Ted Sykes is retiring after an illustrious cruise careerTed Sykes is retiring after an illustrious cruise career

Certares Homecoming CEO Ted Sykes, who's also held leadership roles at American Queen, Viking, Vantage, Saga and Royal Cruise Line, is retiring after an illustrious career.

'What a great ride I've had, covering the waterfront of cruising — ocean and river, international and domestic — and building and operating tours and travel companies,' Sykes told Seatrade Cruise News.

Over decades, he has been the 'go-to' man in finance and operations across a range of ventures, with expertise in start-ups, international operations, sales and marketing.

'Ted is very smart and focused and gets things done,' cruise industry giant Mark Conroy said.

His story is woven through the fabric of modern cruising's history, leaders and entrepreneurs.

Ted Sykes at Seatrade Cruise Global with, top right, John Waggoner, and as an expert judge at 2023's 'So you want to start a cruise line?' shark tank session PHOTOS: SEATRADE CRUISE GLOBAL/ANNE KALOSH

For the past four years, Sykes has led Certares Homecoming, the parent of Gohagan & Company and AHI (formerly known as Alumni Holidays International), for the private equity firm Certares. Certares Homecoming CMO Eric Welter is now succeeding Sykes as CEO.

'I think the world of the Certares team and enjoy working for them — all very smart, totally focused on travel and, most of all, kind and respectful,' Sykes said. 'We've put together a great team here at Certares Homecoming, including Eric Welter and Shawn Bierdz, who have worked with me in former companies, and Michael Small, the third generation of the AHI founding family. They are well-positioned for the future.'

So Sykes is 'leaving 'on a high note,' and sums up his more than four decades in the travel business as a 'fantastic time.'

Roles have included president and COO of American Queen Steamboat Co., North American CEO of eWaterways.com, CFO of Viking Cruises and president of Viking Tours, COO and CFO of Vantage Deluxe World Travel, CEO and managing director of Saga Shipping and managing director and CFO of Royal Cruise Line.

Early days in San Francisco

Sykes started in finance with a couple of Fortune 100 companies, then a stint in management consulting, before joining a client, the design and corporate identity firm Landor Associates, in San Francisco. They came up with the name for Royal Viking Line and designed livery for the Concorde and many airlines. There he met Adam Aron, then SVP marketing at Hyatt Hotels, also a client. They subsequently had many dealings when Aron led Kloster Cruise Ltd.

Landor's office, on a converted ferry at Pier Five, was next door to Hornblower headquarters at Pier Three, and Sykes interacted with Terry MacRae who, decades later with John Waggoner, tapped him to run their start-up American Queen Steamboat Co.

Aboard Royal Odyssey in 1996 PHOTO COURTESY TED SYKES

Royal Cruise Line

Landor was sold to Young & Rubicam and Sykes stayed on a few years as a senior partner with Y&R. But when a transfer to New York loomed, he 'literally walked across the parking lot in San Francisco and joined Royal Cruise Line as its CFO. What a company "Mr. P" (Greek shipping magnate Pericles Panagopulos) had built! A great group of people and a wonderful product,' Sykes said.

Bruce Setloff, a 19-year company veteran, 'knew from the first day Ted joined Royal Cruise Line that his calm demeanor plus great finance and marketing background would only add to our great executive team. Just listening to his "common sense" attitude was perfect to accomplish always hitting our goals.'

Setloff called Sykes a 'true gentleman' whose 'record speaks for itself.'

Supercruises.com board

Today Setloff and Sykes both serve on the board of Supercruises.com, founded by Alex Panagopulos, the son of Pericles.

'Ted, hands down, is one of the most solid and capable executives I have ever met,' Alex Panagopulos said, adding he's 'super-proud' to have Sykes on the Supercruises team.

RVL-Seabourn-Windstar connections

Kloster Cruise Ltd. (Norwegian Cruise Line's parent) had acquired Royal Viking Line and Royal Cruise Line. During a financial crisis in the early 1990s, ships moved around under CEO Adam Aron. As Royal Viking Line was being wound down, Royal Cruise Line had taken the small Royal Viking Queen (originally planned for Seabourn) and operated it as Queen Odyssey.

