Where We Help

Most calls start with one of these.

If one of these is live, the issue is usually between functions rather than inside one team.

Promotions are filling ships, but no one can prove how much demand is actually incremental.
Loyalty spend is rising, but rebooking behavior is not moving enough to justify the cost.
Pricing, onboard, and experience teams are optimizing hard, but not around the same guest or the same definition of value.

Bring one live question. We will tell you what is knowable, what needs testing, and whether it deserves a diagnostic.

Bring one question
Why Us

Operator judgment plus published evidence.

Ethan Hawkes, MBA

Former VP of Onboard Revenue at MSC Cruises, McKinsey alumnus, and former CEO.

He has owned the P&L behind these decisions.

LinkedIn

Dr. Rob Kwortnik

Cornell professor with 30+ publications on cruise economics, loyalty, and experience design.

He brings the research discipline behind the recommendation.

Cornell Profile
One Example

A four-week diagnostic for a premium cruise line.

Promotions looked productive, but the line had never measured how much of the demand was actually incremental.

Diagnostic 15-ship premium cruise line

Promotional Non-Incrementality Audit

Situation

22 promotions per quarter. No shared evidence on incrementality.

What We Found

18–26% of promotional bookings were non-incremental, equal to $8–14M in annual fare leakage.

What Changed

Promotional frequency fell, budget shifted toward booked-guest revenue, and the line adopted a quarterly incrementality scorecard.

+3.2%
Fare yield improvement, Q1 post-engagement
0%
Occupancy decline — demand held on reduced promotions
4 weeks
Kickoff to board-ready recommendation

Client details anonymized per NDA. Results measured against the pre-engagement baseline.

If you have a live version of this problem, start with a 30-minute review.

Book a 30-Minute Review
Book a Review

Bring one decision. Leave with a clearer next step.

In 30 minutes, we will stress-test the question and tell you plainly whether deeper work is warranted.

  • 30 minutes with both principals
  • Focused on one live commercial decision
  • Clear next step, including “do not hire us” if that is the right answer

Usually the CEO, CCO, Revenue, Finance, or Loyalty leader who owns the decision joins. Bring one question in plain language. We reply within one business day.

Prefer email? Reach Ethan at [email protected] or Rob at [email protected].

Your information is confidential. No mailing list, no drip sequence, no nonsense. We reply within one business day, and if it is not a fit we will tell you plainly.