Uniworld Sets Return to Russian River Cruises in 2011

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection does not shy away from the hard decisions. Last fall when its new ship set to sail the Nile didn’t meet its high standards, the company sent the ship back to drydock for some more work. And last year, after it determined that its profitable Russia river cruises no longer displayed the quality Uniworld prides, the river cruise line decided to pull the plug on Russia sailings for 2010.

Yes, the line may have lost business, but maintaining its reputation is much more important, and in the long run is what continues to earn the loyalty of its passengers.

“We were in Russia for many years,” Guy Young, president of Uniworld, told Travel Market Report. “We had many years of success… but the standards in Russia are not quite the same as they are in the rest of Europe. Over the last five years, after all of the investments we’ve made in our fleet there really was a noticeable difference between the product we were operating in Russia versus everywhere else.”

But Uniworld is not abandoning the Russian market and in fact has recently entered into a new partnership with a company in Russia to begin sailing there again.

“We’ve found a new partner in Russia and we are going to be totally gutting and refurbishing an existing ship,” he said.

As part of the refurbishment of the new ship, which will be named the River Victoria, Uniworld will be converting three cabins into two; the final product will have 103 cabins with a capacity of 206 passengers.

“So we’re going to have very good-sized cabins. The majority of cabins will have balconies, which is something relatively new in Russia,” Young added.

As with all of the ships in the Uniworld fleet the new River Victoria will be designed by the Red Carnation hotels design team, bringing a boutique hotel sensibility to the ship.

Managing Expectations

Though Young stressed that Uniworld will be heavily involved with the training and service delivery, he admitted “It would be unfair to expect to have the same level of product entirely versus Europe. But we will have one of the best, if not the best, ships and service product deliveries for Russia in 2011.”

When asked what differences agents and their clients should be aware of, Young said they will mainly have to do with furnishings and finishings. “Although they’ll be of high quality and high standard, but the furnishings and finishings aren’t going to be quite at the same level as what you’ll find in Europe.”

The main reason for this, he added, are the very high import duties, which make it hard to bring in the same furnishings used on the Europe ships.

Furthermore, Young said, it may take some time before the service and food quality is on par with the Europe products, but eventually they will be.

“Our goal is to provide the same service and food quality as we have in Europe but that’s going to take training and ongoing monitoring.”

He pointed out the River Victoria (which is being chartered by Uniworld) will boast a Uniworld executive chef, desk staff, cruise manager and hotel manager, all of whom will be brought in from the Europe fleet.

“There will certainly be a high level of Uniworld influence, but we’re going to have to work together with our Russian partners to get the service and product delivery to where we want it to be. But we have no doubt, with the intention and focus we’re going to have on this product, that we’ll get there.”

Destination Is Main Draw

However, Young pointed out, most people don’t book Russian river cruises just for the quality of the ship. They book because they want to see Russia.

“The destination is the big draw,” he said. “And when you look at the costs of staying in hotels, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for example, here’s a very cost-effective way to see Russia. All the great elements of river cruising that you find in Europe are true in Russia as well.”

The River Victoria is scheduled to launch on May 20, 2011, sailing 13-day itineraries. Sailings opened for booking today.