At Cruise360, Industry Executives Take to the Hot Seat

As the Cruise Lines International Association’s annual Cruise360 conference entered its second full day in Fort Lauderdale Thursday, travel agents heard from cruise line executives and took part in workshops, specialty courses and networking events.

Thursday’s general session featured a keynote by Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of explorer Jacques Cousteau and an aquanaut, business strategist and documentary filmmaker in his own right. He stars in the PBS series “Ocean Adventures.”

Not surprisingly he spoke passionately about his family’s legacy and ongoing work in exploring and preserving the ocean environment.

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The theme of sustainability and social responsibility carried over into a Cruise360 favorite, the “Hot Seat” discussion. Moderator James R. Ferrara, president of InteleTravel, asked industry leaders a series of questions in lighthearted, five-minute segments.

Stepping into the “hot seat” were Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president-sales and trade support and service, Celebrity Cruises; Vicki Freed, senior vice president-sales and trade support and service, Royal Caribbean International; Joseph Jiffo, senior vice president-sales, MSC Cruises; Eva Jenner, vice president-sales, Holland America Line/Seabourn Cruise Line; Adolfo Perez, senior vice president-trade sales and marketing, Carnival Cruise Line; John Chernesky, vice president-North America Sales, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line; Nikki Upshaw, senior vice president-sales, Oceania Cruises; and Camille Olivere, senior vice president-North America sales, Norwegian Cruise Line.

Each touched upon ongoing sustainability efforts and key selling points.

Of note was Chernesky’s explanation that the ill-fated Fathom Brand lives on at Princess.

“The Fathom team is still alive and well,” he said. “We’ve introduced Travel Deep with Fathom. We’ve already done two cruises this year and have four more to go. All of them are in the Caribbean.”

He explains: “It’s really about creating a small group of about 200 people that have immersive training on board. When they go ashore, they do things that give back to the local communities, such as beach clean-up or helping educate kids. So, look at this for your clients interested in doing some social involvement cruising. You still have the comforts of a great Princess ship, so you have the best of both worlds.”

Royal Caribbean’s Freed begin her “Hot Seat” segment with a simplified way to look at her brand.

“We are the unique combination of quality and energy. There are some beautiful quality lines out there. There are some lines out there that have energy. But, we are special because we combine both,” she said.

She also spoke about some safety initiatives that were very well received by the audience.

“One sensitive issue that I think is important for agents to know is that 30 days before every sailing, we release our entire manifest to the FBI. They do a complete scraping to see if we have any registered child offenders who are sailing on our ships. We will protect your commission, but we ask these people not to sail with us because it’s important that all families feel safe and secure when they’re cruising with Royal Caribbean,” Freed said.

For its part, MSC Cruises is all about raising its North American profile. The line will introduce MSC Seaview, the sister ship of MSC Seaside, in a couple of months.

“A lot of people don’t realize how big we are. We’re the fourth largest cruise line in the world. We’re a global company. We’re a family-owned company,” Jiffo said. “MSC stands for Mediterranean Shipping Company, but I like to say it stands for ‘More Ships Coming.’ We’re making a huge investment of $10 billion on 11 new ships. We’ll be tripling our capacity.”

At Carnival Cruise Line, executives touted its homeport strategy. The line has14 homeports within a 5.5-hour drive for half the country’s population. That’s encouraging news for travelers who don’t want the hassle of an airline flight to board their cruise.

While at Norwegian Cruise Line, “Free at Sea” continues to make waves.

“What we’re seeing is that guests really want to feel that they’re getting something free when they book. We have unlimited beverage packages, specialty dining and shore excursions,” Olivere said. “People also like Friends and Family for Free. We have that on over 400 sailings. It’s not when the kids are out of school. So, I like to call it the ‘Naughty Parents’ promotion.”

She drew a round of applause with the news that the line took possession of Norwegian Bliss Thursday morning. The ship is heading to Southampton and then for preview sailings in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Seattle. On June 2, it’ll begin Alaska itineraries.

At Celebrity, the big story is the much-anticipated Celebrity Edge.

“It’s been eight years since we’ve had a new ship. It’s our turn,” Ritzenthaler said.

While the Edge’s slow reveal has been building up excitement for months, it’s not the only newbuild on Celebrity’s horizon. The Celebrity Flora debuts in May 2019.

“We’re building the first ship that’s ever been designed for the Galapagos,” Ritzenthaler said. “She will have 100 guests, all in suites.”

Last in the “Hot Seat” was Oceania’s Upshaw, who offered agents this advice: “To be a better partner, branch out and don’t pigeon-hole. We’re Oceania, we pride ourselves on having the finest cuisine at sea. But, we’re also innovators with wellness tours. We’ve earned a PETA Award (for vegan menus). You need to find your client’s passion points and match it to the cruise experience that’s going to work for them.”

Meanwhile, TravelPulse also caught up with Katharine Bonner, Tauck’s senior vice president of river and small ship cruising. Tauck, usually considered a tour operator, is a growing cruise operator as well.

“When we decided in 2013 or 2014 to build our last four vessels, we realized we really needed more visibility to grow,” she said. “We wanted to get the attention of agents who sell cruises – upscale, luxury cruising. To do that, we felt one way would be to join CLIA and participate in Cruise360.”

Bonner said CLIA is doing a lot more now in terms of certifying agents and providing education.

“I think they’re very much trying in this area,” she said. “They’re having a higher engagement in their training platform than they ever did before.”

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