By Mark Seavy

After two years of righting itself financially in a post-pandemic world, the cruise line industry is charting a renewed course for licensing.

And much like the growing success of location-based entertainment (LBE) on shore, cruise ships are seeing an increasing appetite for live shows and experiences with a range of IPs.

Disney, for example, is bringing the 55-year-old Haunted Mansion IP to its cruise ships. Best known for experiences at Disneyland and Disney World, the IP will launch at a bar aboard the new 1,119-foot Disney Treasure cruise ship when it sets sail December 21.

Show producer Sixthman is developing a pair of Halmark Channel Christmas shows on Norwegian Cruise Line ships (November 5-9 and November 17-21) as well as a cruise with the touring baseball teams Savannah Bananas and Party Animals (October 14-18). This effort represents an expansion beyond the company’s shipbound music festivals.

Characters from Acamar Films’ animated preschool series Bing will be featured on two Costa Cruise ships. Branded activities will include meet and greets, character parades, themed parties, and dances.

And RWS Global has long developed its own productions through its RWS Studios in the U.K. This includes “Bright Light Society,” an experiential event that features VIP meetings, high-end merchandise, and other events, which launched last month aboard Cunard’s Queen Anne ship.

“Cruise lines are another type of attraction where families are looking for new guest experiences to enjoy,” said Kirsty Southgate, Director of Experiential and Promotions at Acamar. “It is a natural extension to bring the stories, games, and songs to life on board the ships. The Bing-themed program gives Costa a point of difference versus their competitors. And it also offers more value for money for guests as the on-board experience is complimentary.”

This renewed interest in brands by cruise lines represents a return to a business that has long been a part of industry strategy. Hasbro’s “Family Game Night” and Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ characters were featured on Carnival Cruise Lines pre-pandemic. And Spike TV’s Lip Sync Battle was once featured aboard Carnival ships. At the same time, however, some cruise lines are shifting their LBE and licensing strategies.

Norwegian is reducing the size of its casts to 21 (down from 42) and lessening its reliance on licensed Broadway plays like Jersey Boys and others. The highest rates for shows in Norwegian’s fleet were those with fewer cast members, said Patrik Dahlgren, EVP of Vessel Operations, at an investor event in May. Moving forward, there is instead a focus on shorter, internally produced shows, which carried lower costs when compared to the fees charged for Broadway plays.

“Those are shows we produced internally in Tampa,” Dahlgren said. “They are high energy, shorter shows with less cast members. When you have a large number of cast numbers, the challenge is the crew berths. There were simply not enough crew berths and [the cast] spilled over into revenue-generating cabins. By going to this model, we not only increased guest satisfaction for scores related to entertainment, but we were able to return the revenue [from] the cabins that were occupied by crew.”

Whether they are focused on incorporating beloved brands or developing original IPs, it’s clear that creating experiences will continue to be a focus for cruise ships moving forward.

“We are going to continue to see evolution in the cruise industry from an entertainment standpoint and you are going to see brands having a role in how that occurs,” said George Wade, President of the consulting firm Bay Laurel Advisors. “It will come down to which are the right brands that will have the right demographic appeal.”