Vivek Saxena was the VP and Global Head of Web Marketing & E-Commerce at Royal Caribbean from 2010-2011. During his time there, he created and executed a digital strategy that improved Royal Caribbean's online presence and digital marketing efforts. Some key results of the strategy included Royal Caribbean ranking highly in a study of digital leadership in the cruise industry, tripling Facebook fans, developing the first mobile app in the industry, and redesigning parts of the website to improve the customer experience and increase conversions.

1. Digital & E-Commerce Strategy creation and
execution in my leadership at Royal
Caribbean
Story: How Royal Caribbean became the global digital leader
in travel/hospitality industry
- Vivek Saxena
VP and Global Head of Web Marketing & E-Commerce
(2010-2011)
E-Mail: vsaxena2005@yahoo.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vivsax2100

2. Introduction
•Royal Caribbean created new role: VP, Web Marketing & E-Commerce in 2010
•My Background: Marketing & Sales Experience + Digital Marketing & ECommerce + MBA (E-Business / Internet Marketing) & MS-MIS / E-Commerce
•Global Outlook
•Worked in India, Australia and United States
•Lifelong focus on customer; growing revenue, profit, customer satisfaction
and retention
•My responsibilities
•Online Brand Management
•Websites, Interactive and Social Media
•Mobile Applications
•Goals (set by me)
•Take Digital Marketing, Websites and E-Commerce to the next level
•Create and Execute Global Digital Road Map
•Create high performing team and an environment based on open
communication, creativity, and team spirit to find solutions and deliver
outstanding results

3. Created and executed Digital Strategy
Re-design of most visited sections of the website
Successful Global Digital Marketing Campaigns
Mobile Marketing Strategy & Apps development
Social Media Strategy & Social Integration on websites
Online Video Strategy
Integration of New Technologies
Global Digital Commerce Roadmap
Improvements in ROI in Digital Marketing spend (CPA
and ROAS with implementation of best practices in
Paid Search)
• Digital Brand Innovation – Video Post Card booth
aboard ‘Allure of the Seas’
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4. Results of Digital Strategy created and executed at Royal Caribbean
• Brought accolades in an international global study L2 Digital IQ Index
Study and reported on Tnooz (well-known travel industry news
website)
• Only Royal Caribbean was considered as ‘Gifted’ among cruise lines
as a result of these efforts. Royal Caribbean was ranked (#13); higher
than travel industry leaders e.g. Sheraton (#17), Marriott (#18),
United Airlines (#21) etc.

5. Key Events
• Announcement of Partnership with Dreamworks
Animation, Starbucks etc.
• Inauguration of ‘Allure of the Seas’ (world’s largest
cruise ship)
• Launch of Royal Caribbean’s mobile app (first in
industry)
• Re-launch of Crown & Anchor Society program
(loyalty program) Jan’2011
• Launch of Royal Caribbean’s Ocean View Films
(Branded Entertainment) & Red Carpet Event

6. Mobile App (first in industry)
•Goal: Innovation, Grow revenue and Lead Generation
Version 1.0 – iPhone App (US & Canada)
Launched: November , 2010
•Quick vacation search with live pricing and availability
• Special offers
• Ship information and web cams when available
• Stateroom views and information
• Destination and port of call information
• Booking options (click to call, call us, e-mail quote)
• FAQ
• Latest News
Version 1.1 – iPhone Application (International)
Launched: December 2010
• Local language & currency for international countries
• Customize start up menu by country
• Europe destination broken down into more detail
Created Roadmap for Mobile App
•Product features/functionalities of later versions
•Plan for Andriod App roll out schedule & CLIENT Confidential.
©2010 Keynote Systems, Inc. - Keynote
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7. iPhone App Launch – Success in iTunes Store
• On launch, became very popular among travel enthusiasts, featured in ‘New
& Noteworthy’ in iTunes store for 4 weeks
• In league with Orbitz and Airbnb
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8. Destinations
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9. Ships
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10. Cruise Search
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11. Cruise Details
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12. Watch Ship Activities Live via Webcams & App
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13. New Purchase Funnel with less number of steps
Select Departure Info
Select Stateroom Category
Select Your Stateroom
Login/Continue as a Guest/ Other
Guest information/Dining
Preferences
Review Your Reservation
Complete Your Reservation
Confirmation Page
•Resulted in multi-fold
increase in conversion ratio

14. Previous Booking Process
Select Departure Info
Select Stateroom Category
Select Your Stateroom
Review Your Reservation
Login
Other Guest Information
Dining Preferences
Terms and Conditions
Complete Your Reservation
Confirmation Page

