Princess Cruises Takes On Theme Parks in Clever New Ad

In what might be the most clever ad I’ve seen in a very long time, Princess Cruises has taken aim at the insanely high price of theme park vacations.

Let’s start with the slogan.

Let Princess take you to Alaska. Where the magic is real, all for half the price of theme park vacations.

First of all, they are seemingly implying that the magic is not real in a theme park. Gasp! While that might be an argument for another day, those of us who believe in magic might beg to differ. Ahem. Where the magic really shines for me is when I observe small children enjoying themselves in the Disney theme parks. They are so adorable and are usually soaking in magic in the only way they know how – sometimes it’s really simple like twirling around in front of Cinderella Castle while other times, they might be exuding pure joy while meeting their favorite Disney character IN REAL LIFE for the first time when they’ve only ever seen them on television. Let’s be honest, sometimes they’re screaming their little heads off because they’re hot and exhausted. Magic is different for everyone.

Another piece of this same Princess Cruises advertising campaign reads as follows:

Dreaming of a Summer Vacation? We’ve got Mountains, Animal Kingdoms, Wilderness Lodges, Trains, Riverboats, Main streets, and Fireworks.

Obviously, this part is directed right at Disney.

Now, who am I to argue about the beautiful state of Alaska having real magic? Its landscape is simply breathtaking with those gigantic glaciers, all the wildlife, the possibility of seeing the Aurora Borealis, and much more (as noted above – haha!). I’ve seen photos of some of Disney Cruise Line’s ports of call in Alaska and while I’ll agree that their Main Streets are pretty quaint and cute, they are no Main Street, U.S.A.

I’m also not about to argue about the astronomical price of a Disney theme park vacation in particular. In fact, I wrote an article last month after a long phone conversation with my family back home explaining the newest pricing and details of a current vacation to Walt Disney World. It wasn’t pretty and we ended up deciding that we’d visit a different destination for our next multi-generational family vacation. My article is HERE if you’d like to read it.

Magic can obviously mean different things to different people, but it definitely is not an inexpensive endeavor when it involves a Disney theme park.

Bravo to the advertising department at Princess Cruises for this bit of magic. Take a look at the ad and see for yourself! Have you ever been on a Princess cruise?