Catching Up with AmaWaterways’ CEO Catherine Powell

If AmaWaterways’ co-founder and chairman Rudi Schreiner is the grandfather of river cruising, then the company’s CEO Catherine Powell is one of its guardians, or at least of the AmaWaterways river cruise brand and its relationship with travel advisors.

“I knew absolutely 100% when I started at AmaWaterways how important the travel advisor community was to Ama, to our business, to our crew,” Powell told TMR at last month’s ASTA River Cruise Expo. “Every time I go to an event and meet them, I am struck by how much they know about Ama, how thoughtful they are about matching what we have to offer to the clients who want that experience. It’s a great relationship because we need each other and we will continue to prioritize them.”

Change Is Scary

Having started after last year’s River Cruise Expo, this year’s show was Powell’s first. Judging by her enthusiasm for the show, it likely won’t be her last.

Most important for Powell this year, however, was getting to meet advisors and be seen by advisors, especially coming on the heels of so much change.

“Any chance for me to see advisors and also for advisors to see me. With change – and Ama has gone through a lot of change, including change of ownership, change of management, change of brand – I’m that connective tissue, so it’s really important for them to see me and understand that everything that is really important to advisors will remain a priority. And advisors, who are important to us, will remain a priority,” she said.

Powell emphasized that she’d like advisors to see what’s happening at AmaWaterways as less of a change and more of an evolution.

“It’s not a rejection of the past in any way,” Powell said.

“Launching a brand from scratch is very different than a rebrand. This is a rebrand, there are anchor points everywhere.”

She added that before AmaWaterways embarked on the rebranding, the cruise line created a mission statement to serve as a guide for everything that was to follow.

“It gives us the parameters to work within, to make sure that we are referencing back the whole time.”

Ultimately, most of the change that has occurred at AmaWaterways over the past year has been “about evolution and preparing for growth. Probably growth at a different pace than we’ve had before but in a thoughtful way,” she added.

Thoughtful, Measured Growth

TMR asked Powell about AmaWaterways’ growth and if she or any of the leadership team feel pressure to grow when some of the river cruises lines around you are adding multiple ships every year.

There was no hesitation when she told us no.

“You have to focus on what is right for your company, your brand, and your guests,” she explained, adding that “thoughtful” growth means ensuring that as you scale up, you don’t compromise the brand or the guest experience.

“The number one rule you absolutely have to have when your brand and the guest experience are so critical to your success is you can’t expand too quickly.”

Growth’s Domino Effect

Growth, she elaborated, is not limited to adding more ships. Growth is a domino effect that touches every aspect of the AmaWaterways experience.

“There’s the infrastructure piece of growth… I’m talking all the way up the funnel. There’s shipyards and a whole supply chain that might feel the pressure from the growth.”

That can include anyone from outfitters and electricians to engineers to shipboard crew.

Partnering for Growth

With eight new ships coming online over the next few years, that means finding new captains and new cruise managers.

On the bridge crew side of things, AmaWaterways has partnered with a nautical company called Rivertech to create a development program that takes crew from sailor all the way up to first captain over the course of several years. The partnership involves both a financial investment but also reserving a specified number of crew cabins for participants.

The final piece of the growth puzzle is the destinations that AmaWaterways sails to.

“It’s ensuring that you partner with the communities that you are going to visit or the cities where you are going to dock,” Powell said.

AmaWaterways, she added, has a good relationship with Amsterdam and voluntarily reduced its number of docking days to keep the relationship solid. At the same time, AmaWaterways improved its relationship with Zaandam (located about 20 minutes from Amsterdam) in order to increase sailings from there.

“It’s really important that the relationship feels two-way and that there is a win/win on both sides so that we are respecting them, listening to them, bringing value to them, and that they are also getting what they need.”

New Branding

The most visible sign of change at AmaWaterways’ – aside from Powell’s presence – is the new branding on its ships. At the ASTA River Expo, all three ships had the branding on the outside. AmaSofia, the company’s newest ship, had the entire rebranding – inside and out. Powell said advisors who toured the AmaSofia got the full picture of the rebrand and a better understanding of how all the pieces work together.

“It’s a system. The colors, the logo, the font, the furnishings, the fixtures, the language that we’re using and you have to see it all together to understand that it makes sense. Otherwise, it’s why change the logo? It’s so gratuitous, right? No, it’s not. It’s part of a system.”

The main color, a sort of burnt orange called vivace was chosen, along with the rest of the primary and secondary color palettes, “to stand for warmth and elegance and familiarity and welcomeness,” she said.

Along with vivace, the colors in the palettes have names like dolce, blue Danube, allegro, and brass, among others.

Powell also emphasized the choice of colors was not hers alone.

“Rudi and Kristin were in the room. You don’t make a big decision without having the co-founders as part of it. We all absolutely loved it,” she said.

Asking for Trust

Powell made it clear she’s aware of some of the early feedback that AmaWaterways received about both the new branding and its new commercial.

Speaking of the TV spot, she said: “The first reaction from advisors was, why isn’t there a ship in it? I can’t sell that. And I said, if we put a ship, you would have told us we look exactly like Celebrity or Viking or Avalon or Scenic. Compare us that way. That ad is memorable.”

She also added that advisors who saw the full new branding displayed on AmaSofia went from not understanding the decision for the rebrand to loving it. (It was a sentiment TMR actually overheard in conversations between advisors at the ASTA River Cruise Expo as well.)

Ultimately, Powell is asking travel advisors to trust her and the leadership team at AmaWaterways to do what is best for everyone.

“Come on the journey of change with us. Know and trust that everything that has been core to the AmaWaterways they know and love and that their clients know and love will not change. It is about adding more and elevating and evolving and being even better.”