15. Facebook
Tripled the
number of
Facebook
Fans in
8 months
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16. Facebook
• Accomplished Extremely High levels of Fan base Engagement
• Initiated Facebook Advertising in 2010
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17. Facebook Tab Development for Digital Campaigns
Example: Allure of the Seas
Inauguration, showcasing
Product and interactive
Features for higher fan
Engagement with brand
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18. YouTube
High level of engagement and an passionate fan following
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19. YouTube
•A Royal Caribbean guest shares
his enthusiasm towards boarding
Allure of the Seas in the future.
•A viewer is excited about
the Savoring the Competition
video and asks Royal
Caribbean to send him food!
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20. Twitter
High level of excitement to engage with the brand
•A follower expresses excitement
about her upcoming cruise!
•A follower was happy to
see that Royal Caribbean
engages with consumers
through social media.
•A follower appreciates the
post-cruise blues content
shared by Royal Caribbean.
•Followers share their
amazing experiences onboard
Royal Caribbean cruises.
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21. Flickr
•A viewer asks about the
different locations shown
in the photos of Haiti.
•While browsing through the Royal Caribbean photo
stream, a viewer asks about the current status of Haiti.

22. Launched Social Media / Online Video Hub
Home Page

23. Royal Caribbean - Social Media Hub
Online Videos
with the ability
To search
videos by
category or
keywords
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24. Royal Caribbean - Social Media Hub
Integration
with
Chairman &
President’s
Blogs
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25. Royal Caribbean - Social Media Hub
Integration
with
other Social
Networks –
Facebook,
YouTube,
Twitter,
Flickr etc.
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26. Digital Brand Innovation - Video Post Card Booth
Led creation of Video Post card booth aboard Allure of the Seas
Capability: Share Experience, Send Free Photo or Video Message to Friends &
Family via Facebook from the ship while it is sailing in high seas and
communication is expensive.
Goal: Brand Marketing , increase Brand Awareness and Viral Marketing

27. Video Post Card Booth
•First among any cruise lines
•Results: Highly successful in its goals
•Extremely complex Marketing Project
using cutting edge technology as it required
Satellite connectivity; communication
between servers onboard ship and on land
to communicate to Facebook
•Featured in Ocean View Films – Royal
Reunion movie; Watch YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We0uBxnvTYU

28. Digital Marketing Campaigns- Examples
Events: Partnership with Dreamworks Animation; Release of Shrek 4 & Megamind
movies; Integrated campaigns done on websites and interactive media globally
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29. Microsites / Landing Pages for Digital Campaigns
Event: Launch of
Dreamworks characters
on Ships
•Led creation of highly
Engaging Microsites and
Landing pages for driving
traffic from various
Channels (Display Ads,
Paid Search,
SEO, Partner Links)
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30. Digital Marketing Campaigns- Examples
Event: Oprah
selected ‘Allure of
the Seas’ as her
Ultimate Favorite
Thing
• Led Integrated
campaigns on
websites and
through interactive
media (display ads,
paid search, SEO)
globally
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31. Digital Marketing Campaigns- Examples
Event: Inauguration
of new Ship ‘Allure of
the Seas’
•Led Integrated
campaigns on
websites and
interactive media
(display ads, paid
search, SEO) globally
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32. Global Digital Marketing Campaign (Pre-launch,
Red Carpet event and Post launch)
Movie Title: Allure of Love
Directed by Jenny McCarthy
Launch of
Movie Title: Royal Reunion
Directed by James Brolin
(Branded Entertainment)
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33. Global Digital Marketing Campaign (Pre-launch, Red
Carpet event and Post launch)
• Display Ads, Paid Search
• Online Video Channels
(YouTube etc.)
• Microsite
• Social Media (Facebook,
Twitter, Flickr)
• Twitter Chat between Royal
Caribbean fans with Stars on
the day of release / Red Carpet
event
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34. Search Marketing: Examples of improvements in
Paid Search (PPC)
•Say: Searcher located in Geo NY
•Lead searchers to Geo-specific page
•Result – Higher Conversion, Reduction
in CPA
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35. Search Marketing: Examples of improvements in Paid
Search (PPC)
•Search: “bahamas
cruise”
•Lead searchers to
destination specific
search page
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36. Website Re-Design to drive revenue growth
Goal: Improved Usability and better customer experience;
Modernization of most visited sections of the website
Some examples:
•Re-Design of Cruise Search Widget
•Up-sell Functionality
•E-Mail information to others
•Stateroom Category Selection Page
•Interactive Progress Bar
•Add features Click to Call, Web Chat etc.
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37. Home Page Re-Design
Launched: December 2010
•Removal of Flash for
Mobile devices
optimization
•Increase Revenue
•Attract more customers
with display of
lead pricing
After Re-Design
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
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38. Home Page Re-Design
•Personalized
Home Page for
customers already
booked
• Encourage to go
to ‘Countdown to
Cruise’ to engage
and plan their
cruise experience
•Cross-sell
products e.g. Shore
Excursions
After Re-Design
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
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39. Re-Design of Cruise Search Widget
Before Re-Design
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40. Re-Design of Cruise Search Widget
Features: Intuitive; Auto elimination of choices; Advanced
Search – More Options; Select Multiple Months etc.
After Re-Design
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41. Quick Vacation Search Widget - Month
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
Resolved the problem when cruises over lapped over
consecutive months and did not show in search
results. Helped increased conversion and improved
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experience

