Trade at Forefront of Ken Muskat’s Plans for Scenic & Emerald Cruises

Longtime cruise industry veteran Ken Muskat once assumed river cruising was boring and only for the slow-moving elderly traveler. With a long history in big ship cruising, Muskat couldn’t imagine that cruising on smaller ships could be fun. Today, he’s two months into his new role as managing director of Scenic Group USA, he couldn’t be more excited about the future – and the trade’s place within that.

Muskat’s first experiences with river cruising weren’t with Scenic or Emerald but those experiences did pave the way for an enthusiasm for smaller ships that is evident even over the phone.

“I went with a group of family and friends, many who worked in the big cruise ship industry and all of us had doubts going on a river cruise and all of us were completely blown away after the first one, which is why we booked a second one,” he told Travel Market Report.

“It was so different than what I thought it was going to be. I had the typical perception that is was just for old people who were tired and lazy. There were younger people on board. It was adventurous. It was exciting. It was great to build relationships with the crew and the other guests onboard because there are so few people.”

Fast forward a few years and Muskat is enthusiastic about introducing more travel advisors to small ship cruising – whether river or yacht-style ocean ships – and, in particular, small-ship cruising with Scenic and Emerald Cruises.

The ‘Right’ Trade at Heart of Unlimited Potential
“I’m jumping in right at the beginning of what is probably going to be one of the, if not the most exciting year for us in 2023 with the launch of a new Scenic ocean ship and a new Emerald ocean ship. Two ships in one year, which is always exciting,” he said.

But with new hardware comes more berths to fill and Muskat’s top priority is getting more advisors familiar with and selling the full Scenic and Emerald Cruises portfolios.

“There’s an incredible opportunity we have with these brands,” he said. “We realize there’s a lot of education still to do out there for travel advisors and advisors that we need to get onboard and see the product or virtually experience the product so they really know what we have to offer and what makes us unique.”

But Muskat said, unlike at previous cruise lines (namely Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises), his focus isn’t on casting the widest net.

“As we increase capacity, we need to make sure that we’re further penetrating the North American market, By no means are we where we need to be and that is a big focus for me, really understanding who is the right trade to go after… I need to focus on the right trade. I need luxury sellers that have luxury clientele to sell small ships, luxury yachts and river cruises to.”

“Our owners on depending on this market [North America] to be the largest market for Scenic and Emerald and to drive so much demand that we have no choice but to continue adding more ships,” he added.

Top Priorities Focus on Travel Advisors
Among his top priorities are driving brand awareness and demand for the Scenic brands, ensuring they’re easy to do business with, and that the contact center and sales team have all the information and resources needed to help advisors sell.

“Our number one [priority] is support for the travel advisors and driving exciting engagement amongst the trade.”

Currently, he added, his team are planning their trade communication strategy, and marketing and sales initiatives.

“In order for them to be successful with us, we need to educate them, we need to incentivize them, we need them to experience our product, and we need them to be very happy with their clients’ feedback when their clients get off of our product. The best thing for me is that no question, when the clients get off of Scenic or Emerald, they love it.”

Muskat said Scenic and Emerald Cruises plan to do “a lot more trade engagement” throughout the year.

“We’re in the process of developing a much broader strategic plan on how we represent our brands amongst the trade and how we engage the trade who want to learn about us and make sure we’re giving them support. Also making sure that in the contact center that we’re providing them the support they need and answering the phones and servicing them in the quickest, best way possible and making it easy to work with us.”

He added that his team is already working with some regional consortiums and has plans to work with larger consortiums, as well.

“We are constantly out there doing webinars and doing road shows and participating in conferences and working with CLIA and ASTA.”

No Success without Travel Advisors
While taking on a role at a company that specializes in small ship cruising is new for Muskat, he sees his role at the company as similar to what he’s done in the past. Something he’s excelled out – filling growing capacity and building brand awareness.

“There’s a lot of similarities… when I look back at the work I had to do at Royal Caribbean, which was at a time that the company was going through tremendous growth. Then I worked in Shanghai with a company that was the underdog that had to grow significantly… MSC was trying to penetrate the North American market in a big way. Low brand awareness, lots of growth, big ambitions for the future. Scenic and Emerald are very similar in that regard.”

What all those roles really had in common, he added, was the trade.

“The trade continues to play the most integral role in our success,” adding that travel advisors have always been a critical element of his own success.

“With growth, travel advisors are critical. I’ve always depended on travel advisors when I’ve needed them to help me raise brand awareness and differentiation amongst the brands… I’ve always been extremely supportive and dependent on travel advisors in all the brands that I’ve worked for, as different as they all are.”

It’s no different today, he added.

“I continue to need them more than ever to get the message out, because once again, I’m in a brand that has low brand awareness, a huge opportunity in the North American market and huge guest satisfaction. I just need more travel advisors to be promoting us and selling us and learning about us. They remain more critical than ever for me once again.”

Advisors can reach out to Muskat at Ken.Muskat@Scenicusa.com.