It’s been six months since Azamara began a new cruising chapter with new owner, Sycamore Partners. Since then, the upscale line, founded in 2007, has successfully restarted operations, acquired a fourth ship, is revitalizing its fleet and has worked to retain loyalty from past guests and travel advisors.
Travel Agent recently spoke one-on-one with Carol Cabezas, Azamara’s president, about the ownership change, what that’s meant to the upmarket brand, the cruise “restart,” guest trends, trade relations, progress in the pandemic recovery and more.
Cruise Restart
This past summer, Cabezas sailed on Azamara Quest for the line's "restart" in Greece. “It was fantastic, because everyone got to see first-hand just how well we were able to sail and provide that wonderful experience despite having some of these new protocols in place,” she says.
She believes that guests appreciated the care taken in creating those health and safety protocols, which included pre-cruise testing at Azamara’s expense. “Everything was a very easy flow from the terminal, and we’ve enhanced the way we do muster,” she notes.
Now, each guest is escorted onboard, they're taken to see a short video to fulfill muster drill requirements, and then they're escorted to their stateroom. From Cabezas' perspective, “the process is actually a lot nicer" than in the past.
For its restart, Azamara also introduced new menus and “really by and large, people were thrilled,” she says, adding that both guests and crew were "ecstatic to be back at sea," many having formed great relationships over the years.
Azamara Quest continues to sail in Greece until November, when it repositions to the Caribbean. Azamara Journey will start cruising in Greece this month and will be there through November, when it heads for the Canary Islands. Azamara Pursuit will begin South African voyages in January 2022, while the line's newest addition, Azamara Onward will launch in May 2022. Azamara Onward is the former Pacific Princess, bought from Carnival Corporation earlier this year. The vessel was built in 1999 as Renaissance Cruises' R3.
Destination Celebration
With a pandemic-era restart of voyages, "of course, we can’t do certain things the way we’ve always done them such as our AzAmazing Evenings,” Cabezas told Travel Agent. “It’s disappointing ... however, we were able to recreate the experience still bringing back great cultural in-depth experiences but we’re bringing it to the guests rather than taking the guests out to the experience.”
So, a new “Destination Celebration” unfolds on the ship’s top deck once per cruise, giving guests a taste of the local food and culture. Cabezas says: “We’re doing it in a way that fits within our health and safety protocols; that, of course, has to come first and foremost."
“We’ve decorated everything with lights everywhere,” explains Cabecas, plus “we have all these beautiful new chair covers that give the whole deck a very elegant feeling and great new carpeting that give it a different ambience in the evening. It’s not like your standard pool deck anymore.”
Besides food, beverages and gifts, guests also enjoy entertainment provided by musicians or performers from the local destination. On Cabezas’ Greece voyage, for example, the ship's musicians backed up a Greek duo, Dual Violins, and a local soprano who serenaded guests in an upbeat, lively and modern fashion.
“Of course, we also had ‘Greek gods and goddesses’ greeting [and posing with] the guests as they came in,” she quips. The goal is to create the ambience of being in Greece onboard the ships. “And let me tell you, planning these events is like planning a wedding,” she quips but also says that the line takes these events very seriously. “It’s a tremendous amount of work but we think it’s worth it.”
Who's Sailing?
When asked if guests on the restart cruises this year are mostly loyal past guests and whether there are any new-to-cruise travelers, Cabezas answers: “We're not seeing a lot of new-to-cruise, but we are seeing a fair amount of new-to-brand. It looks like people are interested in experiencing something new and different.”
She says those new-to-brand guests seem to be attracted by Azamara’s smaller ship size—normally about 700 or so guests, although there are capacity controls right now (currently at about 50 percent capacity)—along with its health and safety protocols.
On her Greece sailing, she spoke to several new-to-brand guests and says they also cited liking the line's enrichment and Azamara's entertaining approach to that. That's precisely what she wants to hear: “We want it to be fun. We want it to awaken your curiosity for the places that we’re visiting by making it musical, by making it really upbeat and enjoyable."
