Case study analysis covid cruise - Greg Mortimer

Cruise Industry Caught Off Guard:
The Floating COVID Case Study
MMBA8022 Services Marketing, Term 4, 2020
Unit Convener: Associate Professor Chris Baumann
Name: Amit Sati
Student ID: 45692386
Company: Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship
SM Theory: Developing Service Products
SM Perspective: Consultant

Name: Amit Sati | Student ID: 45692386
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................... 2
2. Case Problems................................................................ 3
2.1 Failure of Customer Readiness..............................................................................................3
2.2 Failure of Customer Participation......................................................................................3
2.3 Failure of Exception Handling ...............................................................................................3
2.4 Business Continuity Management ........................................................................................4
2.5 Brand Reputation Damage....................................................................................................4
3. Critical Analysis of key Problems........................................ 5
3.1 Failure of Service Product Design..........................................................................................5
3.2 Failure of Facilitation and Enhancement of Services............................................................7
4. Recommendations........................................................... 8
4.1 Smart Wristband - Contactless Experience...........................................................................8
4.2 Health and Safety Information Session.................................................................................9
5. Conclusion ................................................................... 11
6. Bibliography & Appendices.............................................. 12
Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................12
Appendices................................................................................................................................15

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1. Introduction
The analysis of this case study is completed from a consultant’s perspective
to identify key points of services marketing failure. “Developing Service
Products” is used as the focused service marketing theory to evaluate the
case study of Greg Mortimer’s service delivery failure because of on-board
Covid-19 outbreak.
Considering the unknown nature of Covid-19 spread, was the Greg Mortimer
management unable to appraise the gravity of possible risks? Researchers
highlighted the potential contagious nature of the disease and possible
community transmission in February 2020 (Heymann & WHO Scientific
Technical Advissory group, 2020), one month before the start of the journey
of Greg Mortimer. Also, outbreak of similar viruses is nothing new for cruise
industries (CDC.gov, 2018).
The theory of developing service products in this case is helpful to
understand the possible drawbacks in the entire product offering; inability to
manage internal and external disruptions. The focus is to provide innovative
but feasible solutions using services marketing theories, concepts or models
to improve the service delivery and customer confidence in the cruise line
industry.

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2. Case Problems
In this section we will look at the extensive list of service delivery failures of
the Greg Mortimer cruise ship from the event timeline (appendix 6.1)
because of Covid-19 outbreak on the ship.
2.1 Failure of Customer Readiness
Better guidelines for customer readiness and role of customers in service
delivery helps to increase the service experience (Poushneh & Vasquez-
Parraga, 2018). Insufficient information was provided in this case (Appendix
6.2) at the start of the journey to passengers on Social Distancing to reduce
the possible spread of Covid-19.
2.2 Failure of Customer Participation
Customer participation or efforts immensely influence the quality of service
delivered (Kelley, Donnelly, & Skinner, 1990). In this case lack of physical
distancing since the start of journey turn out to be failure of “active
passenger participation in service delivery”, which possibly amplified Covid-
19 spread in the ship.
2.3 Failure of Exception Handling
Exceptions involve to take care of services fall outside the normal service
delivery of any organisation (Lovelock, Patterson, & Wirtz, 2014). In this
case medical support to treat patients within ship for the potential threats
were not anticipated as exceptions (Appendix 6.2). Failure on-board medical
treatment caused emergency evacuation of passengers (Appendix 6.1 - Day
17th to Day 27th).

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2.4 Business Continuity Management
Business continuity management system (BCMS) is implemented by
organisations worldwide to deal with any potential disruption using a
customised response plan (Torabi, Giahi, & Sahebjamnia, 2016). In this case
the business continuity plan was not in place to find a safe repatriation for
passengers as early as possible. On day 3, when the itinerary was revised,
ship was still to remain in water for another eleven days (appendix 6.1).
After day 13, Ship was docked in Uruguayan coast for nineteen days without
any clarity on disembarkment process for passengers.
2.5 Brand Reputation Damage
After the Greg Mortimer cruise ship and other similar incidents, people are
more than concerned about the maintenance of health and safety onboard
cruise ships (Giese, 2020). Besides the damage of lost sales because of
travel restriction since March 2020, Cruise industry is also suffering from
significant reputation damage (Matei, 2020).

