CELEBRITY Cruises will shortly work its soon-to-debut river voyages into its Australian sales strategy, ahead of their premiere next year on the Danube and Rhine rivers (CW 16 Mar).
While the exact sales strategy is yet to be finalised, vice president international Giles Hawke told travelBulletin it will involve packaging Celebrity’s river itineraries with its ocean voyages.
This strategy will be particularly important in Australia, he said, as travellers from Down Under typically spend three-five weeks on a trip to Europe.
“We’ll be looking to offer packages where people do a river cruise and an ocean cruise,” Hawke said.
“It may not be always getting off an ocean ship and onto a river ship, or vice versa, you might need to travel a bit between them, but we’ll definitely be talking about it, particularly in a market like this,” he added.
Hawke said the launch of Celebrity’s river voyages will allow the brand to offer a European vacation in a way that differentiates it from competitors.
Celebrity’s river ships will emulate the feel of a miniature version of its Edge-class ocean vessels (CW 25 Nov), Hawke emphasised, which will also help advisors sell the new voyages.
“Replicating the feel of our Edge ships with our river ships I think is really helpful, because people go on Edge, and then realise river is going to feel this way.”
MEANWHILE, Celebrity Cruises remains committed to the Australian market, Hawke emphasised, as the country continues to suffer through a post-COVID loss in ship capacity.
He stated that Celebrity’s continued deployment of some of its newest ships in Australian waters was proof of the importance of the local market, saying it “makes sense” for the cruise line.
“We’re focused on and committed to this market,” Hawke affirmed.
“The fact that we can introduce our newest ships here – and we will continue to do so – it’s really important to us.”
Celebrity’s two Australian home ported ships, Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Solstice, both arrived Down Under just a few seasons after their inaugural sailings, despite most other cruise vessels being far older when first deployed locally.
Edge made her Australian debut in 2023 (CW 21 Sep 2021), just five years after rolling off the production line at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard.
Solstice was first introduced to Australia in 2012, when she was, at the time, the newest-built ship in local waters.
The Australian cruise sector’s biggest obstacle for Edge, Hawke explained, was locals getting in early enough to book the ship during her seasonal deployment.
“The big challenge for Edge, particularly in the Australian market, is to get in early enough, because for other markets, this is a long haul destination – they book earlier,” he explained.
“The risk is that we just don’t have enough capacity for the local market because it’s taken by the international markets who are booking earlier.”
Vice president & managing director Australia & APAC Tim Jones added: “we have a really healthy mix of guest nationalities on board, which I actually think gives the whole ship a dynamic that she’s global and international, which I think people really like.”
