Given the COVID-19 case numbers on land, a cruise vacation—when undertaken with vaccinated guests, guest capacity controls and strong health and safety protocols—can be as safe, -- or even safer, than being in one’s hometown.
Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, president and CEO, Celebrity Cruises, puts it this way: "I watch all those football games [on TV] over the weekend, and all of those people can be in those stadiums with no masks—and not knowing if the person next to them is vaccinated—for hours at a time."
Bottom line? She believes "Celebrity is probably the safest place on the planet that one could possibly be."
Safety on a Cruise
Describing her line's restart as going "extraordinarily well," Lutoff-Perlo provides this factual picture: "We have protocols that are working. We have carried almost 50,000 guests with [only] 14 cases, so our incidence is extremely low."
Most of those testing positive are asymptomatic. All who are eligible to be vaccinated are vaccinated. And the rest of the guests are able to “have a vacation experience that isn't compromised," Lutoff-Perlo says.
Celebrity Cruises was the first major big-ship line to restart cruise operations in North America in June 2021 when Celebrity Millennium began sailing from Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Since then, the line's ships have restarted cruising from Port Everglades, FL, from the Pacific Northwest to Alaska, and from Piraeus (Athens) in the Greek Isles.
“It’s gone extraordinarily well,” says Lutoff-Perlo. “We made a decision early on that we were going to run vaccinated cruises for anyone who was eligible to get a vaccine.” She says the mask-wearing, onboard social distancing, less-than-normal guest capacity and other new health and safety protocols are allowing guests to board, sail safely and have a great time.
Celebrity's guest satisfaction scores—Net Promoter Scores (NPS)—are "through the roof" and reaching levels Lutoff-Perlo thought she'd never see. As a result, "we feel like we're in a really good place and can be talking to consumers a lot about cruising again."
Intel About Guests
But who's sailing right now? Lutoff-Perlo says many guests taking the line's cruises are certainly experienced cruisers. "They might not be Celebrity loyal guests but they have cruised before," she notes. That said, on a July 24 cruise on Celebrity Edge, she discovered firsthand that "we had a good amount of 'new-to-cruise,' which was really lovely to see." She acknowledges that at the start of the pandemic she thought that "new-to-cruise" opportunity was gone.
Now, she sees that it's definitely not. In addition to the "pent-up demand" and people feeling they deserve a vacation, helping push "new to cruise" guests over the threshold to book are the enhancements Celebrity has made in the guest experience and the new protocols that allow guests to feel safe.
"They want to be in an environment where they believe everything possible is being done," she says.
Lutoff-Perlo now views that "new-to-cruise" market as a big opportunity, and describes it as "ripe and primed for us." That's one reason the line has changed its messaging to meet that opportunity.
New Marketing Approach
Celebrity recently introduced a new branding monicker of "New Luxury" and earlier this month introduced an extensive new marketing and advertising campaign. "We've just launched our beautiful, 'Isn't it Time' campaign which is resonating so wonderfully with everybody," believes Lutoff-Perlo.
She says the brand is also increasing the frequency of the advertising, increasing the number of markets that the line is in (so advisors who hadn't seen Celebrity's TV ads in their market in the past, may see them now). In addition, the line is readying to shoot video for its new 2022 campaign between now and the end of the year.
Fleet Additions
The line's newest ship, Celebrity Apex, a sister to Celebrity Edge, was delivered to the line in March 2020 but "the only thing that’s a little sad about Celebrity Apex is that we haven’t been able to show her of to the world yet," acknowledges Lutoff-Perlo.
That ship did begin Greek Isles cruises earlier this summer, though, and soon will be heading back to the United States. "We'll get to show her off at the end of October and the beginning of November, when we’ll finally be able to name her," she adds.
Lutoff-Perlo says Celebrity Apex's 2022 Caribbean and northern Europe itineraries are in demand: "Those are the best booked itineraries that we have on our whole brand."
In April 2022, the new Celebrity Beyond will join the Celebrity fleet. The line recently did a "big reveal" with new images that show off the new spaces the ship will have. "The ship will be longer than Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Apex," she notes, explaining that that "gave us the opportunity to add sections in two parts of the ship." So, the ship is a little longer and one deck higher, too. "We've been able to redesign the rooftop garden, sunset bar, the resort deck and the grand plaza," she emphasizes, plus "we’ve added our Daniel Boulud restaurant."
Lutoff-Perlo also says the line is doing a "culinary reveal” in New York this week for advisors and media: “I thought we couldn’t get much better than Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Apex, but now we’re taking it to a whole new level."
Because the brand is expanding, it's hiring more people in its reservations call centers. "With growth, we need more people to take care of our customers. In addition, "we're also seeing a lot going on in the digital space, in the social media space, in the user generated content space."
