by David Giersdorf | Jul 21, 2026 | Insights
Cruising as a Case Study In a modern economy, most money is trust. As of April 2026, U.S. broad money supply (M2) stood near $22.8 trillion. Physical currency in circulation? Roughly $2.4 trillion. The other $20 trillion isn’t paper. It is claims, deposits, and...
by David Giersdorf | Jul 21, 2026 | Insights
Strategic Alchemy | Issue One of a Series This series extends the work begun in Cruising as a Case Study. That series established the premise: the cruise industry is a living laboratory for how complex organizations perform, adapt, and endure under pressure. Built...
by David Giersdorf | Jul 21, 2026 | Insights
Your past-guest database looks healthy. Repeat rates up. Loyalty tier growing. The dashboard glows.Now ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: how much is your best customer spending with your competitor this quarter? You don’t know. And that blind spot costs more than any...
by David Giersdorf | May 13, 2026 | Insights
The Most Powerful Thing You Can Do Today Might Be to Remove Something I have been in this industry long enough to watch the same mistake repeat itself with remarkable consistency. A new ship gets announced. The press release celebrates what has been added. More dining...
by David Giersdorf | May 13, 2026 | Insights
What Emirates, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian Teach Us About Designing Resilience, Not Just Surviving Crises Emirates just gave us a masterclass in Strategic Alchemy: how resilience, designed from first principles and compounded over years, converts...
by David Giersdorf | May 13, 2026 | Insights
Picture a shipyard at dawn in 2026. Steel hulls under construction. Thousands of workers. Dozens of ships on the orderbook. Contracts inked for vessels that will sail well into the 2050s. None of those welders are debating โIs cruising a fad?โ They are building...
by David Giersdorf | May 2, 2026 | Insights
The cruise industry is often viewed through the lens of leisure, hospitality, and escape. But what if we looked at it differently? What if contemporary cruisingโthe largest and most visible segmentโwas actually one of the most sophisticated industrial systems in the...
by David Giersdorf | May 2, 2026 | Insights
What if I told you there’s a $200 billion global industry that makes its biggest capital decisions โ billion-dollar commitments with decade-long horizons โ without waiting for demand signals? No market studies. No pressure on inventory. No “let’s see...
by David Giersdorf | May 2, 2026 | Insights
The most interesting action in cruise today isnโt on the megaโship side. Itโs in the niche segments: luxury, expedition, yacht, and river. Itโs also where the ownership picture is most misunderstood. Executives and advisors know the brands. They rarely see the capital...
by David Giersdorf | May 2, 2026 | Insights
Executive Summary High-net-worth (HNW) U.S. cruise travelers are exhibiting measurable brand-agnostic behavior: longtime loyalists, including elite-status holders, are increasingly โjumping shipโ to competitors in pursuit of superior itinerary fit, ambiance, and...