Loyal past guests too are returning, of course, this year. "Some of these guests sail many times during the year and to be away for nearly two years is a big deal," Cabezas says. "So, it was really heartwarming to see us all come back.”
A Fourth Ship
New ships for a variety of cruise industry brands are setting sail this year, and Cabezas acknowledges that “there’s a lot out there, there’s a lot to choose from, and it’s good.” Azamara begins operating its fourth vessel, Azamara Beyond, at the beginning of May 2022 in Europe.
That ship is undergoing a revitalization during late fall and winter. “Some work has already started but really the idea is to make sure our fleet is staying fresh,” she says.
New owner, Sycamore Partners, headquartered in New York (although Azamara’s headquarters remain in Miami) has invested close to $100 million to get the existing three ships back into service and to prepare that fourth vessel for sailing next year.
The transition to a new owner has gone well. “We worked in a very close fashion with the people at Sycamore who are focused on the travel investment," Cabezas notes. "At the moment, we’re the only travel investment they’ve made so far, and so we have their full attention.”
Cabezas continues: “They’re very intrigued by how our business works, and they also give us fresh perspective, which I welcome."
As the brand’s ownership changed from Royal Caribbean Group, Azamara knew that to create a smooth transition it would need to retain some of its shared services with its former owner, at least for a time.
“It’s a phased approach to that transition,” Cabezas emphasizes. Such departments as treasury, legal and risk management already transitioned to the new ownership.
“There are four more that we’ll phase out within the next few weeks, but there are a handful that will continue for actually a pretty long period of time because they’re related to technology," she notes. Azamara is currently building all new technology, for both shoreside and shipboard operations.
So, it plans to continue using Royal Caribbean's existing technology for at least another 18 months. For example, travel advisors will continue to use the same reservations system for the immediate future.
Challenge and Opportunity
What's the biggest challenge right now, and what does Cabezas also see as the line's biggest opportunity? She believes that the biggest challenge for not only the line but also advisors and guests is “changing protocols.”
Not only is it a situation where each country has its own way of doing things, but the protocols and policies “change as you go along," she adds. So, while Italy might have a particular policy for cruise line shore excursions, Greece or Spain might have something different. Certain ports also may have different requirements beyond what their national government might dictate.
Cruise lines and travel advisors definitely are working hard to keep it all straight but“for the guests, it’s hard to have a clear understanding of what exactly it is going to look like when they get on the ship," Cabezas acknowledges.
While she stresses that Azamara is “doing our best to keep up to date on all of the different protocols by country, we ask them for their patience as we all navigate through the changes."
The good news is that in the restart, guest satisfaction surveys have been positive, with passengers always bringing up that they are happy with the crew. “They talk about how the crew is yet again exceeding their expectations in going above and beyond in making their experience comfortable," she notes.
Guest surveys also reveal that the passengers do feel safe onboard, and they also don’t feel that the way the line has implemented those protocols has inhibited them from enjoying their vacation experience. “I’m very pleased that we were able to achieve that balance,” she stresses.
The biggest opportunity for the brand, Cabezas believes, is what the Sycamore Partners' investment has delivered in growing the brand with the arrival of that fourth ship, Azamara Onward. “To us, we felt that this would give people a sense of Azamara being very resilient and demonstrating that there is a bright future ahead for us, which our guests wanted,” she acknowledged. “They needed to feel that" and that the line would emerge okay from the pandemic.
“The best thing we can do is demonstrate with a very successful launch of Azamara Onward," Cabezas says. "It’s crazy to think that it’s just six months from now we’ll be introducing her.”
Adapting in a Pandemic
Is the cruise industry at the beginning, middle or end of the pandemic-era woes? Cabezas’ view is this: “I would say that we still have a way to go before we can ease up on thinking that operations are a little bit more predictable. And predictability is the thing that I go to. I don’t think ‘normal’ is a good term because we don’t know what normal is anymore. But I’d give anything for predictability.”
She doesn’t know whether that’s going to be six months from now, nine months from now or another time frame where the line can expect some consistency and some level of predictability. “We’re not done, we’re not that, but I don’t think we’re far,” she told Travel Agent.
