Sold Out Cruise360 a Sign that Cruise Is Back

Some 1,700 travel advisors and cruise line representatives gathered in sunny, post-flooded Ft. Lauderdale to expand and share their product knowledge of the cruise industry at this year’s Cruise360 conference. Attendees at the sold-out event spent four days attending workshops, earning CLIA educational credits, listening to general session panels, visiting the trade show floor, and touring cruise ships.

The conference kicked off with a welcome address from CLIA president and CEO Kelly Craighead, along with CLIA’s vice president of industry and trade relations, Charles Sylvia. They were followed by the annual President’s Panel. Topics this year ranged from what cruise lines are doing to attract new-to-cruise passengers to how they’re supporting the travel trade community.

“Before we embark on this journey together, let’s take a moment to think about why we’re all here,” Sylvia said after walking on stage to the theme song from the TV show “Ted Lasso.”

“Whether you’ve seen Ted Lasso or not, a big part of the show is this word: ‘believe.’ We are all here at Cruise360 because we believe,” he added.

“We believe in cruise travel as the best way to experience the world… We believe in the travel agency distribution channel, because when our clients book their cruises through us, they are better served and more prepared to have the best cruise experience possible and enjoy the highest level of guest satisfaction… We believe in CLIA to help us learn how to reach our maximum cruise sales potential and develop into credible, industry-certified cruise travel experts.”

Craighead echoed Sylvia, applauding the dedication of the advisors attending the show and their commitment to becoming better educated. Of all those attending, she said, 57% are already CLIA certified or on the path to being certified.

“Being certified certainly adds to your credibility and absolutely strengthens the industry,” Craighead said. “These types of numbers really just show the impressive commitment that you have made to yourself and to your craft and to being the most effective you can be and these next few days are going to amplify those efforts.”

The need for more educated cruise sellers has never been higher. By 2027, the cruise industry is expected to reach nearly 40 million passengers – 30% more than the number that cruised in 2019. 

“And we know all of you in the room are the ones that are going to help make that happen as we move forward attracting a new wave of first-time cruisers, which is essential for us to be able to succeed in our ambitious plans,” Craighead said.

Thankfully, she added, the intent to cruise is high according to CLIA’s global research.

“Even among those who have never cruised, the number who are interested in taking a cruise is higher than it was back in 2018 and 2019.”

Among Millennial cruisers, the intent is even higher: 88% of past Millennial cruisers plan to cruise again, higher than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.

The Elusive New-to-Cruise Customer
Finding new-to-cruise customers was part of the Presidents Panel discussion as well.

“The narrative has been that the gateway to new to cruise is short products and the short product is the gateway to the longer product,” Michael Bayley, CEO of Royal Caribbean International. “If you can bring in new to cruise who is maybe a little anxious or unsure to a really stunning short product that delivers a phenomenal experience, then they’re highly likely to repeat.”

The problem, he continued, has always been that the cruise industry had a habit of putting older hardware into the shorter product and offering mediocre destination experiences.

“What we were doing, was we were attracting a high percentage of new-to-cruise, but they weren’t repeating because the experience was average.”

Royal Caribbean, he said, has succeeded with new-to-cruise by flipping that around, putting newer ships into the short cruise market and by creating Perfect Day at CocoCay and making that a highlight of all short cruises.

“It is the number one most desired destination for Royal Caribbean anywhere in the world and it is the highest rated guest satisfaction experience that we have… what we saw is a radical transformation of volume, demand, and rate for customers who were first new-to-cruise and loved it. Not only did they repeat, but then they graduated to longer products… Our new to cruise continues to dramatically grow and it’s coming from these short products.”

That repeat rate – and graduation to longer cruises – is also why Bayley said shorter cruises should be an important piece of travel advisors’ business, despite the lower price point.

“You need to think of developing your customers and keeping them with you and one of the ways you can do that is to deliver products that really make them happy and once you’ve done that, and you know better than I do, you keep them loyal to you and you just sell them other products.”

David Herrera, president of Norwegian Cruise Line, told the audience NCL is taking a different approach.

“We’ve actually lengthened our average deployment,” he said. “Our average deployment is over eight days, especially in those markets [Europe and Alaska].”

To reach new-to-cruise customers, NCL is working, instead, to solve the air problem.

“If you live within driving distance to a port, your cruise decision is pretty straightforward. If you live somewhere else and you have to fly, flying becomes another decision, another friction point, so what we did is we launched free air… if we make it easier for the guest by removing the friction of the air decision or the air process… I’m very excited what free air is going to mean to new-to-brand, new-to-cruise for Norwegian Cruise Line.”

And while Herrera admitted it’s been a bumpy start for NCL’s free air program, he said the line is doubling down on its efforts to make the program better than it’s ever been. He also added that not only does free air help the customer, but it’s good for advisors as well.

“The air ticket is part of the fare and we commission on that.”

Virgin Voyages president Nirmal Saverimuttu also spoke on the subject of new-to-cruise, telling the audience that the cruise line has a “very high proportion of non-cruisers.” But, he emphasized, new-to-cruise are not the only customers who will enjoy a Virgin Voyages cruise.

“There was this perception that Virgin Voyages were always about the non-cruiser, that we built this product for non-cruisers and a little bit of that was our own doing,” he said. “We used some of the wrong words, we communicated some of the wrong things to the market place. The thing about our product is, it is a product for cruisers and we see that now that we’re actually operating. Cruisers love this product… I really don’t want people to think that it’s all about non-cruisers.”

Another misperception Saverimuttu wants to dispel is that Virgin Voyages is only for young people.

“It’s people who are looking for a very particular experience which is the no-kids, premium sailing environment. Our average age is 47 and people are very surprised when they hear that. We’re filling these ships with cruisers in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, lots of celebrations, birthdays.”

Other panel members talked less about new-to-cruise and more about who their particular customers are.

“Our customer is somewhat niche,” said Carol Cabezas, president of Azamara. “It’s really having to do mostly with the amount of their travel experience. These are the type of people who have been there, done that and they’re asking what have you got for me… When you’ve got that client that has done Royal Caribbean for 25 years and now they want to go somewhere that’s very small, remote, only small ships can get there. That’s where Azamara fits in.”

Cabezas likened the Azamara guest, who she referred to as unassuming and relaxed, to Lexus owners.

“Think about somebody that’s a Lexus customer. They want something that’s high quality, that’s reliable but it’s not pretentious. It’s not a Porsche. It’s not a Rolls Royce.”

MSC Cruises’ president for North America, Ruben Rodriguez, said MSC, like Royal Caribbean, is making it easy for cruisers to give the brand a try.

“Our guests want to try us first, shorter cruises in the U.S. and learn the MSC way and if they enjoy it, then see the world with us.”