Orlando Ashford wants to you to know that Holland America isn’t your parent’s cruise line – or simply for your parents! The cruise giant has a new energy and new offerings, says HAL’s president, even if it is still fighting perceptions that are five or 10 years old.
“I want to accelerate how well people understand the new Holland America,” Ashford said during a recent Toronto visit to take part in ‘Live with Holland America,’ an agent event designed to help participants “better understand and sell Holland America Line premium cruises with confidence.”
Ashford – celebrating his fifth year as president of the cruise line – says his charge when taking over was to “create some new energy and attract new HAL clients while maintaining our existing very loyal customer” and has spent the first part of his mandate “elevating” the onboard product and experience.
Now, the next part of the mission, says the HAL chief, is to get the message out to the trade – including those in Canada – who make 75 percent of Holland America’s bookings, about the “new or revised” Holland America, which has upped its game particularly in the areas of food and entertainment.
Rather than sitting around at head office in Seattle “pushing papers,” Ashford says, “My intention… is to personally get closer to the trade… That is my biggest ambition. So. I’m here in Toronto to personally have that conversation.”
Ashford is quick to note that Holland America has a “wonderful, rich” 145-year history, and “clearly… has done well and has done well for a long, long time” – but he adds, “We have people that say, ‘We’ve been selling Holland America for a long time, it’s great, our guests love it,’ but there are people who say, ‘I haven’t been on a Holland America ship in 10 years.’ And if you’re selling based on where we were 10 years ago, it’s changed… If you’re selling based on 10 years ago, you’re selling a good product, but I think the product is even better today. I want to make sure that people are aware and are selling based on today’s version of Holland America.”
Ashford says the cruise line has been careful to “stay true” to the things it does well, but at the same time to work hard to “elevate” its overall product offering in areas he calls “our swim lanes” – sectors in which Holland America has traditionally excelled. They include:
• Destination delivery: “We go to 470-plus ports, 120 countries, all seven continents, and have always been known for being able to go to more places because our ships were a little bit smaller.” To that end, the cruise line will continue to inhabit a mid-size ship niche below 3,000 passengers, including the 2,662-passenger Ryndam, due in 2021.
• Culinary experience: “With the Culinary Council and our partners like America’s Test Kitchen…what we do from a culinary and food and beverage perspective, we’re very proud of.”
• Entertainment and enrichment: “We’ve really focussed on live music (and) I say that without hesitation (we’re) the best in the industry as it relates to a music perspective – the variety, the quality.” Offerings include new and enhanced venues like Lincoln Centre, BB King’s Blue Club, Billboard Onboard and Rolling Stone Rock Room. There’s also new gaming space that brings together both younger and older guests and an enhanced lecture series.
• Surface: “Most of the letters I get talk about our crew and how engaged they and how well they service our guests and the manner in which we do it.”
“We have worked to elevate our offering in each of those areas over in the last four to five years,” Ashford says, telling Travel Industry Today that the company also tries to ensure program and venue enhancements are applied fleetwide (where possible) to eliminate the “new ship, old ship,” scenario where new vessels tend to be state of the art, and vintage ships dated.
“I’d say that it’s worked,” he adds. “Our NPS (net promoter) scores were record-setting last year… and what that tells me is that in the areas we’ve decided to focus on, we’re delivering… I feel really good about the product – we’re always tweaking and looking to evolve and advance, but our product is in great shape.”
But Ashford admits that he is annoyed that perception doesn’t always catch up to reality.
“I want to be really clear,” he says. “Our guests tend to be 55-plus, retired or semi-tired, and that’s great – we love our mature guests… but when I get frustrated is when people equate old with quiet, boring and slow. And, one, that’s not what people 55-plus want – they’re at an age where they want to engage, they want to have music, they want to have wine, they want to be engaged when they are in port, and we are working very aggressively to create a product that enables that.”
Yet, he assures: “We’re playing in swim lanes that we’ve always played in; we’re not putting rocket ships and swim slides on the top of ships… It’s a lot of what we’ve done historically, but we’re doing it better.
“I feel very confident that once we get the guest onboard, they tend to like what we offer. If you like destinations, if you’re a modern explorer, if you consider yourself a foodie, and you like live music, and you like being served, then you will like Holland America. Are we perfect, no, but we’re really, really good!”