Royal Caribbean gives Times Square subway a makeover
Some would argue that a Royal Caribbean sailing can be transformative — but there is no debating that the cruise line has transformed the 42nd Street subway shuttle in Manhattan into a ship-worthy mirror image.
During February, both the exterior and the interior of the subway shuttle, which runs from Times Square to Grand Central Station, has been decked out to appear like a Royal Caribbean ship.
The cruise line is calling it the Royal Shuttle.
And, Royal Caribbean International has created a photo album on its Facebook page and has asked fans to upload photos of the shuttle and to tweet them to @RoyalCaribbean, with the hashtag #RoyalShuttle. Here are a few of the images:
Where else can you step off your stateroom balcony right into Grand Central Station?
The marketing blitz comes at a sensitive time for Royal Caribbean, which like Carnival Corp., has seen cruise bookings plunge over the last few weeks because of the Costa Concordia disaster.
Costa is a Carnival brand, but it has hurt bookings for Royal Caribbean and other lines nonetheless.
While booking volumes for Royal Caribbean have declined “by low to mid-teen percentages” in North America, Royal Caribbean says, the drop-off in European bookings has been “higher.”
Royal Caribbean attributes booking declines in Europe, which “vary significantly by country,” to extensive media coverage in the region about the tragedy off the Italian coast.
The fallout from the January 13 Costa Concordia accident occurs during Wave Season, the busiest time of the year for the cruise industry.
Many cruise lines and travel agencies curtailed marketing immediately after the incident, but now they are getting back into gear.
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- Royal Caribbean sets social media adrift with Oasis of the Seas crossing
- After Costa Concordia, Carnival reduces marketing and expects no long-term impact
- Mobile gets seaworthy as Oasis of the Seas uses iPhones for Royal Connect