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3. Critical Analysis of key Problems
3.1 Failure of Service Product Design
In this case, we have observed that service delivery failed (Appendix 6.1 –
P1, P2) to fulfil the role of core product as the passengers were unable to
complete their cruise holiday and utilise other services (Figure 1) promised
in initial offerings.
Figure 1: Expected 3 Level Product Model Adaption for Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship
(Fripp, 2015)

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To deliver the core promise of product or service delivery, it needs to be
ensured that elementary expected attributes of the service design could be
delivered uninterrupted (Storey & Easingwood, 1998), even in the event of
any external or internal disruption, similar to this case of Greg Mortimer
Cruise Ship.
a) Core Product Failure
Passengers embarked on a twenty-one days’ planned journey in mid-
March 2020 from Ushuaia, Argentina on the Greg Mortimer Cruise
Ship. But the journey was cut short for only fourteen days on third day
with change in route in the wake of Covid-19 spread globally
(Appendix 6.1). The most important and core promise in the service
delivery was unsuccessful in this case.
b) Expected Offerings’ Failure
The expected offerings of Greg Mortimer such as following the
Schedule, Safety, Meals in Restaurant etc. (Figure 1) were also
partially or completely failed because of Covid-19 outbreak in the ship
(Appendix 6.1 – Day 8 to Day 32).
C) Augmented Offerings’ Failure
Passengers take cruise vacations not only to travel to new destinations
but there are many augmented reasons for this, such as family time,
unwinding or new adventures (Laskin, 2018). In the case of Greg
Mortimer, passengers were unable to gain these augmented benefits

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because of Covid-19 outbreak in the ship (Appendix 6.1 – Day 8 to
Day 32).
3.2 Failure of Facilitation and Enhancement of Services
In Services marketing The Flower of service model (Figure 2) explains
significance of supplementary services such as Information, Consultation
and exceptions. In this case (using section 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3) it is evident that,
the development or designing of cruise service product had significant
lapses. The “moment of truth”, when service quality can be experienced and
how delightful it can be to customers, are enabled by the entire service
system (Robert J. Glushko, 2009).
Figure 2: The flower of Service: Core product & supplementary services to enhance
the final service delivery (Lovelock, Patterson, & Wirtz, 2014)
Failure in providing enough
information related to Covid-19
spread and precautions before the
journey
Failure in advising
passengers on social
distancing during
journey
Failure in emergency
medical support to
passengers on the ship

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4. Recommendations
Perceived value of a service to customers is linked to fault-free service
delivery and effective complaint handling (Lovelock, Patterson, & Wirtz,
2014). The recommendations are focused on providing flawless service
delivery through innovative addition is service design. Using “Why Why” or
“5 Whys” analysis (Appendix 6.3.3) the problems was examined to provide
below recommendations. These recommendations are considered in light of
the updated health protocols by cruise industry associations (CLIA, 2020), to
provide incremental improvements.
4.1 Smart Wristband - Contactless Experience
Automatic doors or touchless doors are very common in commercial
buildings, university and other public places. Combining the automatic door
technology with a smart wristband individual access control could be helpful
to provide a contactless experience on board. The transmission of viruses or
bacteria is evident via contact surfaces in public settings (Gerhardts,
Hammer, Balluff, Mucha, & Hoefer, 2012). By providing a smart wristband to
passengers and crew to open and close doors would reduce the personal
contacts and chances of transmission. Any other services which may require
the passengers and crew to touch for access could be minimised using this
contactless method.
It has been observed that contactless payment has gained significant
popularity amongst users globally this year because of hygiene concerns
(Collett, 2020). Similarly, the offering of contactless safe experience could
improve the marketing positioning of the product for cruise line industry. It
also adds to the perceived safety and value of the offering for the industry.
Perceived safety helps to improve the satisfaction for pleasure travellers

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(ringle, sarstedt, & Zimmermann, 2011) and for cruise industry this could be
used as point of difference by any business.
Acceptability of wearable devices is rapidly growing amongst consumers and
the market for wearable devices is expected to grow at about 13% CAGR
(businesswire.com, 2020). Cruise line industry can take advantage of this
growing trend to enhance the value of services offered along with improved
perceived safety as discussed above.
4.2 Health and Safety Information Session
Absence of correct health information amongst passengers could be a
potential threat to cases similar to Greg Mortimer Cruise in this case
(Appendix 6.2). The health and safety information summarised in easy to
understand method; related to possible transmission of viruses or bacteria
and how this can be controlled by simple hygiene practices such as washing
hands regularly or physical distancing is very important (Appendix 6.4).
Figure 3: Impact of customer training and education on customer performance
(Damali, Miller, Fredendall, Moore, & Dye).

