BAHAMAS PARADISE CRUISE LINE
RIVIERA BEACH, FLORIDA
New Wayfinding and Branding for a South Florida Cruise Line.
In early 2018, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line (BPCL) purchased the Costa neoClassica cruise ship and re-branded her as the Grand Classica. She is the largest cruise ship to be permanently based in the Port of Palm Beach, Florida and set a new standard in appointment and amenities for short itinerary cruising. The cruise line turned to yazi to re-design the wayfinding onboard and help re-brand the vessel to the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line standards. BPCL took possession of the ship in South Africa in late March, and she sailed her maiden voyage as Grand Classica just three short weeks later. The quick transition required an immense amount of pre-planning and coordination between yazi, the cruise line, and two different sign manufacturers to insure that the new wayfinding and branding would be in place for their inaugural cruise.
PLANNING FOR THE CONVERSION
Six months before it's maiden voyage, yazi surveyed the ship during a planned wet dock in Marseille, France. It would be our only opportunity to visit the ship before the conversion, and we spent two days onboard performing a thorough examination of the existing signage and conditions. We began by walking the ship with cruise line executives to establish the project’s goals and objectives and identify areas of opportunity and concern. Over the two days onboard we carefully documented all of the existing conditions; evaluated the existing wayfinding; noted all signage and graphics that needed replacement; and identified opportunities for improvement. The conversion schedule gave us only a few months to design and develop all of the new branding and wayfinding for the ship. We worked closely with BPCL’s marketing and operations team to create graphic solutions that could be implemented both quickly and effectively within the allocated budget and time frame. Another key to success was to secure a sign fabricator as early in the process as possible. They would only have a few weeks to build and install the new signage — a challenge made more difficult by the logistics of getting all of the signs onboard the ship as it sailed from South Africa to the Bahamas.
BRANDING THE VENUES
The Grand Classica is a significantly larger ship than her sister ship the Grand Celebration — the first ship BPCL put in service two years earlier. The increased number of venues on Classica, versus Celebration, necessitated a re-branding initiative to develop identities for an expanded list of restaurants, bars, entertainment spaces, and onboard amenities, as well as an opportunity to re-fresh some of their existing brands. Yazi developed the branding for all of the new spaces aboard Grand Classica including eight restaurants and bars, two lounges, the casino, onboard health spa, and children's room.
GETTING IT DONE
Two teams of fabricators worked around the clock to build the new signs, while a third team onboard the ship removed the existing signage. Some of the existing signs were retrofitted with new graphic panels, and new directories and directional signs were added to improve the visitor experience. Many of the life safety signs onboard required updating due to changes made to the deck and venue names. All of the public room identity signs were replaced with the new branded signs that we had developed. In the end, the new branding and signage helped to transform the ship while elevating the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line brand and experience.