New ceo Ken Muskat assesses SkySea's strengths and challenges

There's a long way to go in educating travel agents—who, if they have any awareness of cruising, typically point clients to the biggest and newest ship. And China's South Korea travel ban had an impact on all cruise operators, but at SkySea that was just short-term, Muskat said.

The one-ship line is 'doing an incredible job in a very short time from a guest experience perspective,' he told Seatrade Cruise News in an interview from Shanghai. The product delivery and the team on board earn 'very high ratings, there is high guest satisfaction.'

SkySea Golden Era is known for food, theme cruises—especially music—and as a venue for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

A high-level US sales and marketing executive drafted to the SkySea leadership in January after an evp role at MSC Cruises USA and, before that, a long career at Royal Caribbean in Miami, Muskat said he's spent the first four months listening and learning.

The brand is 'still in start-up mode,' he said. 'There's still a lot we're learning.

'We're now in the process of developing a strategy to go forward. We're looking at all elements—how we work with the distribution, how we drive on-board revenue, deployment and where we can go, source markets.'

As many Western cruise line leaders have discovered, selling in China is very different than in the US or Europe.

'The distribution network here is still being educated on cruising and how to sell. So much of [our work] is just about educating on the basics,' Muskat said. 'But the exciting thing is that they're very excited about learning about the brands and how to position the brands and qualify the customer.

'We're up against a lot of big, brand-new ships. [Agents are] very focused on newest and biggest is best. But there's a very nice market for a brand like SkySea for people who may be trying cruising for the first time.'

A smaller, service-oriented ship that's not as 'busy' as some of the big, new vessels may be more comfortable for a novice cruiser.

Educating agents is 'on China speed,' Muskat said, 'with all the capacity that's coming here, and it's not stopping, so we need to fill the ships.'

Another benefit to being smaller—SkySea Golden Era carries 2,000 passengers—is that the size works very well for theme cruises and the MICE market. 'We can customize the experience easier than some larger ships can,' and the size is 'very appealing to corporate groups that want to hold meetings or conferences or incentives.'

Theme cruises provide a marketing hook. 'We can work with travel agents or charter partners who can find 2,000 people. For larger ships, finding 4,000 or 5,000 people is a lot tougher,' Muskat said.

Music cruises are especially popular. For example, Argentine singer Daniela Bessia, a big star in China, is performing on the May 25 cruise.

As Muskat hones the future strategy, he's looking at consumer trends and preferences—one reason why the Wi-Fi was recently upgraded, the management team, brand partners and optimizing the number of Chinese crew in passenger-facing roles.

SkySea, a joint venture between Ctrip.com and Royal Caribbean, is 'the only true, local Chinese brand. We're not a brand for North America that had to be adjusted for China,' he said. But Chinese are also interested in an international experience, so the line that positions itself as 'East meets West' is also aiming for 'what would be the perfect mix.'

Shanghai is SkySea Golden Era's homeport, pitting it against all the biggest, newest ships. The city will continue to be the base, however the line is testing some other secondary markets with large populations that fit cruise demographics, for occasional sailings.

Three April cruises from the northern city of Qingdao, due to a charter agreement, allowed the line to try a new homeport and it worked very well, Muskat said.

Starting June 7 to the end of July, SkySea Golden Era will operate 10 cruises from the southern city of Xiamen. This gives the opportunity to visit new destinations in Japan, such as Nagasaki, Kobe, Shimanoseku and Okinawa, among others, and to make first calls at the Philippines (Manila and Boracay).

Calling China's growth 'unbelievable,' Muskat said cruise operators continue to support the government and ports' initiatives to develop in a 'bigger and a faster way so we can fill all these ships that are coming here in a way that makes sense for the industry.'

The South Korea travel ban 'definitely has impacted the business for everybody. The good news is that everyone was able to quickly redeploy to other ports in Japan and offer pretty nice itineraries.' After initial cancellations by passengers who'd booked for South Korea, business 'quickly bounced back,' Muskat said.

'We're looking forward to it opening up again. We don't know when that's going to happen. Meanwhile, it's allowed us to go to other ports.'

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