Travel Agent Magazine. August 12, 2002 Sterling Silver: Silversea Cruises burnishes its reputation for innovation with a flexible, customized cruise concept. Susan Young Silver traditionally has symbolized shining beauty, purity and quality. On his far-flung journeys, Cyrus the Great of Persia, for example, would only drink water transported in silver storage vessels. Today's upscale travelers also journey abroad in royal style on the intimate ships of Silversea Cruises. Long recognized for its efforts to make the product ever more appealing to discriminating passengers, Silversea just rolled out Personalized Voyages, which offers the ultimate in flexibility. The program, which features per diem cruise rates and allows clients to design their own cruise, will be in effect for 2003 sailings on the Silver Cloud. "We're trying to define the next step in terms of luxury," says Silversea CEO Albert Peter. With their agent's assistance, passengers select from a list of more than 200 embarkation and disembarkation ports, rather than a set cruise segment. The only requirement is a minimum of a five-night contiguous cruise. Clients, for example, could take a five-day cruise that ends in one city, stay there for a few days and then travel to another city to reboard the ship for another sailing. Fares are based on the destination, time of year and suite type. They will be similar to luxury hotel rates, say, $395 per day for a trans-Atlantic day at sea, $695 in Rome or $795 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Agents simply add up the days (excluding departure day) for the total fare. The line's Venetian Society members will receive a 5 percent discount. Onboard the Silver Cloud, the atmosphere will resemble an upscale boutique resort, with guests coming and going, rather than everyone getting on and off at the same ports. And while the operational details are still being worked out, guests likely will keep their luggage longer, instead of tagging it and putting it out in the hall the night before. If the Personalized Voyages program is successful on the Silver Cloud, Peter says he'll consider extending the product to other ships in the fleet. Clearly, there is a market for the new program. Cruise industry analyst Marc Mancini says the concept of Personalized Voyage is "inventive and intriguing." Assuming that it works operationally, Mancini says the idea of a flexible itinerary "is absolutely right, because baby boomers want total flexibility and the upscale market in general wants flexibility." First-Time Prospects While the product will certainly appeal to many existing customers, Bill Leiber, Silversea's senior vice president of sales and marketing, believes that "the upside is to appeal to luxury vacationers who have never considered a cruise as a vacation option because they think it's too standardized and highly scheduled." Mary Jean Tully, CTC, chairman and CEO of Cruise Professionals in Toronto, concurs with that assessment, pointing out that some of her affluent clients book a complete yacht charter just to avoid the structure of a luxury cruise segment. She booked two eager clients on Personalized Voyages the week it was announced. "People today don't want structure," Tully says. "They want to create their own environment." Efforts to appeal to discriminating travelers have been the cornerstone of Silversea since it was founded in the early 1990s by Italy's Lefebvre family, former owners of Sitmar Cruises. The line revolutionized small-ship cruising with the launch of the 296-passenger Silver Cloud in 1994, followed by the debut of sister ship Silver Wind in 1995. These were the industry's first small ships to offer all-inclusive pricing, verandas on 75 percent of the suites, and deluxe amenities, including a multitiered show lounge. In 2000, the line launched the 382-passenger, Silver Shadow, a larger but still intimate ship with even more amenities. Its sister ship, the Silver Whisper, entered service the following year. Guest satisfaction on Silversea's ships is high: 96 percent of past guests say they'd like to cruise with the line again. That's because they sail to exotic destinations and are pampered with deluxe accommodations, along with fine food and wine. To foster personalization throughout the fleet, Silversea is offering many new features, including a golf program, expanded culinary offerings and Airport Ease, an option for car service to and from the airport. Helen McCabe-Young, vice president of marketing, says 11 new Wine Series voyages will bring vintners onboard and take guests to vineyards. Agents say that Silversea represents the height of ultra-luxury. "Silversea is basically our cruise line of choice for very, very upscale clients," stresses Brian Robertson, CTC, owner of Robertson Travel Consultants in Santa Barbara, Calif., while Sally Goldwasser, president of Unique Travel in Delray Beach, Fla., says Silversea's clients "are people used to very fine things who are willing to spend the money for it." And Anne Scully, CTC, vice president of McCabe Bremer in McLean, Va., believes "there is nothing better than recommending a product, and then the client comes back with high client satisfaction." Her agency sells $4 million in cruises annually, and she describes Silversea as a product that is "high integrity, high client satisfaction." Silversea is emerging from a year of ownership and leadership changes. Last summer, Manfredi Lefebvre bought out his brother, Francesco, the line's chairman, and assumed the leadership role. The new chairman then hired Peter, who had a strong banking and venture capital background. Bill Smith, the line's president, left late in the year to accept a hospitality executive position. Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso, says whenever there's a change in leadership, there is a concern about what the effect will be, particularly if the new executive has a financial background. But after meeting Peter, Upchurch says he was impressed with the "tremendous grasp the CEO had for the importance of building and differentiating Silversea's product, not just looking at numbers and cutting costs. That's important, says Mancini, who notes that all the major luxury lines have improved positioning. Seabourn has evolved into the Yachts of Seabourn, Cunard Line is focusing on trans-Atlantic cruising and the Queen Mary 2 liner, and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises is successfully marketing an eclectic mix of ships. Crystal Cruises is catering to large-ship luxury, while Windstar Cruises is luxury under sail. COPYRIGHT 2002 Universal Media, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group   Back         Top of Page

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