Behind the Curtain: How an NCLH Creative Studios Tour Helps Advisors Sell the Cruise Experience

Does getting a sneak peek at all that goes into Norwegian Cruise Line’s entertainment lineup – from innovative creative concepting to robust rehearsing, expansive costuming, into even the mundane, but critically important role of laundry – help travel advisors when it comes to marketing and selling NCL to their clients?

That was the question TMR posed to four travel advisors and agency executives at an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of NCL’s Creative Studios facility in Tampa, Fla. During the full-day experience, a small group of advisors, media, and content creators toured nearly every aspect of the Studios’ operations, and enjoyed sneak peek previews of HIKO, the Elton John tribute “Rocket Man,” and Syd Norman’s Pour House tribute to the Eagles.

“To see behind the scenes and all of the work that goes into it and the thought and the development and the time, it gives you a whole new appreciation for the onboard production,” said Tracey Codd, owner of multiple Expedia Cruises locations, who called the full-day experience “eye opening.”  

“Knowing that Norwegian takes the time to sew the hair into some of the wigs and to hand sew beads onto some of these costumes, this is something of quality, it’s not just some generic pre-produced show,” added Mandy Berry, a travel advisor who goes by Mandy the Cruise Planner on TikTok. “That is very important to a lot of people.”

Michelle Bork, vice president of Travelmation, agreed. “This has been a great experience,” she said, adding that she plans to share all her photos and notes with the Host agency’s network of independent contractors, “so that they can feel like they’ve had a behind-the-scenes look with me.”

Codd plans to do the same.

“I’ll talk about the thread chart with all the different colors and the hand-sewing of the wigs. And then we’ll communicate that with clients too,” she said.

Providing photos, facts, and anecdotes from the tour to their advisors gives these advisors an advantage when it comes to marketing to their clients, added Joshua Harrell, chief revenue officer at Worldvia Travel Network.

“Taking an opportunity like this and scaling it up through creating content, whether its blogs, emails, live streaming with our advisors… That’s where they’re adding that extra value. That gives our advisors who get to have that connection that little extra edge,” he said.

Berry agreed, as well, that getting such an in-depth look behind the scenes of NCL’s entertainment – and at the variety of entertainment that NCL has planned, particularly for its newest ship Norwegian Luna – makes it easier for her to sell.

“Norwegian upping the game with their production style, the level of detail and attention is just incredible… I really feel confident in saying, this is something where you’re not going to be bored and you’re going to have a good time.”

The Details that Sell: What Advisors Saw Inside NCLH’s Creative Studios

Among the many behind-the-scenes moments that participants in this year’s tour got to see were excerpts from three shows: HIKO, Syn Norman’s Tribute to the Eagles, and “Rocket Man.”

HIKO is, in some ways, NCL’s most daring new show combining parkour acrobatics with cutting-edge 3D mapping, multi-sensory video projection, and a fully original score.

“We want a big, bold, visual spectacle,” explained Kai Carrier, director of Theatrical Creative for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, while Shay Kuebler, the show’s director said, “Our goal is to make essentially a cinematic epic out of this piece.”

While HIKO might be the most technologically complex, the most anticipated new show premiering onboard Norwegian Luna will be the Elton John tribute show, “Rocket Man.”

The show will feature most of John’s greatest hits, archival footage from concerts, displays of actual costumes, along with dancing, acrobatics, and, because it’s Elton John, fantastic costumes.

Speaking of costumes, the Elton John show alone is going to have 1,000 yards of fabric for the costumes, with 90 different fabrics represented. If you laid out all the fringe work from these costumes end-to-end, it would be half a mile long.

“We are doing a big, bold, beautiful production,” said Bryan White, vice president of entertainment production at NCLH.

Other fun costume-related info that advisors learned about during the tour included the fact that a single costume can sometimes take upwards of 80 hours to create, and, for all shows, at least two of every costume must be made.

In total, 10,000 garments pass through the costume department every year and every group of cast members has a single costume coordinator with them on the ship for the entire duration of their contract to ensure that costumes are kept clean (often doing hand washes for the most sensitive pieces) and in perfect condition.

Tour participants also learned that as much effort goes into the hair and makeup setup for each show as it does for choreography and costume. In fact, each singer and dancer must go through several hours of classes to learn exactly how to apply their makeup and do their hair so that it’s consistent from show to show. (Speaking of hair, some of the wigs can take 50 or more hours, with each single strand of hair hand sewn on.)

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ Creative Studios originally opened in 2013 and underwent a significant expansion in 2021. The 68,000-square-foot facility features 25,000 square feet dedicated solely to rehearsal space. It supports more than 130 shows across the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises fleets.