42. Quick Vacation Search Widget – Departure Port
• More intuitive; multi-selection (helped in case of ports
located closely e.g. Miami & Ft. Lauderdale
•Sorting based on IP Address e.g. If you are in UK, then
Europe will be the first block of destination port
bringing more relevance
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
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43. Quick Vacation Search Widget - Ship
New Design:
• Better Organized; Much cleaner Design
•Shows on top of Search Results Page; results change
without re-loading page
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
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44. Search Results Page
Small font,
less visual,
hard to figure out
Before Re-Design
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45. Re-design of Search Results Page
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
After Re-Design
Advanced Search Widget on the top; so results change with
selection using AJAX technology, customers could change and see
various options quickly
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46. Re-design of Cruise Details Page
Stateroom images were too small; not visually appealing
Before Re-Design
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47. Re-design of Cruise Details Page
Visually appealing; inspiring display
of staterooms; Pricing bar for
various dates for the same itinerary
After Re-Design
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
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48. Re-design of Cruise Details Page
After Re-Design
Attractive visual
representation of
rooms and cruise to
excite visitors to
book a cruise
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
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49. Re-design of Destinations Section
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
More appealing,
Modern look,
Better Visuals & Copy,
Clickable Maps using Web 2.0
technologies
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50. Re-design of Destination Pages (Example)
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
More appealing, Modern look,
Better Visuals & Copy and
more information to help
customers get excited and
reach decision to buy
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51. Re-design of Hot Deals Page
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
•Easy to find deals with right content
to help customers get excited and
reach decision to buy
•Use of Web 2.0 technologies to help
sort and find best suited deals
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52. New Functionality: Up-sell
After Re-Design: Up-sell presented to the customer to increase revenue; based
on stateroom availability
Before Re-Design: Did not Exist
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53. New Functionality: E-Mail information to others
Share Itinerary, Search results, Cruise Details, Compare Cruises, Booking
Stateroom Selection Page, and Booking Confirmation
•Current: Does not Exist
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54. New Functionality: Ability to Pay with Multiple Credit Cards
Accommodate
customers who
might exhaust
their credit limit
on a single card
Goal:
Reduce Cart
Abandonment
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
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55. New Functionality: Ability to Hold/Book up to 4 Staterooms
Extremely useful for
small groups of friends
and families (target
demographic)
Before Re-Design:
Did not exist
*Representative numbers shown for demo purpose
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56. New Functionality - Click to Call
Connects phone to
Contact Center on
Entering its number
on the website

57. New Functionality - Web Chat
Ability to Chat for higher conversion

58. Crown and Anchor Society Loyalty Program Re-Launch
Re-design of the Loyalty Section of the
website to include new features
(examples)
• Branding, Change look and feel to match
new program look.
• Introduce new point system & tiers on the
Home Page, history and through a calculator
tool (converts cruises to points).
• Add features like personalization (birthday,
points to next tier, current or next cruise.
•Introduce bring a friend program (US and
International).
•Add Crown and Anchor number look up in
the booking process.
• Introduced upgrade preference
functionality. (US and International)
Watch YouTube Video about Launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxhRygZe2hU
©2010 Keynote Systems, Inc. - Keynote & CLIENT Confidential.
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59. Crown and Anchor– Home Page (Before Logging in)
Before Re-Design
Before Re-Design
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60. Crown and Anchor – Home Page (After Logging in)
Before Re-Design
After Re-Design
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61. Results of all these efforts
• Brought accolades in an international global study and reported on
Tnooz (well-known travel industry news website)
• Only Royal Caribbean was considered as ‘Gifted’ among cruise lines
and was ranked higher than travel industry leaders e.g. Sheraton
(#17), Marriott (#18) and United Airlines (#21) etc.

62. Questions
Contact:
Vivek Saxena
Senior Digital & Marketing Executive
E-Mail: vsaxena2005@yahoo.com
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/vivsax2100
Disclaimer: All the logos are the property of Royal Caribbean International and other
parties e.g. Dreamworks Animation. The information in this deck is derived mostly from
publicly available images on websites (Royal Caribbean websites, Social Media websites
over a period of time). Attempt has been made that there is no confidential information
pertaining to Royal Caribbean International.
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