While 2020 hasn’t been the kindest year to the cruise industry the Ritz-Carlton Yachts are making the best of the situation. The first Ritz-Carlton Yacht was to begin accepting passengers in February. However, a problem with the Spanish ship yard delayed delivery of the yacht. At first that was deeply upsetting. But when COVID-19 shut down the cruise industry the launch delay turned into a blessing.
The Ritz-Carlton Yachts didn’t have to start and stop sailing or lose momentum of launching a new product that would have been immediately sidelined by the pandemic.
The good news is the yacht will sail in April 2021. Doug Prothero, CEO of the Ritz- Carlton Yacht Collection, tells Travel Industry Today they have resolved the problems by temporarily taking controlling interest of the shipyard. In mid-June he said, “We’re at 40 percent of where we need to be, and pretty close to plan right now. By mid-July we should have 1,000 people in yard” working to finish the yacht.
The yacht is scheduled to be part of a fall launch with Marriott’s BonVoy program. “That will super charge things. We’re doing fine anyway. We’re selling at a 35-to-50 percent premium” to the market leader. The first five months of voyages are 90 percent sold. Corporate interest for deck buyouts and charters is so strong “people don’t even ask about the price, they just want it .. we’re going to have to decide how much of it we will allow.”
Having survived the shock of COVID-19, Prothero’s timeline has factored in the feared second-wave. “We’re not going out until April. We delayed it because we didn’t know what to factor into it for COVIDs. Both in terms of sales, and sales are roaring, but in terms of the yard, we don’t know if we will have a shut down in the fall. Right now the ship is scheduled to be completed December 15 and if we have a shut down in November, it won’t be. We didn’t what to have to announce another delay, so we decided to take the precaution now.”
Construction on the second member of the Ritz-Carlton Yachts will begin in late 2020, with a completion deadline of 2023.
Once they have completed the first yacht there will be extensive shake-down voyages to ensure ship and crew are up to Ritz standards.
The industry shut down also allowed them to review guest destination interest. “Generally, the voyages are same. We’re not going into the Baltic. One cool voyage we’re doing is from the Iberian Peninsula to the Azores and then on to Halifax. That’s how we’re repositioning to Canada and New England. Otherwise we’re doing more Greece. There’s a lot of interest in Greece and Adriatic countries. We’re thinking of Istanbul in 2022, a lot people want to go there.”
In summer 2023 one yacht will be dedicated to the Great Lakes, and the other in the Mediterranean.
So when the service launches in 2021, the Ritz-Carlton Yachts will be a new ship, a new service and a new set of experiences and adventures devoid of any pandemic baggage.
Special to Travel Industry Today by Allan Lynch.