Land Ho: Luxury Cruise Lines Raise Expectations for Shore Excursions

On contemporary and premium cruise ships, clients can do some pretty unique stuff: climb into an observation capsule to view the ship from 300 feet up, watch robots make a martini, surf fake waves on the pool deck. The goal is to make the cruise ship the destination.

But upmarket and luxury lines take a different approach to keeping guests entertained. While a luxury cruise ship is an oasis steeped in pampering amenities, the cruise executives say they look landward to attract affluent customers seeking destination immersion. And the competition is hot.

For instance, Regent Seven Seas Cruises doesn’t simply offer a multi-course dinner ashore on the French Riviera. As part of its new Gourmet Explorer Tours, it brings guests to La Vague d’Or, a wildly popular Michelin three-star restaurant in the heart of tony Saint Tropez.

Azamara Club Cruises doesn’t just arrange for a small boat tour in Port Douglas, Australia. It designs a crocodile-watch river cruise through a lush mangrove channel on a traditional paddleboat.

And Silversea Cruises doesn’t draw the line at a tour of the famous Hindu Temple in Mombasa, Kenya. It offers a three-day post-cruise luxury safari to Kruger National Park.

And the list goes on. And on.

“It’s all about competition,” says Arlene Kurr, who with her husband, Harvey, owns World Wide Travel, a TRAVELSAVERS agency in Hingham, MA. “The luxury lines have to do something different and then others follow suit,” she says. “People demand it.”

The clients who constitute the demographic chased by luxury lines don’t want big crowds on a ship or on excursions either, Kurr says. “These are the people who can afford cruises that are a combination of culture and pampering.”

With many of these tours clients will pay extra. Prices vary; Regent’s Saint Tropez dinner costs $799 per person, Azamara’s croc cruise runs $119, and the Silversea safari add-on costs about $11,000 per person including accommodations, guides, game drives, and airfare.

Agent Linda Allen, an independent cruise specialist and Virtuoso retailer affiliated with Brownell Travel, in Birmingham, AL, says that in the past clients complained about luxury-line excursions.

“It was one of the biggest complaints we got, because if they were going to spend that kind of money on a cruise they wanted really over-the-top things. The lines listened and have stepped up their game.”

Allen said that for her luxury-level cruise guests, who “have seen and done it all,” cost is not a big issue. The hard part is finding “not ordinary” experiences to pitch.

She points to Crystal’s new yacht, Crystal Espirit, as an example of an extraordinary product with extraordinary excursions: “It has a submarine! Who else has that?”

Counting on partners to help meet demand
Partnerships between luxury cruise lines and upscale tour operators are blossoming for shore excursion programming. River line AmaWaterways, for example, last year created an alliance with Backroads, which specializes in bicycling and hiking tours, for example that will grow in 2016.

“We have seen steadily increasing demand from our passengers for more active excursions,” says Kristin Karst, AmaWaterways’ executive vice president and co-owner. “We decided to start the new year by kicking it up a notch, introducing new biking and hiking tours that specifically appeal to those seeking an even more active, adventurous experience.”

Azamara forged an alliance with luxury operator Abercrombie & Kent to offer the line’s Land Discoveries excursions in Australia.

“The DNA of Azamara is destination immersion,” says president Larry Pimentel. “We are devoted to bringing in-depth travel experiences to our guests, made possible with longer stays, more overnights, and night touring.”

A&K was selected, he says, due to its “proven ability” to offer authentic destination experiences.

“When we decided to add Australia to our destination portfolio, we had no doubt that A&K could offer our guests immersive, one-of-a-kind opportunities that allow [people] to discover the familiar as well as the unexpected Australia,” he said, adding that A&K’s program provides the opportunity “to go beyond the Australian landmarks and enjoy intimate and enriching excursions.”

Darius Mehta, Silversea’s vice president of air and land programs, said the line’s safari program is proving to be very popular.

“We are offering a safari program with a higher-than-usual capacity for us, but we are maintaining our high standards by picking multiple well-matched properties,” he said. The pre- or post-cruise safari is offered from Mombasa and from Cape Town, South Africa, with accommodations at luxury hotels like the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nairobi.

Cruise add-ons aside, Silversea offers many unique day tours, including private car excursions called Silver Shore Privato and Silver Shore Collection programs, which cost extra. (Silver Shore Select excursions are covered in the cruise fare.)

Guest feedback is key to devising new excursions, but Mehta says the line’s Shore Concierge teams onboard Silversea ships also are trained to engage with guests who ventured ashore independently to see if there are possibilities to turn what they experienced into an excursion.

In addition, he said, “we challenge our ground operators to come up with fresh and cutting-edge ideas. They know we will listen. We are willing to hear even the most off-the-wall ideas.”