, and to put new, experienced human resources (Casting) in the forefront, without being tied down to the NYK name. I thought that it was necessary to have a mechanism to sell "human resources," which is the basis of the hospitality business, and to actively communicate this to the users, the distribution (sales network) and the customers (cruise ship passengers).

I thought that the success or failure of this business would depend on the creation of a mechanism to "confirm the expectations of the sales network and customers, such as the travel agency network, in the casting of human resources (goods), create "brand value" by doing so, and raise it to the utmost limit.

The new company will include travel agencies and other agencies that have been participating in the luxury cruise ship industry to create a completely new generation of luxury cruise ships, together with NYK. NYK would be responsible for the capital, and the sales network, including travel agencies, would be responsible for the sales.

In other words, we thought it was important to actively employ the wisdom of the sales network in the development of new travel products, and to promote a project in which the sales network and NYK would work together.

The search for the future of the "ideal business model" It is important to be an "American company".

While many new businesses often begin with imitation, it was also important to run the thought through what the future might "foresee". In order to try a new business model in an inexperienced world, we initiated contact with a corporate consulting firm that had been involved in government intelligence (and excelled at analyzing different cultures and multicultural societies).

We wanted to know what was important to build a system in the "multicultural and intercultural" environment that this cruise business had and to create a "stay environment" with a strong "social psychology" aspect.

The main project was to thoroughly analyze what kind of system was necessary for this cruise business, which is a hospitality business, while also looking at the situation at other companies.

Their first advice was to look at the American market. Their first advice was that if we were to target the U.S. market, we needed to be "American (market), American (management), and American (customer).
As a result, the survey pointed out, among many other findings, that when commercializing experiences and experiences for "people (future ship passengers)" (e.g., stays on board ships and sightseeing in ports of call), it is important to have an onsite decision-making system, and that the Japanese approach of frequent personnel changes (within organizations) and a council system are not desirable.

This is the reason for the need to have a system that is specialized for each area and each position. This was the basis for their judgment that a system led by experts in their respective fields was important.

They even went so far as to say that while "goods" are accepted for their convenience and the value of the product itself, and are not affected much by changes in the organization and people who sell them and are easily imitated, the "human factor," centering on human contact, will determine the success or failure of this business.

I was very much impressed by his words. I concluded that "people are made up of personalities, and chemistry between personalities is more appealing and effective than any other "thing" in creating travel memories.

For example, if the captain on board a ship changes, the ship's passengers may also leave the ship. In the long-duration experiential travel model, the "human ability" of the captain and hotel personnel who perform the managerial tasks of the resort or hotel in the ship as a community of stay-and-go destiny is often linked to the customers' evaluation of the ship.
Draw up a plan that looks six years into the future.

Through my contacts and field research with the local travel agent network, cruise industry, pundits, PR firms, etc.
(1) "Product introduction (including product development)"
(2) "Activities to attract visitors
(3) "Maintenance (provision of various information, etc. to customers)" after reservations (4) Process of "Cruise Travel (Liveaboard Experience)
We understood that these are the basics of this project.

The business recognized that "the entire process is the product" (Process is Product).

Based on this, I created my own process plan and process chart for luxury cruise business development as follows.

Stage 1 (until service begins)
-The period until the new vessel goes into service, mainly the period of "product development and introduction" and "activities to attract customers".

・ Clarify and communicate the direction that NYK's cruise ship business should take. Know the industry well (behind-the-scenes mechanisms) and develop a network of contacts.

• The construction of new ships will be based on the latest "monotsukuri" technology. In particular, we will confirm the direction of the cruise ship company and its product, the ship (hardware "monozukuri" technology), and the heart of the hospitality business, the software (onboard living experience), and thoroughly differentiate the company from existing companies by using these products.

• The core of the product will be the value of the stay on board. In other words, in addition to services including meals, etc., we will consider a mechanism to place a greater emphasis on socializing (socializing) and romance (entertainment, etc.).

•  Analyze and confirm the clientele. In order to create a comfortable environment for ship passengers, we will determine "what customers want" and promote product planning to eliminate as many negative factors as possible, such as "what customers dislike.

• The company will analyze and confirm the sales network (distribution system), PR, advertising (AD), and press, etc., and then promote its human resources to the public so that their credibility in the industry will become a brand.

・ Encourage active participation of the sales network (distribution system), advertising, press, etc. as new ships are built (create an environment where the market actively participates in the product planning of the new cruise ship operator!!!). . This will further raise the "anticipation" for the new product and incorporate it in the brand building process.

Stage 2 (first year of service)
-A mechanism to share the excitement of a new vessel's launch with the sales network (distribution system) and future customers. Start considering the launch of a new vessel.

・ Make the "naming ceremony" and "maiden voyage" a major event.

Encourage active participation of the sales system, i.e., agents, etc.
Feedback and communication to the market. Expand sales channels based on the understanding that travel agents and experienced travelers are "evangelists" of the brand value ("onboard value").

Awareness assessment and analysis (onboard QAP) and satisfaction in the market Research Proactive "tireless efforts to verify and improve products, including thorough analysis through undercover research in the market.

Stage 3 (2-3 years after launch)

A mechanism that appeals to customers about future developments and keeps them as ardent repeat customers.

•  Maintain the brand and continue to develop and improve the software product. Time for brand reaffirmation (market recognition) and brand maintenance.

• Announced plans to build a second ship. Anticipation of the needs of the customer "phase" lifestyle in the market.

  1. Stage 4 (after 4 years in service)
     Time to expand fleet and establish brand

  2. Establish a three-ship system focused on the Baby Boomer generation.
     In this rough sketch, we have noted the following points as we proceed with the first stage, paying special attention to them.

  3. (A) Until the vessel goes into service, NYK will make maximum use of the credibility of its personnel, who are well known in the industry, to demonstrate its determination to the U.S. market (travel agency cruise ship customers). To let the market know the seriousness of NYK's expansion into the cruise ship market.
     (B) If the company were to enter the U.S. market with a new ship, what would be its strategy in the U.S. over the two years between construction and commissioning of the ship (i.e., how would it handle the period between ship construction and ship launch)?

  4. I would like to describe in detail in 1-6 below.

  5. 1. the direction of the project (What is a cruise? - Sell the value of a new lifestyle and experience on board a ship like you have never experienced before").

  6.  during the period of "nothing to sell" until the ship is in service, create brand credibility with the "human resources" you will hire.

  7. create a new company "with the market". 3. Create a new company "together with the market", with the attitude of "Ask the market! and create "what we sell: hardware (the ship) and software (onboard services and staff)". We will consider ways to "engage" the travel agencies closest to the market, as well as the future cruise ship passengers who are the market, since the company's inception. We will consider ways to maximize the market's voice and reflect it in our onboard products and in the company's management

  8. . Create a "selling" mechanism = In the process of building a ship with a new company, we hope to win over the sales network (instill in travel agents the joy of "working together" on a new ship), and expect a co- creation and resonance effect with the sales system (travel agents) in the future. It is important for them to think of the new ship they will build as "my baby" (their daughter).

5. establish a system to validate the product with the existing cruise lines. (Differentiation) and establishment of a product verification system. Do not imitate existing companies. The new company's clientele will be a unique and new type of clientele.

6. to be fully convinced that the brand value is the value of the experience of the ports of call and the lifestyle on board. To maintain the brand value, continuous improvement efforts and maintenance are necessary.
After drawing this picture, I began to search for "human resources," the core of this project.