Cruise presidents seek to capture the first-time cruiser

FORT LAUDERDALE — Swim lanes, research trends and the pursuit of the first-time cruiser.

Those were just some of the topics discussed at the general-session panel at CruiseWorld Friday morning, where an unusually diverse group of cruise-brand presidents took the stage. Editor in Chief Arnie Weissmann, in introducing the seven executives, told the audience that each had been asked to submit three trends they were seeing in the industry. “Only one trend was repeated once,” he said. “They were talking about 20 different trends.”

There was discussion of boomers — “the opportunity is enormous,” said Jason Montague of Prestige Cruise Holdings — and millennials — “they sure do set the trends,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo of Celebrity Cruises. Montague touched on all-inclusives in the luxury segment. Rick Sasso from MSC Cruises USA brought up multigenerational options, especially vis a vis the kids programming onboard (Chicco and Lego in the case of MSC) and the ship-within-a-ship concept for family members of different means and tastes.

The executives appealed to the crowd as they discussed the value of cruising and how to attract more first-timers and groups, particularly after Jan Swartz of Princess Cruises said that only 3% of the Americans take a cruise every year. “That’s 97% out there that we should convert.”

Holland America Line’s Orlando Ashford admitted to taking his job “never having been on a cruise, never even considered it.” In the good-natured flurry that followed, he added that his experience enabled him to talk with his team about how to approach others who hadn’t considered a cruise vacation.

“Like Lisa, I started out as a travel agent,” Carnival Cruise Line’s Christine Duffy said. “The benefit of working with an agent, it’s the travel agent who has to explain to someone like Orlando that a cruise is absolutely for you.”

The number of bold-face names onstage attracted a great deal of interest from the audience. And when Weissmann suggested the panel take a group photo, many audience members headed up to the stage to snap their own photos or take a selfie with the panelists in the background.

And despite the obvious similarities among the lines — ships that carry passengers to various places around the globe — the presidents agreed that the brands have never been more differentiated.

“Each cruise line has its own personality,” asserted Ashford.

Lutoff-Perlo discussed the recent decision by Celebrity to eliminate formal nights. “As all of us are sometimes concerned that people will react in a negative way, and we said, so be it. You can’t be all things to all people … At a certain point in time you have to say, ‘we’re not for everybody,’ and the more you differentiate, the more you have to say that. The more you have to be OK with that.”

Each line was in its own “swim lane” in terms of product differentiation, she said.

After moderator Mary Pat Sullivan ribbed Larry Pimentel of Azamara Club Cruises for being relatively quiet on the stage, he delivered a passionate address about selling “the fun track” that resulted in loud audience applause. “We have fun ships, too,” he said, a nod to Duffy sitting next to him. “Just ask the guests. They love going to the British Open; they’re avid golfers …. they care about the fact that she ship is sitting there for three days and they’re golfing.”

He added: “Every line here has fun. And the product…. the notion of the swim lanes, it’s the most glorious thing I’m seeing, it’s not homogenized industry.”

“There is something for everyone. And the reality to all of this is, it is a blast.”