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Health literacy is key for increasing awareness to address covid-19 (Paakkari
& Okan, 2020) or similar virus outbreaks and ensuring a safer environment.
Customer trainings can be really helpful in improving their behaviour (Figure
3) and cruise lines can use it to improve the on-board hygiene.
“Health and Safety Information Session” delivered online or through
physical classroom environment for passengers before the journey could be
key to curtail on-board transmission of similar viruses. Cruise lines should
design an information session tailored to passenger needs, language,
cognitive skills to provide maximum impact. On one hand it will help to
reduce the risk of any service delivery failure, at the same time it increases
customer participation in service delivery.

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5. Conclusion
The analysis of this case study highlights key failure and service product
design. It also emphasise on the active participation of customers in the
overall service delivery. Flower of service model remains key to provide
flawless service delivery in today’s context of rapidly changing health,
consumption, technology and other environments.
Businesses need to be agile and cognizant of changing microtrends &
megatrends to improve the service products continuously. Any service
delivery failure is not just fatal for the reputation of that company, but the
reputation of entire industry could correspondingly suffer because of that.
Different associations and regulatory bodies in the cruise industry also have
an important role in forming the guidelines for a better service product.
As I am writing this case analysis, I have come across news of recent cases
of Covid-19 outbreak in cruise ships after the industry has resumed the
cruise liners from few countries (abc.net.au, 2020). There are many
questions still unanswered, most importantly, has the cruise line industry
learnt the lesson yet?

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6. Bibliography & Appendices
Bibliography
Torabi, A. s., Giahi, R., & Sahebjamnia, N. (2016). An enhanced risk
assessment framework for business continuity management systems.
Safety Science, 89,, 201-218.
abc.net.au. (2020, Aug 4). Coronavirus outbreaks recorded on two cruise
ships weeks after cruising restarts. Retrieved from ABC News :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-04/coronavirus-outbreaks-
recorded-on-two-cruise-ships/12521096
businesswire.com. (2020, Feb 7). Wearable Technology Market 2020-2024 |
Popularity of Wearable Devices as a Payment Method to Boost Growth
| Technavio. Retrieved from businesswire:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200207005233/en/Wea
rable-Technology-Market-2020-2024-Popularity-of-Wearable-Devices-
as-a-Payment-Method-to-Boost-Growth-Technavio
CDC.gov. (2018, Oct 15). Facts About Noroviruses on Cruise Ships.
Retrieved from Centers for Disease and Prevention:
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/norovirus/norovirus.htm
CLIA. (2020, Sep 21). CLIA and its Cruise Line Members Announce
Mandatory Core Elements of Health Protocols. Retrieved from Cruise
Lines international association: https://cruising.org/en/news-and-
research/press-room/2020/september/clia-and-its-cruise-line-
members-announce-mandatory-core-elements-of-health-protocols
Collett, J. (2020, May 26). Contactless payments spurred by hygiene
concerns. Retrieved from The sunday morning herald :

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https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/contactless-
payments-spurred-by-hygiene-concerns-20200522-p54vh9.html
Damali, U., Miller, J. L., Fredendall, L. D., Moore, D., & Dye, C. J. (2016).
Co‐creating value using customer training and education in a
healthcare service design. Journal of Operations Management, 47-
48(1), 80-97.
Fripp, G. (2015, Feb 18). The three product levels in marketing. Retrieved
from THE Marketing Study Guide:
https://www.marketingstudyguide.com/three-product-levels-
marketing/
Gerhardts, A., Hammer, T., Balluff, C., Mucha, H., & Hoefer, D. (2012). A
model of the transmission of micro‐organisms in a public setting and
its correlation to pathogen infection risks. Journal of Applied
Microbiology, 112 (3), 614-621.
Giese, M. (2020, July 23). COVID-19 impacts on global cruise industry.
Retrieved from KPMG:
https://home.kpmg/xx/en/blogs/home/posts/2020/07/covid-19-
impacts-on-global-cruise-industry.html
Heymann, S. D., & WHO Scientific Technical Advissory group. (2020).
COVID-19: what is next for public health? The Lancet (British Edition),
395(10224), 542-545.
Kelley, S. W., Donnelly, J. H., & Skinner, S. J. (1990). Customer
Participation in Service Production and Delivery. Journal of Retailing;
Greenwich Vol. 66, Iss. 3, , 315.
Laskin, S. (2018, 18 Feb). Top 10 reasons why people really take a cruise
vacation. Retrieved from Cruise Maven - 19K+ Twitter followers:

