After a busy 2021 working on a number of projects for Carnival Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Line and other cruise companies, the marine signage firm Bourne Group started 2022 fully booked.

“There is what we call return-to-operation or return-to-service (RTO or RTS) signage work that follows the protocols from the CDC. We anticipate that RTO signage will continue being a big line of business for us in 2022,” the owner and principal of Bourne Group Patrick McNulty said, according to the 2022 Drydocking and Refurbishment Report by Cruise Industry News.

According to McNulty, Bourne will be involved in newbuild work in 2022, too. This includes the Disney Wish and P&O Arvia from Meyer Werft.

“We’re also anticipating to be involved in – because we did the Mardi Gras in 2021 – the Carnival Celebration delivery from Meyer Turku, although we haven’t gotten the order yet. Given what we’ve experienced this year, with the maintenance level of these vessels that are going back into service, I think it’ll be a similar situation next year,” McNulty said in November 2021. “A lot of these ships will have sat even longer, and then you have to couple that the ships that have been back in service that will have maintenance issues by then. Those will need to be tended to a lot faster because there are passengers onboard.”

He added that Bourne Group is also bidding on the Costa Magica’s conversion into a Carnival ship.

“Signage is sort of niche in the sense that, whether it’s brand changes or freshening up the vessel, introducing new signage is relatively low in cost. Whenever you change one restaurant venue, you have to change the wayfinding systems across the ship as well,” McNulty noted.

“Signage is often overlooked, but it’s also something that continues to stay busy. So, it probably doesn’t reflect the state of the overall industry,” he added.