Let's Talk Brand
Given Azamara's development as a brand over the past several years, should advisors position it with their clients as upper premium or luxury? Cabezas isn't fond of labels. “We straddle a couple of different areas," she says. "The way I think about it is that I describe it based on the experience, which is that it’s a highly inclusive boutique hotel experience.”
As for brand differentiators, Cabezas believes that tops from her perspective is the way in which the line curates its itineraries using “the perfect sequence of destinations and every single voyage has a story.” For example, "Country Intensive Voyages" are designed to take guests to all the well-known spots in Greece as well as hidden gems, too.
The line definitely focuses heavily on "destination immersion" and the land side of the cruise experience. In 2019, it changed its name from “Azamara Club Cruises” to simply “Azamara" to better reflect that.
In addition, “I don’t know that everybody understands the value that Azamara provides," Cabezas says in talking about fare inclusions. Gratuities are always included. Wine, beer and spirits are included and not just at lunch and dinner, but at any time during the cruise.
And among other inclusions is that "Destination Celebration" cultural event (mentioned above). "It’s our commitment to bringing culture to life—to our guests as part of our cruise experience," she believes. "They don’t have to purchase this. It’s part of what we do.”
Trade Support
“Our commitment to the trade has been consistent,” she emphasizes. “We’ve never wavered.” In fact, the first thing Cabezas did when she joined the brand back in 2017 as chief operations officer was to insist on creating a dedicated Azamara-only Customer Care Center in the U.S.
It's located in Wichita, KS, an advantaeous location for handling both advisor and consumer calls from a variety of time zones. Most notably, "every single person on the telephone when our advisors call in is a Azamara employee,” she says. “They do nothing but focus on Azamara all day long.”
Cabezas expresses empathy with advisors who've had so much trouble getting through to many cruise lines while servicing their clients over the past 20 or so months. “The thing that we had to do best was give them the support when they needed it most, and so ... we may have sacrificed in other areas but trade was never ever a consideration when it came to having to sacrifice," she adds.
As a result, today that Customer Care Center is larger than it’s ever been. The brand's field sales team is also fully intact—as the line did not furlough or lay off any of them during the pandemic.
Azamara does have a new leader in the sales department, though, as the person formerly in that job made a career choice that made more sense for his family, says Cabezas. The new chief sales officer for North America is Michelle Lardizabal, who arrived from MSC Cruises in August.
"She's an industry veteran, I worked with her back at Royal Caribbean years and years ago and she understands cruise,” Cabezas mentions, also citing Lardizabal's past tour operator and land work experience.
Cabezas expresses "our deep appreciation for travel partners who are still having to manage through a very difficult workload. We're privileged to work with them and support them but more than anything we want to thank them."
Greater Reach
The acquisition of the fourth ship will allow the brand a broader “reach” across the globe. Cabezas points to the line’ recently announced 2023 deployment in Europe: “For the first time we had nearly 100 itineraries visiting 40 countries and 200 ports throughout the region. So, I know this isn’t new region for our brand but it lets us visit a lot of little nooks and crannies that are what differentiate our voyages.”
That greater reach also allows Azamara to participate in different kinds of special events. For example, the line will now have two voyages that will take guests to the Grand Prix of Monaco.
It will also have more golf voyages in partnership with Perry Golf. “We visit different marquis courses in the world so it’s letting us do more of that,” she said.
In addition, a fourth ship will allow the brand to visit new maiden ports of call in such places as Norway, Turkey, Sweden, Iceland and Finland, for example. Cabezas points out that "it lets us spread our wings a little bit more, and in the near future, you’ll hear about more places we’ll be able to visit because of the fourth ship.”
Cabezas' Onboard Style
When asked about her favorite place onboard, Cabezas says it’s any place where she can interact with the crew. So, she enjoys the Windows Cafe, Azamara's casual dining venue, and "I love going to the Mosaic Café and just chatting with our team there."
One new Mosaic Cafe feature that returning guests will discover is the line's new barista program. Now, "we have fully dedicated, trained baristas because we feel very strongly that we have to get our coffee right,” she quips. "Everyone wants to start their day off right.”
For more information on Azamara, visit www.azamara.com.
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