Travel Weekly webcasts: Preparations for travel’s restart were the theme of our latest interviews AZAMARA’S CAROL CABEZAS


ABTA’S MARK TANZER


Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly


Carol Cabezas


Pacific Princess is to be renamed by Azamara


‘We don’t want to dilute the Azamara experience’


T


he new president of Azamara says the line, known for its ‘destination immersion’, will not


compromise its experience for a quicker return to sailing. Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast after Azamara was acquired from Royal Caribbean Group by private equity firm Sycamore Partners, Carol Cabezas said resumption depended on two issues: “Can we go there and make it safe? And can our guests get there?” She said the line’s ships, known


for accessing smaller ports, would operate “in the safest possible way”, with protocols in Europe “up a notch” from what is expected by the EU. “We’ve looked at a couple of


places where we could make some adjustments, but Azamara needs to deliver the Azamara experience,” said Cabezas. “We don’t want to sacrifice what we’re about just to operate a sailing – that’s not the experience people are coming to us for.” Speaking ahead of confirmation


that Azamara had bought 670-passenger ship Pacific Princess


6 28 JANUARY 2021


from Princess Cruises, Cabezas said the new investment was “focused on expanding our fleet” to offer “more options, more things to do”. “That’s absolutely the path that


we’re on,” she added. Cabezas said Azamara was


the “right size” for private equity investment because it is “not so big that continuing to invest is diminishing returns”, yet “not so small that there’s a lot of heavy lifting of brand-building”. Cabezas said Sycamore also


wanted to boost Azamara’s range of land experiences. Pacific Princess will be renamed


when it joins identical vessels Azamara Pursuit, Azamara Quest and Azamara Journey in the line’s fleet – and will sail in Europe from 2022. Cabezas said British customers


had been loyal to Azamara throughout the pandemic, with the source market “resilient” for the line. “Not only is the UK faring


well, it’s faring particularly well when you look at the summer and beyond. When you look at 2022, it’s outstanding,” she said.


bta wants the government’s Global Travel Taskforce reconvened and “to start


work immediately” on a pathway out of the current restrictions. Chief executive Mark Tanzer


Mark Tanzer


Tanzer calls for taskforce to A


The solution to


opening up travel has to be [based on] what risk we’re prepared to tolerate


told Travel Weekly: “Health is the number-one priority and we respect the measures the government is taking to limit the spread of the virus. We have to fall in behind the science and the progress of the pandemic.” But he hopes government collabo-


ration with the industry, allied to the vaccine rollout and testing, can lead to a relaxation in time for the summer. Tanzer said: “I don’t think


vaccination in itself is going to solve this. We’re going to need close collaboration between government and industry on how a combination of testing and evidence of vaccination can let people start moving again –


within the UK as well as internationally.” Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast,


he argued: “Can we have some kind of standardisation around evidence of vaccination to facilitate the movement of people? “That work needs to start now. The


thinking about how this can work in the summer needs to be done now and preparations put in place. We need to start work on this immediately.” Tanzer pointed out: “We were


very pleased when the government pulled together the Global Travel Taskforce at the back end of last year. We need the taskforce back – the scientists, the medical professionals,


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