On October 13th, Dr. Jukka Laitamaki took the students in his graduate Strategy Formulation and Decision Making course on a field visit to the world's 10th largest cruise ship, ‘Norwegian Escape’. Ms. Amie Silud led the tour: she shared her expertise and showed the students various cabin types, restaurants, and the Haven luxury decks. Over lunch, Mr. Melroy Rebeiro addressed the students and shared the food and beverage operations behind the 21 restaurants and 29 bars on board. He also discussed the culture of Norwegian Cruise Line hospitality delivered by a family of over 70 nationalities.
Dr. Laitamaki commented that ‘this type of applied learning experience is important an invaluable for enhancing the education of students at the Tisch Center. Just reading about a $1 billion cruise ship, or the 10th largest cruise ship, is not the same as experiencing it first hand’.
In the course, students are currently working on a case study entitled ‘Next Generation Cruise Ships Searching for the Blue Ocean’. They are developing strategies for the six next-generation Norwegian Leonardo Class cruise ships that will sail starting in 2022. They analyze the case based on a customer and SWOT analysis, and develop Blue Ocean strategies addressing value innovation in the cruise sector. This great learning opportunity was organized by Mr Edel Cruz, Vice President Strategic Planning, and Ms. Veronica Lewis, Manager Investor Relations & Executive Assistant to the CFO.