“I think what’s exciting about the future for Trafalgar is that local connectivity and immersive experiences have always been in our DNA. We took people into locals’ homes before Brian Chesky did with Airbnb,” she declared in an interview with Travel Daily.
“This is what Trafalgar has been doing since 1947. I think that part of its DNA will always stay core to the brand and the business, but how we enable that by modes of transport will be really interesting.”
Ahead of its entry into river cruising, Trafalgar conducted consumer research, which revealed a gap in the current market for the business to target.
According to the data, 20% of its customers were booking a river cruise – with a different brand – whilst also booking their Trafalgar tours.
Interestingly, 74% of Trafalgar’s guests were booking a river cruise after their Trafalgar tour.
“We see [river cruise] as a real opportunity to introduce a new mode of transportation to get those repeat passengers,” Ambler explained.
“All of our partners have got those customers on file – you know their travel habits and you know what they’re looking for in their next experience, so hopefully Trafalgar river is their next international trip they choose.”
Trafalgar’s river cruises will be aimed at a broad section of the market, particularly families, offering interconnected rooms and itineraries with activities that cater to kids.
“I think a lot of people overlook touring and river cruising when it comes to families. We’re going to make it very accessible to families with kids from six years old right the way through to teenagers,” said Ambler.
In entering the market, Trafalgar has drawn on the expertise and insights of TTC sister brand, luxury river cruise line Uniworld, such as using their ships that have delivered “lifechanging river cruise experiences for years”.
“Our teams are all very interconnected, so we’ve really leant on Uniworld to help us build out this program. It’s the perfect blend of Uniworld’s legacy and knowledge, sprinkled in with the new thinking of the Trafalgar team and how they reimagine the Trafalgar brand on board a ship,” she explained.
“That’s all been tried and tested. This is not a new concept. I think it would be really hard to go into river without [that knowledge] because it’s so saturated now. It’s so competitive. Ships are so hard to get. You really have to have a solid understanding of the market and how to operate in it.”
In 2026, Trafalgar will be “dipping [its] toes in the water” and sailing with two former Uniworld ships, offering two journeys – an eight-day cruise on the Danube on Trafalgar Reverie and a 10-day cruise on the Rhine on Trafalgar Verity.
The following year, another Uniworld ship will join the fleet, as well as two newbuild super ships. After that, Trafalgar will embark on “a strong road plan” to continue expanding the fleet into 2029.
While the business will be focused on operations and delivering an “exceptional experience” for the first 12 months, as time goes on, packaging will be what sets Trafalgar’s river cruise offering apart, noted Ambler.
“That’s where the magic is going to come – where we can package in a seven-day cruise plus the seven-day tour to deliver a really immersive, multi-mode, multi-dimensional travel experience, all under the one brand,” she said.
