Regent Seven Seas Cruises is launching its new 2025/2026 Voyage Collection with a trade webinar tomorrow, June 6, at 2:00 pm EST—an opportunity for you not only to see what the future holds for the brand but also to get an in on the tools you’ll need to make the sell.
Following the trade webinar, RSSC will open pre-registration for their highest Seven Sea Society members to book on June 7th, then reservations will be open to the public on June 21st.
Shawn Tubman, senior vp of sales for RSSC, spoke to Recommend about what’s next for the brand and how it’s responding to current trends in luxury cruise sales.
“It’s an exciting time for us and our past guests,” says Tubman, “because we’re opening a year’s worth of sailings. Over the years, it’s gotten further and further out. So now here we are doing March of 25 through May of 26, and people are ready to book as soon as we open them. It’s always exciting for everybody.”
Of note: The line is currently selling itineraries for 2023 – 2024, and they are running a promotion, Spring into Summer, that offers savings up to 40 percent. This, says Tubman, brings the price point down to or lower than a premium ship, especially considering the inclusions (business class air for intercontinental travel, excursions, dining, gratuities, fine wine and spirits, laundry, etc.) The advantage for you? Travel advisors get a $200 gift card and a two-point commission bonus for bookings made through June for these sailings—and don’t forget the Sell Three, Sail Free promotion also currently underway, where if you sell three of over a hundred sailings up until June 2024, you and a guest sail free on any of those sailings.
RSSC Responds to New Trends
Trend number one: New ports of call. “It’s going to be a really great launch,” says Tubman. “We have a lot of new itineraries, new ports of call and so forth. As you know, we have a high repeat factor and they’ve kind of been there, done that, so they’re always looking for new places to visit and learn about, and so we work hard at that.”
“We have 164 new itineraries for this launch. We have 124 overnight stays. It’s becoming very much requested by our guests to spend some extra time in the evening at ports around the world. So, we’re accommodating them there. We have 29 new ports of call around the world and some interesting places.”
Destinations that are on these new itineraries include the island of Madagascar (five ports) and Norway (six), plus Regents Seven Seas Cruise has added two ports in Japan, four in Australia, St. Croix in the Caribbean, and ports in Italy, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. This is in addition to already established favorites in Alaska, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Asia, Africa, Arabia and the South Pacific.
Trend number two: Immersion travel. “People really want to immerse themselves,” continues Tubman. “If they’ve been there before, they want different ways to experience that port. We give them lots of new ways [to do that] and the overnights are a part of that. Believe it or not, we have 3,899 free excursions for people to choose from.” And? “One of the best kept secrets: our free, free and post land packages. Many people don’t realize that we offer quite a few of these for free, typically two or three days stays either pre or post [cruise].”
According to Tubman, trend number three is “a longer booking window and longer cruises, as evidenced by the Grand Voyages and the World Cruise. I think many people during the pandemic lost a few good travel years and are making up for it.”
Trend number four: Splurging and celebrating milestones. “People missed celebrating some of their milestones and they’re doing it now. They want to get out there again. And so, we have a program called Unforgettable Moments on Board, and we have a value-add for people that are celebrating milestones, and there’s demand.”
And, finally, trend number five: “The luxury market is expanding, and so is demand,” adds Tubman. “Travel agents are starting to understand that there’s a huge opportunity both in repeat sales, customer satisfaction, and a higher commission [in luxury cruise sales]. Our mission is to really help the trade become more successful. What we’re doing is trying to share with our travel partners what works for us, whether it’s in sales or marketing, trying to share tips and tools that we use and have success with. And show them that if they use those same tools and follow what we do, they’ll also succeed.”
Tubman explains that RSSC wants to help the travel trade learn how to sell and communicate with their clientele and what’s important to them. Late last year, the line shared a series of webinars hosted by Tubman and Andrea de Marco, now president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, to that end.
For more information and to register for the webinar, visit rssc.com/agent.com.
