God Bless Island Princess and All Who Sail in Her.

There will be follow-ups to the 2010 Signalwrite Panama Canal Cruise. This post, though, has less to do with marketing and advertising and more to do with giving thanks.

As I already wrote to Nathan Eisenberg, you would probable enjoy this 10-day cruise if [a] you like the sun (very nice, out there on the Lido deck); [b] can stand up to 24-hour-a-day eating (relentless) and [c] enjoy meeting and spending time with several thousand strangers (actually not so bad).

We wished there was much more “Panama Canal” in the Panama Canal Cruise. Nevertheless, this is a shout-out to Captain Nicolo Bommarco and the crew (ship side and passenger side) of MV Island Princess:

You have a beautiful cruise ship and operated it beautifully. We not only sailed 3300 miles in complete safety, thanks to you; all 890 of you worked very hard to ensure that almost all of the 2,300+ passengers had a good time. On board your ship, we did.

Good-bye. Smooth sailing to you all. Thank you very much. Sincerely…

BTW, the “Las Señoritas” shirt whipped up special for this cruise went over a treat: Lots of positive strokes. Love and thanks to Barbara again for making that happen.

Panama Canal as Advertised - A Post in Haste.

Getting access to the Internet aboard Island Princess is not hard unless, like me, you have an institutional prejudice against paying for the service. I figure very roughly that this single cruise ship pulls in $22 million a month in revenues. And yes, I realize it is expensive to operate the boat in this pretty swell manner.

So it probably evens out but I am sticking with my laidback, non-Internetting lifestyle. I have found a couple of Internet cafes, though, this one in Porto Limon, CR. So this will be a short note about a long subject: The Canal delivered its promises as far as I´m concerned. One lecturer keeps calling it, ¨the eighth wonder of the world.¨ It is even being enlarged.

Now I saw the Canal (some of it) in luxury, not among a crowd of sailors. It is possible I missed all the hands-on, walking-around swellness that comes from a land tour. Nevertheless, I am thrilled to have seen the Panama Canal at last. Next time you see it advertised, take a look at it for yourself. There is more to come on this subject; ta for the time being.

When the Consumer is an Individual, Travel Marketing Has More Moving Parts.

This Panama Canal cruise I’m taking, I never waited for Princess Cruises to market it to me. I reached out and selected the destination and the means of getting there.

Maybe it’s because I’m on the leading edge of the famous Baby Boomer generation. Or I’m one of the group that broadly wants to keep learning, connecting and engaging with the world. Maybe I’m an individual and not really part of a group at all (though I find this last bit hard to believe).

Nevertheless, taking the Princess cruise ship south and west to the Canal is a personal choice that’s years in the making. When I was growing up, the Panama Canal was heroic – in many ways it still is.

When President Jimmy Carter signed the 1977 treaty which agreed to return 60% of the Canal Zone to Panama two years later, I was against that action, not because Panamanians didn’t deserve to control their own territory but because the Canal was so much a part of my historical understanding of America’s manifest destiny. And after all, I wasn’t against it that much.

In the middle of that now-foggy set of events, in ’78, David McCullough published his superb study, The Path Between the Seas, about the creation of the Canal. I read it immediately and it’s been in my bookshelves ever since; I re-read it every couple of years: Such a very American story.

Traveling to the Panama Canal hasn’t been all that difficult in the past century. But mental barriers exist, or used to: Time, location, affordability. Mentally, the Canal has come more and more within my reach.

I’ve seen enough jungles. There’s a limit on the number of on-the-water adventures I want to have. But this event comes down to imagination. Pictures like those above, by Argentine photographer Edgardo Balduccio, mean far more to me than eco-tourism (a merely trendy appeal).

Look closely at the date on the Miraflores Locks Control House…1913. It’s the year President Howard Taft said the Canal would be completed, the year that the US started paying Panama for its lease of the Canal.  MV Island Princess is really a time machine. One with a lot of very moving parts.

Photographs © Edgardo Balduccio, 2008. All rights reserved.

Stand by, Panama. I’m Wearing “Las Señoritas” on the Island Princess Cruise.

Last year, Bill Barrett of Barrett-Wehlmann and his wife took the same Panama Canal cruise, on the same ship, that we’re taking end of March. After talking with him and seeing some of his photos, the need for a new modest (fashion) statement seemed evident to me.

I needed to go far beyond the mundane cruisewear of yesteryear (such as displayed in the ad, bottom right). After all, some agency CD might want to create a more vivid advertising campaign for Princess. I want to be ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille.

I was aided and abetted again this time by the Amazing Seamstress Herself, my traveling companion, Barbara. I got to select the fabric and it was something of a struggle, you know how timid I am about colors and patterns.

Fortunately, the Folkorico section of the Alexander Henry Fabric Collection (gots to be a California company!) yielded “Las Señoritas” in the right summer-cruising weight. The colors have the kind of understated approach you all know I favor. And even though this collection has similar patterns with island girls and aloha girls, these are pale by comparison.

Alexander Henry is the self-proclaimed industry leader in cutting-edge, conversational print design. It’s quite clear that “he” created this particular pattern for someone who carries on a conversation at the top of his lungs. Like yours truly.

“Las Señoritas” isn’t the only loud shirt I’m packing but it’s the newest and I’d like to thank the Members of the Academy for not hiding their eyes in shame as I travel to and from the Canal in a few weeks. If advertising is life, then self-promotion is…me!

Pattern: Simplicity #3852. Crafter: Barbara Nytes-Baron    . Thanks and much more to Frank White the Photographer for the excellent photo (top). Older travel photo (bottom) published on CreativePro.com by Gene Gable, February 19, 2010.

30 Days from Now, We’re Taking to the Water – Don’t Wait Up.

Those rumors you’ve heard, they’re true. We’re shipping out, cruising to the Panama Canal and back for 10 days. We sail on March 30 from Fort Lauderdale on a large and (sinfully) luxurious vessel, MV Island Princess. With 90% of its staterooms designated as “ocean-view,” there’s a wrap-around Promenade Deck and more more than 700 balconies. One of those – squint and maybe you can see it – is reserved under Baron.

I’ve been following cruise-ship advertising for years. But the decisions made about this particular 10-day adventure into Central American waters come from a chain of impulses and events that run from the overnight Baltic cruises Barbara and I took in Dialogue days through the enthusiastic endorsements of colleagues and friends.

Certainly it’s not because I feel deprived of cruise experience during my own military service… no Med Cruises, no WestPacs. All those service years were Naval Air. No real sea-time for this Airedale, except for the occasional Mike boats in Manila Bay.

Coming up, between the end of March and April 9, look for online posts about Caribbean adventures, cruise-related advertising and other marketing-related high points. Presuming we're not eating, drinking and doing other typical tourist things. It’s our own Panama Canal Cruise. We’re outahere end of the month.

Thank you, Stacy Allen of Prism Design, Inc., for the cruise poster - look for it on T-shirts and other swag, coming soon (or not).