Norwegian Cruise Line will expect a warmer welcome from rivals than might previously have been the case when it brings Norwegian Epic to Southampton for the UK Cruise Convention.
Chief executive Kevin Sheehan admitted that NCL’s former tactic of defining itself by highlighting how different it was from other operators and criticising rivals for their approach made it unpopular.
“It made every cruise line on the planet hate us because we were taking shots at them and yet they have a wonderful proposition – it’s just different,” said Sheehan.
Transformation
NCL came under new ownership in 2007 when Apollo Management bought a controlling stake. This, coupled with the installation of a new management team, coincided with a transformation of a line that had been known for its pioneering approach but commercial underperformance and poor trade relations.
Trade relations
Last year NCL was profitable for the first time since 2005.
But more important for the cruise industry and for travel agents was how NCL changed the way it promoted itself and worked with the trade, said Sheehan.
“We all need to work together to deal with all the stuff going on from a global standpoint,” he added.
A recent initiative UK agents have benefited from is Partnership 2.0, a project designed to improve the way NCL works with agents. This has already brought many benefits including enhanced training and a greater freedom for staff in the London office to deal with problems.
More advances are on the way. The latest board meeting, held on new ship Norwegian Epic two weeks ago, discussed how NCL could enhance its trade relations in Europe.
Sheehan said he found “chaos” when he took over at NCL, adding: “Our lifeblood was travel agents and yet we made it complicated to execute a transaction and moved our ships around constantly.”
The level of agent interest in NCL’s new ship Norwegian Epic – its newest, biggest and most innovative ship – has been underlined by the ship visit during the UK Cruise Convention being the first to become fully subscribed.
Epic proportions
The 4,200-passenger ship will arrive in Southampton on the first morning of the convention from a two-day inaugural.
The line that claims the term Freestyle Cruising as its own is hoping Epic’s size and choice of dining and entertainment options will take the concept to the next level.
Sheehan believes Epic is particularly suited to European tastes and expects cruises from its Barcelona base in 2011 to be popular.
“We’re all about freedom and flexibility. We want you to have the sort of free feeling you get in resorts. We really feel the ship will offer a European-style vacation,” he said.
Sheehan claimed NCL had a “fantastic” wave bookings period, so much so it was able to raise prices on April 2 on every sailing. And he was confident this would be sustainable as the line now had a better revenue management system in place.
Epic features
- Staterooms feature curved walls and have separate shower and toilet cubicles
- There are 20 dining outlets and 20 bars and lounges
- Cirque Dreams and Dinner mixes dining with entertainment
- Entertainment, including the Blue Man Group, will take place across the ship
- Epic will also boast the largest villa complex at sea, the first ice bar, six bowling lanes and the Epic Plunge waterslide