Catching Up With Viking’s Michele Saegesser

by Dori Saltzman February 24, 2026

three viking cruise ships and michele saesgegger — Photos: Viking

There’s a growing club in the cruise industry and only a lucky few get to join it. Viking’s vice president of sales and national accounts, Micele Saegesser, is the latest entrant into this club, which TMR has dubbed the “I’m retired. Just kidding, I’m back!” club.

TMR recently spoke with Saegesser, who returned to Viking in December 2025, about her return, how things are different this time around, why Viking is focused on Gen X, and much, much more.

On Retiring… and Then Not

“It’s hard to leave something after 47 years in an industry where all I’ve done is work with travel advisors,” Saegesser told TMR.

But when she made the decision to retire, she thought it was “time.”

It started out great. She baked her way through every Dorie Greenspan cookbook and not having to deal with a daily influx of emails was “delightful.” But then “it got a little sad.”

It didn’t hurt that Viking chairman and CEO Torstein Hagen asked her to come back. And then named her godmother of the Viking Honir.

“That was the highlight of my entire career. I’m still not over that.”

While becoming a godmother was a highlight, it’s going back to helping travel advisors build their businesses that has her most excited.

First and foremost, she can’t wait to get back to her Executive Retreats.

The Retreats, which she started shortly after the U.S. opened back up after the COVID-19 pandemic, bring together 20 to 30 advisors at Viking’s California office for a weekend of intensive training with Saegesser. Topics include, among many others, how to build your luxury database, what to post on social media, and how to find your next customer.

One thing they don’t include is product training. That’s something she leaves to her sales team.

“I think the challenge the seasoned and the new-to-travel all have is where is that next person coming from? And how do you sell yourself?… If I can get 10 of them where the light bulb goes on and they say, I get it. That’s everything to me.”

During her year “off,” Viking retained Saegesser to continue developing the program and lead focused sessions, but only with select partners.

“In my new role, I remain involved with the program as we use it to support those newer to the industry who want to strengthen their luxury marketing skills and attract more high-value clients.”

(Travel advisors interested in signing up for a future Executive Retreat can reach out directly to Saegesser or their Viking BDM.)

On What’s Different This Time

Taking time away from a job she’d been in so long had one unexpected benefit. She sees things differently than she used to.

“When you have a year off, there’s a lot you do in your brain. You study different things. You read different thing… I’m coming back with the ability to take my old role to a new level.”

For Saegesser, that means being even more strategic and focusing on training and working more directly with advisors.

“I am concentrating on advancing Viking’s trade strategy with an emphasis on helping our advisor partners elevate their overall businesses.”

To do that, she said, she plans to teach advisors how to leverage Viking’s marketing expertise to support their own long-term growth.

She added that since she let and came back, there’s also been an redefinition of roles on the Viking sales team, including the addition of Strategic Account Managers, that enables the entire team to be more advisor – versus agency – focused.

On Why How Much You Book Is Less Important than How Much You Earn

One of the main messages Saegesser hopes to convey to travel advisors, whether at her Executive Retreats or during a presentation at industry events, is this:

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much you book. It’s how much you’re making.

“It’s great that you’re booking $2 million in cruises, but how much money did you make?”

Helping make that second, more important number, bigger, is something she wants to help advisors with. Even if they’re accomplishing it without selling Viking.

“They’re not all going to convert to Viking, but if we have better business people in this industry, that’s a win for everyone.”

On Why Gen X — Not Millennials — Is Important to Viking (and, by default, you)

While many other cruise lines are already looking at Millennials and how to attract them to their ships, Viking is singularly focused on the 55 and older market. The oldest Millennials turn 44 this year. The oldest Gen Xers turn 61. That puts Gen X solidly within Viking’s sights.

“Gen X is the most missed out generation that is going to travel with huge money and do a lot of luxury,” she said.

But Gen X is different from Baby Boomers in ways that she doesn’t think most advisors yet understand, she added.

