With cruise lines set to change the way they operate “in a fundamental way,” Celebrity Cruises is determined to “look forward” and help Canadian travel agents recover their cruise business from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

To that end, the cruise line recently hosted its first “Canadian Leadership” travel trade webinar, in which company executives and members of the Canadian sales team shared Celebrity’s strategy for the present and future, along with key information and sales tactics designed to help encourage client confidence and bookings.

“We love Canadian travel advisors: You are awesome you are resilient, you are positive, and we so love that,” said Dondra Ritzenthaler, Celebrity’s Sr. VP Sales & Trade and Support Services, adding that the cruise line is positive too.

“We know that we’re in unprecedented times and we know it’s been hard. And we don’t want to make light of that, but we also just choose to understand that we’re going to look forward,” she said.

Ritznethaler admits the entire cruise industry “took some heat” and has been “on its heels” during the pandemic, but that “it’s time” for everyone – including agents – to really start looking “in that forward windshield and stop looking in the rearview mirror.”

To help them do that, the Celebrity VP vows that the company will communicate the changes it is developing to agents in a comprehensive way that will prompt confidence in the cruise line that can be passed on to consumers.

“We know that Canadians are waiting for three things (before booking again),” says Keith Lane, VP Sales, North and South America: “What are Celebrity’s health and safety protocols going to be and how are they going to be different? What’s their best offer going to be? And when and where will the ships be?”

And while the cruise line is “working feverishly” on those answers – some of which may be beyond its control – some details are emerging.

On health and safety, Lane says, “Our goal is to make our ships the safest place on the planet to vacation.” That includes data-driven planning, intense sanitation protocols (that will not interfere with guests’ experience), new touchless technologies, infectious disease certification, and more.

“What you will get when we go live on this is what we’re doing differently, so it will be very simple so you can educate your clients on that,” he added. “We’re going to an A++. We don’t want to be the first to come out with it, we want to be the best.”

While some important details – such as when sailing can begin again (current plans are to resume some routes on Aug. 1) – remain unknown, Ritznethaler, in the meantime, touts a three-phase plan – crawl, walk, run – that will help agents get up to speed again as a return to travel approaches:

CRAWL

• Focus on key demographic: 40-59s (highest APDs), 47% of whom, according to Celebrity research, express interest in cruising, especially Alaska, Caribbean and Europe.

• Leverage social media, make personal phone calls and write personalized notes to clients, and help them service future cruise certificates.

• Change the conversation to the positive

WALK

• Develop social media: post your vacations, tell people where you want to take them, leverage your hosts and franchises, send emails and conduct virtual cruise nights

• Note the following current Canada specific trends: More bookings than cancellations; Toronto, Montreal Vancouver top recovering markets; Families strong for 2021; Verandah (+16%) and Captain’s Club loyalty program (+20%) bookings strong; customers seeking deals (“biggest deals ever” coming when cleared for sailing)

RUN

Go back into “full-fledged mode” – ask for referrals, email, direct mail – and “voice your sale” – “do the things you did in the past, but with a plan!”

Celebrity Associate VP of National Accounts Ron Gulaskey noted that the Canadian market for Celebrity had been lagging behind the rest of the world this spring, but that it’s also been “sprinting to catch up” in recent weeks and, in fact, led the world in bookings during a recent sale.

At the same time, Celebrity clients are benefitting from a series of cruise-with-confidence promotions and incentives that include flexible re-booking, price protections and best-price guarantees.

Meanwhile, agents will stay at current commission levels until the end of 2022 (not subject to targets) and loyalty points are being doubled.

“Loyalty is big to us, so if we’re going to tell you how much we love you, we’ve got to show it to you,” Lane says.

With so much in play, he adds, “We really believe that now is the time to start planning intensely. There was a pause period and we believe we’re beyond that. We’re seeing nice green shoots of business.

“We know that the first that are going to come back are the loyalty members and the cruisers, and that’s going to be a good amount of business for us over the next six months. And then the vaccine’s going to happen, or the word’s going to continue to get out, and more people are going to come to both you and us. It will happen.”

“We’re finally turning the corner,” agrees Ritzentahler. “And if we’re seeing that, you will start to see that as well.”

Or as Celebrity director of sales for Canada Allan Brooks says, “We definitely see the light on the other side.”