Excitement & Skepticism: Travel Industry Responds to Celebrity River Cruises

Royal Caribbean Group made waves yesterday with the announcement it had ordered 10 river cruise ships for an expansion of its Celebrity Cruises brand into European river cruising.

The general consensus among travel advisors TMR spoke to was that the news is exciting, even if just for shining a spotlight on river cruising.

“I’m excited and if the quality of Celebrity’s ocean cruising goes over to river cruising, I think they’ll be successful,” said Penny Rushing, owner of Four Points Travel.

“Competition is always good as long as it is ‘quality’ competition,” Dusty Davidson, owner of a Dream Vacations franchise, told TMR. “Celebrity offers quality service and experiences so this should be good for river cruising and good for competition.”

Margo McDonough of Blue Skies Travel Center agreed that the new competition will benefit everyone. “All boats will rise with this tide. I think this will be good for the industry overall. It will pique interest in river cruising with those folks who weren’t thinking of it as a possibility.”

Several of the advisors we spoke to agreed they’re excited to see how Celebrity will take its Edge-class design from the ocean and translate it onto the new river ships. As one joked, they won’t be able to put a Magic Carpet on the rivers.

“As a river cruise specialist, I am excited to see what Celebrity’s Edge Series looks like on the river,” Davidson said. “Celebrity is unique and innovative, so I look forward to seeing how it will translate from ocean to river.”

Amy Madson, another Dream Vacations franchise owner, told TMR she’s also excited to see what Celebrity dreams up, though she admitted her first reaction to the news was skepticism.

“The river cruise market is already overcrowded to some extent, so adding another choice doesn’t seem to stand out,” she said. “However, after I viewed Laura Hodges Bethge’s video to the Captain’s Club members, I am intrigued.  She calls out unique ship designs with open deck space and new Celebrity Edge type features, so I will keep an open mind until more information is released.  This has the potential to open up river cruising to a broader clientele.  Just imagine – Silent Disco on the Sun Deck while cruising down the river.”

She’s not the only advisor we talked to who expressed some skepticism.

“There’s going to be a learning curve for them,” McDonough told TMR. “I’m going to wait and watch… It’s going to be interesting to see how they execute it.”

Part of the reason for some of the skepticism is because, as Madson pointed out, the rivers are already crowded.

“Too many river cruise lines,” one advisor, who wished to remain anonymous told us. So many ships are already making the rivers “parking lots,” he added.

“The rivers are going to be cozy,” Rushing said.

Target Clientele?

When we asked advisors who they think the target market for Celebrity River Cruises will be, most agreed it will be loyal Celebrity cruisers who have not been on a river cruise before.

“I think it gives the Celebrity Captain Club’s members another avenue to experience Celebrity’s product and the quality,” Rushing said.

Past Celebrity cruisers that have been on a river cruise before may or may not be attracted to the Celebrity product as they may have already developed a loyalty for an existing river cruise line.

“River cruise clients are very loyal to their preferred brand, and the status they have developed,” Davidson told TMR. “I think what I will see more from our clients is our Celebrity guests who have not been on river cruises will be more interested in trying Celebrity river cruises than others because of their familiarity and comfort level with Celebrity.”

Rushing added that she believes “it’s going to come down to pricing,” though she also noted it will be a draw for loyal Celebrity clients.

Additionally, some cruisers, even those who love Celebrity, she said, may choose to wait until they’ve heard feedback from other cruisers. She pointed to Riverside Luxury Cruises as an example. Even though Riverside purchased the former Crystal Cruises ships, many former Crystal cruisers chose to wait before giving Riverside a chance.

When it comes to pricing, C. Patrick Scholes, a cruise analyst for Truist Securities, sent out a memo shortly after the announcement revealing that the consensus among industry experts he’s spoken with is that pricing will be below that of what Viking charges.

“While there will be some overlap in the brands, our initial take is that they will not be direct head-to-head competitors given likely different price points,” Scholes wrote.