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https://cruisemaven.com/top-10-reasons-for-a-cruise-vacation/
Lovelock, C., Patterson, P., & Wirtz, J. (2014). Services marketing ebook.
ProQuest Ebook Central.
Matei, A. (2020, Apr 14). Should passengers return to cruise ships after the
pandemic? No. Retrieved from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/14/cruise-
ships-coronavirus-passengers-future
Paakkari, L., & Okan, O. (2020). COVID-19: health literacy is an
underestimated problem. The Lancet, 5,(5), 249-250.
Poushneh, A., & Vasquez-Parraga, A. Z. (2018). The role of customer
readiness and participation in non-technology-based service delivery.
Journal of Consumer Marketing, 35(6), 588-600.
ringle, C. m., sarstedt, m., & Zimmermann, l. (2011). Customer satisfaCtion
with CommerCial airlines: the role of PerCeived safety and PurPose of
travel . Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(4), 459-472.
Robert J. Glushko, L. T. (2009). Designing service systems by bridging the
‘‘front stage’’. Information Systems and EBusiness Management, 7(4),
407-427.
Sakichi Toyoda; kanbanize.com. (n.d.). 5 Whys: The Ultimate Root Cause
Analysis Tool. Retrieved from kanbanize.com:
https://kanbanize.com/lean-management/improvement/5-whys-
analysis-tool
Storey, C., & Easingwood, C. J. (1998). The augmented service offering: a
conceptualization and study of its impact on new service success.
Journal of Product Innovation Management, 15(4), 335-351.

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Appendices
6.1 Timeline

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6.2 Flower of service (Lovelock, Patterson, & Wirtz, 2014)
Day 17
onwards
evacuations
required,
failure of
on-board
medical
treatment
Lack of Information &
benefits of social
distancing at the start
of Journey

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6.3.1 Service Delivery failure - Why Why / 5 why Analysis (Sakichi Toyoda;
kanbanize.com, n.d.) attempt 1
Sequence Why Why Analysis
0
Service Delivery of Greg Mortimer
Failed
Covid-19 outbreak on the ship
1
Why did Covid-19 outbreak
happen?
Passenger or crew found infected on
Day 8
2
Why was Passenger / crew infected
when screening was done and
travel history was checked?
There were no symptoms and
unknown nature of Covid-19
3
Why unknown nature of Covid-19
or could there be other similar
disruptions?
?
6.3.2 Service Delivery failure - Why Why Analysis attempt 2
0
Failed
1
Why did Covid-19 outbreak go out of
control? (From day 8 - day 12)
Passengers were not evacuated in time
2
Why passengers remained on-board
even the Covid-19 outbreak happened?
(From day 14 to day 32)
Uruguayan Govt didn’t allow
disembarkment
3
Why didn’t Uruguayan Govt allow
disembarkment?
They were not ready for handling
infected passengers or didn’t have safe
passage arrangements with other nations
passengers belong to
4 Why there was no safe passage? ?

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6.3.3 Service Delivery failure - Why Why Analysis attempt 3
0
Failed
1
Why did Covid-19 outbreak
happen?
Passenger or crew found infected on
Day 8
2
Why was Passenger / crew infected
when screening was done and
travel history was checked?
There were no symptoms to anyone
till 7th
day
3
Why infection spread when
everyone isolated after 8th
day &
all precautions implemented?
Transmission could happen through
public places invisibly, like door
handles, stairwell railings etc

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6.4 Covid-19 health advisory examples

Case study analysis covid cruise - Greg Mortimer

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