CELEBRITY Cruises Vice President International Giles Hawke believes the line will benefit from a steady funnel of passengers from around the sector into its new river cruise product (CW 04 Sep).
Hawke said the research the line conducted in the lead-up to the launch uncovered a range of sources for its river cruises.
“We’re expecting to get a lot of Celebrity customers and we think there will be some from the wider Royal Caribbean Group, because we’ve got reciprocal loyalty schemes, so we’ll be talking to their customers about it as well,” he explained.
“Fifty percent of them already take river cruises or plan to take a river cruise, so if we think of the number of customers we’re taking every year on the ocean, then we’re going to need to build a lot more river ships.
“We know that there will be agents who will be talking to their database and their customers who maybe go on other river cruise companies or other cruise lines, and will want to come with us,” Hawke added.
He believes the guest demographic will be similar to that it hosts on its current ships, as it attempts to recreate the experience of its ocean product on the rivers.
“I think the sweet spot will be 45-60, so it’ll probably bring down the average age of river a bit,” Hawke shared.
Celebrity’s initial order is for 10 river ships (CW 29 Jan), and Hawke believes when that commission is fulfilled, “we’ll be in a different place to where we are when we’ve got two”.
Meanwhile, Hawke revealed local demand for Celebrity has been “fantastic”, as having some of the cruise line’s newest hardware in Australian waters boosts enthusiasm for its fly-cruise product.
“I think having [Celebrity] Edge here is amazing for the brand, and I think good for the Australian cruise industry.
“It’s a good advert for us because when people go on Edge, then they’ll travel the rest of the world on Edge-class in all our major destinations so they know what they’re going to get.”
The only challenge for the Australian market, Hawke said, is locals booking early enough to get on Edge in local waters, with the ship also attracting fly-cruise pax from around the world.
“Australians book a little bit later for domestic product, the international markets start to fill her up, so I think there’s a need for Australian agents to sell earlier into Edge.
“They’ll risk not having enough space to sell into.” MS
