Q: So Damian, we’re six months into the year. How has 2024 been so far for NCL?
A: We’ve just come off the back of an amazing Wave season. It’s probably taken Australians a little longer to embrace Wave in the same way that the U.S. has but this year was incredible.
We saw that pent up demand building last year off the back of the pandemic and our forward sales were great for 2023 into 2024. But now our forward sales for 2024 into 2025 are even better so we’re pretty happy.
Q: What do you put the incredible interest in cruising down to?
A: Demand from past guests – we get a lot of repeat customers returning to sail with us and we also get a lot of new-to-brand.
It’s incredible how resilient the avid cruisers are but also how we are seeing more non-cruisers jump on board. I put that down to all the hard work that CLIA and all the cruise lines did in building back that trust and the confidence that we had a product that was pandemic proof.
Q: You’ve recently announced fleet expansion. Exciting times ahead.
A: We’ve got Norwegian Aqua launching next April, home porting in Port Canaveral and heading down to the Caribbean. She’s an amazing new ship; similar shape but a larger size than our first two Prima Class ships.
That’s the third of six in the Prima Class so there’s three more after this and I’m hearing Prima four, five and six will continue to evolve and elevate our product offering even further. And then there’s another four ships scheduled from 2030, so we’ve got plenty to look forward to.
It’s exciting to see the company make announcements around fleet expansion, not just for us but our sister brands Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas. It’s a real confidence boost for the whole cruise industry.
And then there’s our investment in partnerships with local communities and governments in places like Alaska to help improve their port infrastructure.
Q: Is there any chance of an NCL ship home porting in Australia one day?
A: Obviously as we bring more ships into the fleet it’s going to expand the destinations that the rest of the fleet will service.
I’m not suggesting that we’ll have more presence here but we’ve already increased our presence in Asia to three ships seasonally, which is selling really well. So for us that’s our home port opportunity close to Australia.
Q: I thought you were going to give me a scoop there!
A: Well, Norwegian Sun comes down to Australia in December and she’s very well booked at the moment. It will be the first time she’ll be in this part of the world with new departures and new itineraries.
She’ll be porting out of Melbourne more so than Sydney, which is different for us but I think is a great opportunity for Victorians who are crying out for more drive/cruise products and itineraries.
We’ll be building some plans with our agent partners to take them onboard for inspections, but also focusing a lot more this year on helping them bring clients on board for some great customer experiences.
We’ve increased our connectivity to trade partners significantly in the past six years through various means and a growing number of trade partners are starting to respond.
Q: So working with agents is still an important part of your marketing strategy?
A: It’s critical and hand on heart, we live and breathe trade here and we try to find ways to bring customers to our travel partners. We have done physical mail drops on behalf of agents, worked with their databases and created bespoke pieces for them to communicate to their partners.
Our best travel partners are constantly engaging with us, are constantly across what our promotions are, know how to sell our products and what the key benefits and selling features are.
I’d encourage travel partners to come into our office here and sit down with one of our outbound contact centre staff and listen to how they sell our products because once you get the recipe right, success will follow.
We really want to build our trade partnerships and we’ve got all the tools in place. NCLU is our Learning College University. It’s an online program, available globally, and consultants can register and go through modules to earn discounts towards our product, plus learn about our business at the same time.
Q: We’ve just seen the P&O brand retired in Australia. What’s your take on that?
A: It’s an iconic brand and a really unfortunate situation. I can understand the decision that’s been made because in this business, particularly after a pandemic, we all need to ensure that we’re running our businesses effectively and efficiently.
I hope they all come through it ok because that legacy will last forever – they were the foundation of cruising in Australia.
Q: So overall how do you rate the state of the cruise industry in Australia?
A: I think we’re very healthy and I think part of that is due to the collaboration between certain cruise lines and CLIA. I think as a sector of the industry we work very well together.
Perhaps there are opportunities to look at more regional ports around Australia that would welcome more tourism from viable cruise lines that are going to deliver real investment in the local economy.
We all have our peaks and troughs but I’m looking forward to the summer season because there will be some new product down here and the more people see new or different ships coming into the country the better it will be for everyone.
