While sailing the Ionian Sea from Corfu, Greece, to Katakolo—the gateway to Olympia, home of the ancient Olympics—aboard Celestyal Cruises’ Heavenly Greece, Italy & Croatia itinerary on Celestyal Journey, I sat down with Stephanie McDonald, the cruise line’s Trade Training and Development Manager and BDM for Canada, to discuss how the brand is engaging North American travel advisors.
McDonald says this is a great time to partner with Celestyal Cruises, known for its sailings throughout Greece and neighboring destinations, as well as the recently launched sailings in the Arabian Gulf.
Recommend: How is Celestyal Cruises communicating with North American travel advisors so they can best understand what the cruise line brings to the cruise landscape?
McDonald: The first thing is getting people to understand who we are now because there’s been significant change since we originally came into the North American market, I believe. It was in about 2015/2016 doing the Cuba cruises, which is what introduced the name Celestyal to the North American market. So much has changed between now and then. In the last two, two and a half years, we’ve replaced both of our vessels. Right now, we need everybody to know that we’ve changed our vessels because that’s a key thing. The ship, although we’re so port focused, the ship is equally as important to North Americans.
….[We’re] making sure…to get our foot in as many doors as we can, trying to attend as many trade shows as we can, showing that we are here and that we are a product that people really should be looking at. Our BDMs are hitting the ground running…. We’re expanding and enhancing our presence.
Recommend: When you first started speaking to advisors about Celestyal Cruises, what were some of the challenges that you heard from this community; some of the perceptions and/or misperceptions?
McDonald: The first one was definitely the ships—that has been the biggest hurdle. Even now people don’t realize that it’s two brand-new ships and they’re incredibly gorgeous. And the other is that we’re not just [focused] on Greece. We have other destinations as well. Obviously, Greece is our core—it’s where we’re from and it is who we are—but when you’re on board, it’s not just a full Greek experience. You’re not being oversaturated with it. Yes, passengers can [immerse themselves] in the Greek experience, listening to the music and having the different Greek meals, but there’s a lot of things that would appeal to North Americans because the food is very similar to what you would experience on most [other cruise lines] as far as your regular ‘meat and potatoes’-type meals.
We are just like all the other cruise lines, except that we are a little bit unique in the size and the fact that we’re destination-focused and that we are authentic in the region that we’re going into. We started out with the core Idyllic Greece itinerary, but now we introduced the Heavenly Greece, Italy & Croatia itinerary, because we wanted to be very specific about the destinations. We introduced it last March and we got positive feedback on that…. So the buzz is getting out there a bit more. A good recommendation for travel advisors is recommending the Idyllic back-to-back with the Heavenly. It gives you the best of both worlds.
We let advisors know that we are an alternative to smaller vessels at a price point that maybe is affordable for everybody. Once you go smaller, there’s a significant difference. We really hit that sweet spot—we’re not under a thousand, but we’re not up into the 2,500/3,000 guest mark.
We are priced like a contemporary, but we’re moving towards being a premium. We’re well on our way.
Recommend: How are you building your database and are you building them from specific regions within the U.S.?
McDonald: We’re trying to penetrate everywhere as far as getting in and registering advisors and making sure there’s brand awareness.
Getting advisors registered with us is key, so that once they have an opportunity for Celestyal, then they’re already set and ready to go. Our online training is just 10 modules—two ships, three destinations, so it doesn’t take too long.
We’re letting everybody know that when they first register with us, to make sure that they complete the modules on the travel agent portal, ‘Celestyal Compass.’ Because if a FAM comes up that they want, we don’t want them to feel the rush to have to get through that just so that they can sign up for the FAM.
Recommend: Aside from the new travel agent portal, ‘Celestyal Compass,’ the FAMs, the innovative tools used while advisors are on board and the education modules, what marketing tools does Celestyal provide advisors?
McDonald: We’re starting to work on that, but we can be creative too and work with our marketing team. We do have our marketing department based out of the UK that has created some incredible collateral, some beautiful assets that they can use. And it’s all found on ‘Celestial Compass.’
Recommend: Who is the client that advisors should be focused on for Celestyal?
McDonald: I think the first thing is, because we’re so destination focused, knowing what it is that your clients are looking for. If they are wanting to sit by the pool deck all day—not that you can’t, you can definitely do that—that’s not really what our brand is about. You’re up in the morning, you’re off the ship, you’re exploring and you’re getting into the heart of the destination. So, knowing that that’s what your clients are looking for; it really is about asking those qualifying questions. See what best suits them and if they’ll genuinely enjoy a small ship experience.
We also have different stateroom categories, from Inside to the Stargazer Suite, the penthouse. You can also talk about the three specialty restaurants on board as well as the Chef’s Table, meaning passengers will have a different type of dining experience that isn’t necessarily the main dining room. And we offer award-winning cocktails.
There’s also the option of having customized shore excursions. These aren’t available online; the BDM needs to work directly the advisors to make sure that we cater to what it is that they’re looking for specifically.
The Celestyal experience is at a price point that would work for everybody.