New Luxury
Lutoff-Perlo also cites recent enhancements made to the onboard product—everything from new menus to new entertainment options, from an enhanced wellness program to a new onboard retail and shopping experience. "That's one of the things about our new moniker of 'New Luxury,' she notes. "We straddle this perfect space between premium and ultra-luxury and we’ve carved out a beautiful niche for us. Our moniker gives us the space and the opportunity to continue to evolve our experience."
One element of that "New Luxury" that guests are soaking up is The Retreat, an upscale experience and exclusive venues that the line provides for those booking a suite.
One pandemic era trend on the accommodations side? "We are disproportionately selling [a high] number of suites for people who are making bookings," Lutoff-Perlo says. Those guests are opting in for a suite booking for a couple of reasons, she believes.
Her perspective is that "they want more space, but also they’re treating themselves because it’s been a long time since they’ve been on a vacation, and they’re deciding that they’re going to go for these high-end accommodations."
Travel Agent asked Lutoff-Perlo about whether luxury can "be" a big ship experience? Naysayers believe it can't. But she emphatically says that's changed a lot over the past few years. “People told me that when we were building Solstice class," she stresses, noting that, at the time, she was heavily involved in operations and the design of those ships, and "I was completely involved in the introduction of those ships," which are larger than Millennium class.
"I can’t tell you how many times I heard that we were not going to be able to deliver the same experience on Solstice class," she says. "We’ve proved everyone wrong."
In addition, Lutoff-Perlo says that "luxury of scale was proven in Las Vegas years ago. You just decide what is your brand going to be, what is the space you're going to occupy and then you deliver the service levels and the experiences that live up to that."
She says that happens in every way with Celebrity—from the ship designs to the itineraries, to the onboard culinary experiences and so on: "So we’ve been delivering luxury 'at scale' since 2008 or 2009, when the line took delivery of Solstice. And that’s just gotten stronger and stronger with the introduction of the Edge series."
Luxury guests want simplicity, they want inclusions and they don't want to have to pay extra, according to Lutoff-Perlo. So, during the pandemic, "we decided that we would take a look at the inclusive nature of our brand to also continue to move forward on the continuum of luxury—a process that started over a decade ago," she explains.
Celebrity has adopted an "Always Included" approach, and now gratuities, Wi-Fi and beverages are included within the cruise fare. "And you really only see that in the luxury lines," Lutoff-Perlo says.
Opportunities and Challenges
In looking at global itineraries, right now, progress has been made—in the U.S. and Europe with opening things up— but much of the world remains closed
"Right now, we can’t go to the entire APAC (Asia Pacific) region," she says, citing that Australia and New Zealand have been closed down for a very long time. "But also those ports over in Asia are not opening up either."
In particular, she's disappointed that "we’ve recently just had to cancel our Japan-intensive itineraries ...That was a place we really wanted to go. We really wanted to do that country in depth. We had finally gotten there but it’s just not meant to be yet. But we’ll get back there."
What’s the biggest challenge right now? To Lutoff-Perlo, it remains the pandemic: "It's a concern for all of us and the fact that it’s still quite prevalent. So, that I would say is the biggest concern."
But the world is slowly opening up again in some spots. "We were all very pleased with the announcement that starting in November, all vaccinated people from Europe and the United Kingdom will be able to come into the United States," she notes. "That’s really important for families who will want to spend the holidays together."
This year, Celebrity didn't have a European season, although it did sail from Greece in summer. But while Celebrity Silhouette did sail out of Southampton, it was only able to sail with British guests and only around the British Isles.
"So this slow but sure opening up is very encouraging," says Lutoff-Perlo. She also believes what's going on in Canada is encouraging, as is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to recognize the mixing of vaccines for first and second vaccine doses, as many in Canada have done that.
Parting Thoughts
Above all, "one of the things we're thrilled about is that our travel advisors are coming back fast and furiously," says Lutoff-Perlo. She's seeing travel partners bring back their teams, too: "We see that happening more and more, and that's really wonderful."
She believes the pandemic eventually will pass and the cruise industry and travel partners will get through it.
In addition, Lutoff-Perlow gave a shout-out to her brand's crew members: "I am so thrilled to bring our crew members back to work. They were the hardest hit. They didn’t have work for up to two years for some of them," depending on their cruise contract timing.
She credits the crew for delivering the wonderful onboard experiences that guests are currently raving about, and says they're so happy to be back at work: "Our captains were crying when the first guests got onboard, our crew was crying, the guests were crying. It's a beautiful thing to see."
Her parting thought: "We’re all going to get through this—one day at a time, but we’re going to get through this."
For more information on Celebrity Cruises, visit www.celebritycruises.com. And stay tuned all this week for more executive perspective as Seatrade Cruise Global kicks off today in Miami Beach, FL.
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