Carnival Cruise Line Banks on Nick Offerman for Next National Campaign

Carnival Cruise Line’s “fun ships” identity is back front and center with its next new national campaign, which stars Emmy-winning actor and comedian Nick Offerman, best known for his role as Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation.”

The “Find Your Fun Again” campaign is the first under the cruise line’s new platform, “Carnival Is Calling,” which launched on Nov. 1.

In the ad, Offerman plays a grouchy factory worker who finds his fun through a Carnival cruise.

“We believe Nick Offerman is the best person to be our ‘unlikely hero of fun.’ His signature blend of wry humor and credibility is the perfect way to deliver our message,” said Amy Martin Ziegenfuss, chief marketing officer of Carnival Cruise Line. “Nick’s personal mission, which aims to get kids off their screens and start creating projects, aligns with our vision of encouraging people to get out, reconnect and find their fun again, with Carnival.”

The ads were co-written with Offerman’s team of Parks and Recreation writers to make it unmistakably him.

Offerman, who was raised by a family of Carnival cruisers, joins a long line of Carnival celebrity spokespeople and brand ambassadors, including Shaquille O’Neal, Guy Fieri, Emeril Lagasse, Jonathan Bennett and of course, Kathie Lee Gifford, who launched Carnival and cruising into the mainstream zeitgeist with the now iconic slogan, “Ain’t We Got Fun.”