‘Bringing the Ovation last year was a great kick off for this season and has had a “halo” on the other two Royal ships in the region,’ Sean Treacy, md of Singapore & Southeast Asia at Royal Caribbean Cruises told SCN.
Treacy initially had fears that the giant Ovation might overshadow the other two vessels, ‘which in their own right are impressive ships’, but ‘while Ovation is the “hero” the three complement each other very well,’ he added.
‘In the past two years we had a 30% increase in sales in the first year, followed by another 30% in the next. Response to all three ships has been very strong!’
Ovation of the Seas first went to Asia almost directly after its launch a year ago, to join Mariner of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas.
This year it added some 42,000 guests or so to the Singapore cruising scene, with over ten sailings from March to April 2017.
Treacy said, ‘we’ve grown our capacity and we have invested more in the region in terms of travel agent training and resources.’
A first major TV campaign in Singapore in June last year launched its ‘One Holiday Endless Adventures’ campaign.
The theme was also carried in a variety of print advertisements, outdoor panels on train platform screens and collaterals.
The blitz included media and travel agent shows in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Treacy credits these, a travel agent event in Malaysia and basing a sales manager there, to the tripling of business from Malaysia between 2015 and 2016.
As a result Malaysia is RCI’s fastest growing market followed by Indonesia with sales doubling between 2015 and 2016, he remarked.
Treacy expects to surpass these rates in 2017 and the signs are already there. According to Michael Rasmussen, hotel director on board Ovation, one of the recent sailings out of Singapore had more Malaysians on board than Singaporeans.
Generally, the top five source markets for Singapore sailings are Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and China, respectively.
The market is growing at a brisk rate and Treacy adds that the brand is also beginning to see new cruisers, for instance from Myanmar who, since December last year, enjoy visa free travel to Singapore.
‘A vast part of our business comes through the trade and we have been supporting them, providing them with tools.’ The company opened its Espresso travel agent booking system for use by major Asian travel agents.
Travel partners selling Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises can leverage the easy-to-use system. ‘We could do more onboard sales and agents are beginning to understand its importance,’ he said.
More travel agent support is by way of a e-magazine, Royalogue, launched last July. Agents can win competitions and receive vouchers or even free cruises. ‘We try and keep it fun,’ smiles Treacy. ‘Every time ship is in Singapore, we invite a hundred agents on a ship visit.’
Treacy is particularly excited over the upcoming school holiday period deployments. ‘This will be the first year Royal has a ship In Singapore with itineraries designed for the India and Singapore school holiday markets, in May and June respectively.’
Voyager of the Seas returns to Singapore in May to June 2017. It will offer 13 sailings of three to five night Southeast Asian itineraries to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang, Phuket and an 8-night one-way cruise to Hong Kong, with stopovers at Bangkok (Laem Chabang) for an overnight, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My) and Nha Trang.
Rasmussen reported during the Singapore week-long school holidays this March, some 1,100 children sailed. The non-holiday time average is about 800 children, he shared.
Mike Hunnerup, cruise director on Ovation of the Seas told SCN, ‘the children’s programmes are so innovative and fun that the kids don’t want to leave the ship.’
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Cruise News to your Google News feed.
