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upscale cruising
EUROPA 2 not only features children’s areas with age-specifi c activity programmes, it also has a children’s library, offers (extra cost) babysitting services, and provides a free ‘Baby Welcome Package’ including toiletries, baby food, nappies and disposable changing mats, to parents of under-threes. Young families also get in-suite amenities including a baby monitor, travel cot/play-pen and a toilet seat for toddlers. And Paul Gauguin Cruises’ French Polynesia- based ship Paul Gauguin won a ‘Top small ship for families’ award last year for its ‘Ambassadors of the Environment’ youth programme, led by oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau. While some upscale lines pursue bookings
European Waterways – which operates ‘boutique’ hotel barge sailings along the waterways of Scotland, France and Italy – adds that more ‘adventurous’ cruising need not necessarily mean taking long haul fl ights to far-fl ung destinations like India, Cambodia or Vietnam. “Our clients, who are generally aged 50- plus and very well travelled, are happy to explore Europe but are looking for something much less mainstream,” he says. “Most have already travelled extensively, but
welcome the opportunity for slow exploration and detailed immersion into the culture and history of the places they’re visiting. So we’re always on the lookout for something that bit different; a new little vineyard for a private tasting, an old olive press or a Troglodyte cave dwelling. We fi nd that knowledgeable, high-income travellers are looking for an ‘experience’, not just a holiday.” They’re also seeking quality time with their
loved ones, Gant adds. “We’re seeing substantial growth in whole-barge charters, often by multi- generational family groups who hire a barge as they might a luxury villa, to celebrate a special occasion such as grandad’s 70th birthday”. Mike Flanagan, who handles UK & Ireland sales
for German operator Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ latest high-end ship EUROPA 2, agrees that families can be a rich source of high-end bookings. “A ‘typical’ potential client for EUROPA 2 might
never have been on a cruise before,” he says. “Professionals aged 45-plus with families are a good target audience, and I believe there are rich pickings to be made from clients who currently
Main image on previous page: Regent Seven Seas in Kotor, Montenegro. This page (clockwise from top): guests enjoying drinks on the deck aboard a Seabourn vessel; arriving in Malta; gourmet dining with Silversea Cruises
“Our clients, who are generally aged 50-plus and well travelled, are happy to explore Europe but are looking for something much less mainsteam...high-income clients are looking for
more ‘experiences’” CHRIS GANT, MARKETING MANAGER EUROPEAN WATERWAYS
holiday in high-quality private villas, or boutique hotels in places like the Seychelles and Maldives. “So my advice to agents keen to make more
income from their upscale cruise sales is look beyond your current cruise base when seeking EUROPA 2 clients.” While some small-ship, upmarket lines fi ght shy
of having too many youngsters on board, Hapag- Lloyd Cruises has embraced the top-end family market with lavish facilities for young children.
by chasing the family vote, US-owned tour and river cruise operator Tauck Travel – intent on penetrating the UK market with its six brands this year – is courting UK travel agents with the offer of one free trip on any of its brands for every four new-to-Tauck clients booked. Agents who bag eight new bookings can take a friend or partner along as well. Bookings must be made directly through the Tauck UK reservation offi ce by June 30 this year for travel in 2015 and 2016 (0800 810 8020/
tauck.co.uk). Such tactics are likely to proliferate in the upscale river cruise sector, which is becoming as competitive as ocean cruising and – with aggressive fl eet-development from Viking Cruises and others – expanding at a dramatic rate. Several new orders has been placed by
CroisiEurope, which plans to have four new vessels in place for the 2016/17 season. Two new riverboats will operate on the Elbe and Mekong Rivers, while new hotel barges will operate in France; one along the Briare Canal (which links Burgundy with the Loire) and one on the Garonne Canal, between Toulouse and Damazan. Growth-hungry Viking Cruises also continues to
expand, with plans to operate Mississippi River cruises from late 2017. Viking boats will run along the Mississippi River from New Orleans, heading upriver to Memphis and St. Louis or St. Paul, Minnesota, depending on the season.
sellingtravel.co.uk
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