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The essential of the conversation keeps coming back to one thing: Europe. No, it is not that but rather the news that Norwegian Cruise Line will introduce a sixth vessel, the Norwegian Pearl, into the region in 2019.
The move, which is part of 39, a number of improvements According to Wil Wilkinson, general manager and vice president of the NCL in the UK, Ireland and MEA, Cruise Trade News told Cruise Trade News […]
Why did you announce these improvements to the 2019/20 routes?
We are constantly looking to see where the opportunities are, listening carefully to our travel partners and consumers.
For me, it is our commitment to Europe, where the demand is so strong. This gives us the opportunity to bring a sixth vessel [to the region].
This will be our biggest deployment in Europe. The routes complement those already existing, and we open a new port of call in Amsterdam. We have big departures towards the Baltic and the fjords, then towards the south for Rome, Venice and Barcelona.
I've been to Norwegian for over 16 years and if you said I've got six ships in Europe, I'd say you're dreaming.
For me, this really demonstrates the partnerships we have with our travel partners and the loyalty of our customers. There are good itineraries that open new stops in places like Lithuania and Poland
Why do we see this growth in Europe?
There is a combination of reasons. In April 2017, we undertook a major change and introduced all-inclusive bonuses. This broke the barriers between the guests of the land and the cruise.
This has since opened our distribution to new lines. It is important to listen to our travel partners.
If you think of travel agents, they can sell up to 500 different products. They know with NCL that whenever they make a reservation with us, it's always premium all-inclusive.
This confidence and simplicity explain the increase in demand.
How will this growth evolve?
If you look at the global market, we have a very robust environment, demonstrated by the pace of sales of our new ship, the Bliss, which was sold well in advance, before it was put into production. service this year.
The big thing about our fleet is that it allows us to be able to move where the opportunities lie
The Merry Norwegian will also join the sister ship Bliss in Alaska in 2019. What is the reasoning behind this?
Again, this goes back to the Bliss, which comes out of Seattle during the summer months.
We continue to see a huge demand for 2019, so moving the joy in this market allows us to increase our ability to meet that demand. Again, I come back to agility – allowing us to migrate our vessels to outperforming areas around the world.
You also have some developments for Asia and Australia. Can you tell us more about this?
For me, it's the second part of this story. For the fourth quarter of 2019/2020, we will have the Norwegian Jewel portage from Sydney, but the new ship, Jade, for 2019/2020, will join Jewel, which will be Hong Kong's port of call and from Singapore.
is great news for British and European customers because it is an area of massive growth. Something that also pleases is the duration of the trips – there are 9,10,11,14 night routes, and they resonate with the British customer.
Why?
I think because British customers love the longest duration. Personally, I think that if you travel to Hong Kong, for example, you want to see as much as possible.
So, 9-11 nights is working well, as so many destinations, maybe Vietnam, across Cambodia and to Malaysia or China
Bring you the fifth and sixth Leonardo class ships – how will they change NCL and what does it offer?
The Leonardo class ships are exciting. They are, if you prefer, mid-way between our Jewel class ships, 2,300 passengers, and our Breakaway Bliss ships, which have a capacity of 4,300.
So the Leonardo class is listening to the customer who wants a little more privacy, but the size of a ship that can offer incredible ports.
As we bring more and more ships, it gives us the opportunity to do six things in Europe.
About Choices …
Absolutely. For example, if you look at the routes of the Norwegian Pearl, she is a Jewel class ship, so it's a big size and can open large ports to explore.
I think we have two types of ships – the Escape Class epic, which are full-fledged resorts, then Jewel class, which are destination-driven vessels
What is the importance of travel agents and partners for NCL?
They act as ambassadors and they make a difference in the market. We work as part of a program called Partners First, in which we guarantee that at no time will we harm our travel partners.
We promise them that we will support them because we want them to be our ambassadors.
The one that impresses me the most is our Cruise Next program. It's on board our ships, giving passengers the chance to watch a future cruise. They buy a Cruise Next cruise voucher, $ 250, and they automatically get $ 100 of credit on board for the purchase of the voucher. Then they hand over the coupon to their travel agent for the deposit of their future cruise
Will the ways to communicate with travel partners change in the future?
I have the pleasure of looking after a range of countries, including the Gulf States and Israel, and the greatest communication tool in this area is now WhatsApp.
You can see that changing in many markets. People are advertising on WhatsApp, directly from consumers – it's fascinating.
It happened in the last six months. If you had asked me 12 months ago if that was going to be the case, I would have said "no luck".
The world is changing in terms of communication. But communication is key, so we must make sure we get it right and give our travel partners the tool and information they need to be our ambassadors.
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