Silversea director of expeditions Conrad Combrink talks to Emily Bamber about the cruiseline’s new ship, Prince Albert II, and about the company’s move into expedition cruising
What are your personal priorities as director of expeditions?
For the past 15 years Silversea has created an excellent name for itself in the industry and it really knows how to run a hotel operation on board a ship. But for this product we need to shift the focus to destinations as well.
My main priority is to make sure our programmes are interesting for guests. They won’t always be unique because there are only so many places in the world, but we want to develop unique ways to show them to our guests.
How will you make that happen?
We’ll do this with the kind of staff we put on the ship, the interaction between the staff and guests and the equipment we have on board. I’ll be organising workshops with our expedition leaders to get them involved in planning the expeditions they will be running.
I’ll also be making sure the captain, the hotel director and the expedition director all work together. I’ll be on the ship for the 18-day maiden voyage co-leading the expeditions, and also for about three months a year.
Are you looking to your existing client base or to a whole new market?
Initially, we hope to get many of our existing clients on board the new ship but, while we hope they will enjoy it, we are looking to develop new markets within the expedition industry, working with specialist tour operators and educating our travel agents and sales staff about the new ship.
Do people really want luxury on an expedition cruise?
The destinations will be expeditionary; we’ll be hiking, going on the zodiacs, we won’t be sitting on air-conditioned buses.
There are always customers who want an adventure experience on board as well, but we cater for the market that wants luxury, good cuisine and butler service and has a keen interest in natural history and the preservation of cultures.
The people interested in expedition cruising will be seeking out these itineraries so they won’t be difficult to sell.
The ship is sailing its inaugural from London – are you positioning it for the UK market?
The UK is one of the leading markets for the expedition industry and growing really fast. Many explorers have come from the UK and we always planned for our maiden expedition to be out of London.
On our existing ships, 50% of our passengers are from the US, the other 50% are international, and we are hoping to recreate that on Prince Albert II. But we cannot ignore the fact that the European and British markets are bigger than the US market for expeditions. People are becoming very aware of the vessels they choose and becoming more active.
Can you explain the choice of name?
We are very involved with the principality of Monaco – our global headquarters is in Monaco and we have partnerships with the top hotels and restaurants there. The palace approached us saying Prince Albert would like to be involved.
He is very active in environmental protection and exploration – Prince Albert I was the first monarch to Svalbard. Prince Albert II was the first monarch to the North Pole. So it’s fitting that our ship is setting sail from London, from where many expeditions have left, sailing to a region explored by our namesake.
Why have you left the ‘Silver’ name behind? Won’t customers find this confusing?
The hotel experience will be the same on Prince Albert II as on our other ships, it’s just the approach to the destinations that will be different. But we are setting aside some Silversea traditions with this ship.
For example, we have always had Italian captains but Prince Albert II will have a German captain – who is an ice master and knows Antarctica and Svalbard like the back of his hand – purely because he is the best in the industry.
What does Prince Albert II add to the market?
For too long the expedition industry has got away with offering products that mean giving up luxury to see remote destinations.
There is a serious need for a company to come in and offer five-star service, with the five-star destinations you get with the other companies. This isn’t soft adventure, this truly is an expedition ship, but from a luxury platform.
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