For instance, where Baby Boomers were okay with putting a family into one larger suite, Gen X wants two suites instead. Gen Xers are also more inclined to extend their cruise vacation with a stay at a luxury hotel or villa, or with a land tour.

“For advisors, that means marketing to Gen X should emphasize customization, elevated accommodations, and the ability to design a seamless, end-to-end experience with a Viking voyage as a centerpiece,” Saegesser said.

Baby Boomers when they call to book a cruise want to chat. They want to talk about their grandkids and what’s going on with life.

“Gen X will give you two minutes of that kind of talk and then say, ‘So, what I’m calling for…’

On NCL’s NCF Move

Viking executives rarely talk about other cruise lines, preferring to keep the focus on Viking, but Saegesser called out Norwegian Cruise Line for its recent move to eliminate non-commissionable fares (NCFs.) (Viking was the first cruise line to get rid of NCFs way back in 2010.)

“I’m very proud of our no NCF policy,” she said adding that when Viking became the first cruise line to get rid of NCFs “people thought we were out of our minds.”

“I’m thrilled at what NCL is doing. I give huge kudos to them.”

On Letting Viking Do the Marketing Work for You

If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on when t comes to Viking it’s this: Viking knows how to market. Perhaps better than any other cruise line out there.

“Let that be a positive,” Saegesser said. “You are going to make a lot of money without the work that you have to do with a lot of other brands.”

With a repeat rate of more than 50%, once a client has been on a Viking ship, there’s a good chance they’ll book another one.

“The love that their clients have for us makes it very easy for advisors,” Saegesser added.

On the Future of U.S. River Cruises

For a cruise line that’s notable for how many ocean and river ships it has planned for the future, Viking is oddly silent on its U.S. river plans. TMR asked Saegesser if she thinks more Mississippi River ships are coming.

“I think there’s great demand,” she said, but added that the U.S. has made it “really challenging” for cruise lines to operate on U.S. rivers.

Because Viking is a publicly-traded company, Saegesser is unable to speculate about the future but said is she ever hears anything about future plans she’ll be shouting it out to the world.

On Viking Libra

Speaking of newbuilds, TMR asked Saegesser how demand for Viking Libra is looking, particularly because when it launches at the end of this year, it will be the first hydrogen-powered cruise ship in the world.

While demand for the ship is robust, Saegesser said it has little to do with Libra’s propulsion system.

“I think it was something we thought would bring a lot more [attention],” she said. “But we don’t talk about our ships so much. We talk about destination. That’s the focus of the company… As far as advisors go, they just know it’s a great Viking product and it goes to destinations with the privileged access and the programs we’ve always had.”

When they do get question about the ship, it’s from past guests that are scientists or retired from engineering and they’re fascinated by the technology.

She added that Hagen built the ship, not because he wanted to try to sell it to cruisers as something special, but because “it’s the right thing to do.”

On the Importance of Travel Advisors to Viking

TMR asked Saegesser if Viking will ever be so big it doesn’t need travel advisors anymore.

“Then I’d really be retired,” she joked. “I’ve built my whole carer on advisors. I know the importance of them and so does Viking. We hope to always have their trust and their support and that they know we have their backs.”

Across the United States and Canada, Saegesser said she and her team regularly help with some 1,400 cruise nights a year.

“I believe that if advisors bring us in to talk to their clients, we will close the sale for them,” and that’s great for advisors.

The more important thought, she said, is not about whether Viking needs advisors. It’s whether the consumer understands that they need advisors.

“It’s up to you and me and everyone in this industry to be informing consumes on what an advisor provides to them,” she said.

This is particularly important when it comes to customizing people’s vacations, including pre- and post-cruise tours.

“I don’t think a consumer is going to be able to put that together on their own. I don’t even think as suppliers that we can do the same job of customization that an advisor can do. Can you imagine if a cruise line call center had to customize every single booking?… It just doesn’t make sense to not have the advisor involved.”