Just Back From the ASTA River Cruise Expo: 6 Questions with Riverside Luxury Cruises’ Jennifer Halboth

Three years ago, Riverside Luxury Cruises splashed into the river cruise market at that ASTA River Cruise Expo with a surprise christening and energetic evening parties that were the talk of the Expo. What followed over the next year or so, however, was a slow entry into the marketplace, with sailing after sailing departing with significantly less than a full-house – sometimes as few as seven or eight people onboard.

Business has picked up in the past year. TMR sat down with Riverside Luxury Cruises’ CEO Jennier Halboth to discuss the brand’s first three years, what she’s most proud of from those first few years, and more.

Q. It has been three years since Riverside’s surprise christening of Riverside Mozart. How does business look now compared to what you expected it to look like three years ago?

Halboth told TMR Riverside is exactly where she’d hoped it would be.

“I think in terms of volume, revenue, and sales growth, we’re right on pace, if not, in my opinion, exceeding.”

We asked Halboth if she’d been at all surprised in the first year of the brand when sailings often operated with less than 20 to 30 people onboard.

She was quick to say no.

“I knew what it takes… it just does not happen overnight… Where I am really pleasantly surprised is the depth of love for the brand already,” she said.

Though she acknowledged that the support for Riverside Luxury Cruises will “never be as broad as some other lines,” she said that’s to be expected for a niche product. But the brand has had cheerleaders from the very beginning that have been a huge part of its success, from Virtuoso Cruise Icons to advisors who discovered Riverside at the ASTA River Cruise Expo three years ago.

“We’ve gone into a category where all the lines have been at it for 25 to 50 years. They’re beloved and known by travel advisors and the level with which we’ve come in and not but been another player but have kind of shined. I’m blown away and completely honored.”

Q. What is one decision that you’ve made for Riverside that you’re especially proud of now that you’ve seen it play out?

Halboth didn’t have to think for even one second for her answer.

“Hiring the best, youngest sales team in the business,” she said. “It definitely was a strategy. Some people on the team had done the job before. Some had not. Some had sold cruise. Some had sold hotels. I love the eclecticness of my team.”

She added that having a team with a large variety of unique perspectives makes a huge difference.

“I can’t be everywhere and I’m just one person and I’m a certain kind of personality. You don’t need a bunch of me running around,” she joked.

Q. Hindsight is 20/20. Is there something you would go back and do differently, knowing everything you know now?

Being slower with “certain things” is something Halboth would have done differently if given another chance, she told TMR. For instance, she thinks Riverside probably pushed the website out too quickly, before it was ready.

“I think that we could have asked for more grace on things versus asking for forgiveness… it would have been nice to take a little bit more time with some of those things.”

But Riverside is in a good place now, she emphasized.

“At the end of the day, I don’t want to have all of the things, because we’re a luxury line. We’re not trying to fill 50 ships. Also, for the team and for advisors, they’re managing so much stuff already. I always say, once you have all the things, you spend your time on all the things and you’re not talking about the product.”

The passion for the product, for the travel part of the business gets swallowed up in learning a new email tool, a new management tool, etc.

“I want to keep us really focused on the critical tools the advisors need to have to really understand and appreciate and advocate for the brand… We want to keep it really bespoke, even in our suite of marketing.”

Q. After three years in the market do travel advisors get the Riverside proposition? Do they understand the brand and who the right client is? Is there anything you feel like they’re getting wrong?

The right advisors do, Halboth said.

“That’s one of the things that we’re learning, is not everyone is going to be able to sell Riverside and that’s okay.”

She added that advisors who do understand Riverside tell other advisors about the brand.

“What’s nice to see is those advisors are out there championing us to other advisors because that’s what we need most of,” Halboth said, adding that even though she’d never say something she believed to be true, she still works for the company and that makes her proclamations more suspect.

“My favorite [thing] is strong advisors who believe in us, who sell us with regularity, talking to their peers.”

Q: Has the definition of luxury in river cruising shifted since we last spoke three years ago?

Like so many cruise executives TMR has spoken with, Halboth said the word “luxury” is overused and has become “so relative” that it’s almost impossible to define.

“For us, luxury is personal. We believe that flexibility is one of the most critical aspects to today’s luxury traveler. We are obviously going to deliver the best food, but at the end of the day not everyone wants the same thing. That whole style of everyone comes in and wants the same level, it’s just not like that anymore.”

Halboth gave the example of the 40-year-old who makes a good income and spends all their money on travel versus the 70-year-old high-net-worth client who is independent and chill. The two clients might both love Riverside but they’re still going to want different things.

What she believes these Riverside clients have in common is a sense of independence, as opposed to the client who wants everything done and decided for them.

“They [other river cruise lines] cater to people who are like ‘I’ve worked hard my whole life. I’m done making decisions.’ Our clients are cool making decisions and we give them a lot of choices… It is someone who blends loving a good hotel and a good meal, but then just wants to be left alone and kind of get lost.”

She added that the Riverside clients is also someone who likes a bit of adventure but also wants to be pampered.

Q. Riverside got off to a slow start with its full shore excursion program. Where is the line at with shore ex today?

“I would say when we started were we like a C-minus,” Halboth told TMR. “Today, we’re like a B-plus, A-minus.”

Riverside is still tweaking some of its landside offerings, including its Signature Events, which are exclusive landside experiences available once per cruise to Riverside guests.

“I think we’re still in the tinkering [stage] and we are still building up our base of partners and that just really does not happen overnight.”

Ultimately, Halboth predicted, in about two years’ time, Riverside will be as close to exactly where she wants it to be as it can be.

“Nothing is exactly where you want it to be because you always want to improve and add and enhance. But I think we’ll have been through most of the growing pains by then.”