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As 2025 draws near, snowbirds of all ages are ready to swap winter coats for sunscreen, marking the beginning of wave season in the cruise industry. The first few months of the year drive a surge in bookings and irresistible promotions, making it the industry’s peak period.
But just offering a discount won’t cut it. In a crowded inbox, your campaign can easily get lost at sea if it doesn’t grab attention. This is the moment to elevate your campaigns with personalized touches that make customers feel truly valued—and ensure your brand stands out from the competition when January hits.
That’s where we come in. We've compiled the most effective tactics to help you break through the noise, inspire action, and create lasting impact this season. Let’s dive in!
Trends You Can't Miss This Season
Looking back at Cyber Week, and especially Travel Tuesday, reveals plenty about what’s to come in wave season. Movable Ink’s strategists dove into 181 billion impressions of personalized content to uncover how consumers journeyed through the path to purchase. These insights provide a glimpse into what marketers can expect in the seasons to come.
- Adapt to Shifting Shopping Habits - Consumers are buying earlier, prioritizing value, and spending more on mobile. Smartphones are leading in engagement, with over half of consumers shopping on these devices. These aren’t just trends—they’re the new normal. From sales cycles to marketing content, ensure that your strategies are optimized for mobile to avoid leaving money on the table.
- Turn Peak Season Data Into Wave Season Wins - Odds are, customers have been eyeing that cruise for months, and likely browsed during peak shopping periods. So why not meet them where they are? Use real-time behavioral retargeting, combined with live pricing that updates at the moment of engagement, to help them pick up where they left off, and guide them right back to booking with personalized wave season messaging.
- Engagement That Sticks - It’s not just about making the sale—it’s about building lasting connections. Create experiences that foster trust, increase loyalty, and keep your brand top-of-mind long after the transaction. By using personalized content in email and mobile messages, you’ll set the stage for growth in click and conversion rates.
All Aboard, Creative Strategy!
This wave season, the key to standing out is delivering effortless convenience at every turn. It’s not just about making it a breeze for travelers to book their dream getaway; it’s about ensuring every interaction from browsing to boarding is tailored to their unique needs and preferences.
To help you chart the course, we’ve gathered standout examples of cruise line messaging personalization to inspire your strategy. Let’s put the finishing touches on your wave season approach with personalized elements that make your brand the top choice for travelers—and the one they return to time and again.
Engagement on Deck: Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean understands that cost is a key factor this season when planning a cruise. To address this, they incorporated live pricing into their emails to keep customers up-to-date with the latest deals for their next getaway.
This campaign created a sense of urgency by featuring a countdown timer to highlight that the low prices wouldn’t last long. Personalized images featured tailored location recommendations based on customer attributes such as country code and language. This strategy not only enhanced customer engagement but also reduced the team’s production time by 70% and drove a 5% lift in bookings.
Behavioral Retargeting Keeps Sailors Hooked: Virgin Voyages
To engage travelers during key milestones throughout their journey with Virgin Voyages, their team made automation their top priority, implementing it across various email touchpoints from their first website visit to embarkation day.
The initial email establishes a positive rapport with recipients by showcasing the latest prices on their recently searched cruise destination. This approach not only grabs attention at the perfect moment but also keeps potential travelers informed with the latest details, resulting in an impressive 10% boost in click-through rates.
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