Larry Pimentel was leading Seabourn, a few blocks over from Royal Cruise Line in San Francisco. Sykes was involved in selling Queen Odyssey to Seabourn, which ran it as Seabourn Legend. (Later, the ship went to Windstar Cruises as Star Legend and was lengthened and modernized.)

'It has now come full circle as our team at Gohagan & Company has been chartering those yacht-style ships back from Chris Prelog and the Windstar team to operate for our clients,' Sykes said.

Another important charter partner is Atlas Ocean Voyages.

Getting Saga into cruising

After Kloster shuttered Royal Cruise Line in 1996, Sykes considered joining Art Rodney for Disney Cruise Line's start-up but didn't want to disrupt his wife Karen's endocrinology fellowship at Stanford University.

Saga owner Roger de Haan, who wanted to get into cruising, asked Sykes to help acquire Royal Odyssey. In the end, they bought Sagafjord from Cunard. Larry Pimentel had gone to Miami to head the combined Cunard and Seabourn under Carnival Corp. Saga bought the former Sagafjord and later the Vistafjord, which were part of that group, so Sykes and Pimentel have bought and sold ships to each other's companies.

Sykes commuted to the UK from California every other week for a year to run Saga Shipping. Finally getting a three-year UK work permit, he moved his family over. When that expired, they returned to the US.

Vantage

Sykes next operated Vantage Deluxe World Travel in Boston for owner Hank Lewis and the company's river vessels on the Rhine, Main and Danube, which involved complex sale/leaseback deals. When Hank and his brother Alan of Grand Circle Travel acquired ocean ship Paul Gauguin, which had been part of Radisson (later Regent) Seven Seas Cruises, Sykes and RSSC President Mark Conroy worked on the deal.

During his time at Royal Viking Line in San Francisco, Conroy met Sykes at Royal Cruise Line where he was 'well thought of by his colleagues.'

Radisson/Regent had helped the French company Service & Transport organize the French tax lease financing and building of Paul Gauguin and had a contract to manage the ship's hotel and passenger services, marketing and sales. When the tax lease ended the ship was put up for sale. RSSC tried to buy it but was outbid by the Lewis brothers. RSSC continued the management agreement, and Conroy and Sykes liaised closely to make things work.

Viking and eWaterways.com

Sykes went on to help Torstein Hagen with sale/leaseback deals for the Viking river ships and getting Viking started in the tour business. In 2007, he began as president of Viking Tours, setting up a call center in Boston and building products, primarily Egypt tours. Later he added the CFO role at Viking River Cruises.

His next position was North American CEO for eWaterways.com, an online aggregator of small-ship cruises around the world.

Ted Sykes spoke at the inaugural of American Empress in the Pacific Northwest in 2014. At top left, with then-US Maritime Administration Commissioner Paul 'Chip' Jaenichen and Hornblower's Terry MacRae and, lower left, with former US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood PHOTOS: ANNE KALOSH

American Queen

Then UK entrepreneurial maven Roger Allard, one of the original shareholders in American Queen Steamboat Co., asked Sykes if he'd 'help out' with the young venture. American Queen, the largest paddlewheel steamboat ever built, was a big vessel to fill, Allard noted, and American Empress was coming so Sykes was engaged (by parent company Hornblower's McRae and Waggoner) to run the business and improve the bottom line.

'Ted did an excellent job,' Allard said. 'He grew the company and helped make it profitable. He understood the market. He worked hard to make it work and had good support from the trade.'

The fleet was built up to four vessels before the company was sold to private equity in 2018.

After six years as COO and president, Sykes left and Allard had sold his stake. 'We remain great friends since then and have done business with each other,' said Allard, now chairman/owner of Hebridean Island Cruises.

Certares Homecoming

During the pandemic, Certares asked Sykes to help them purchase Gohagan & Company and AHI from their family owners, adding to the firm's travel and small-ship portfolio. Sykes was living in Chicago, where both companies are based, and agreed to help Certares run them, which he's done since early 2021.

What's next?

Sykes isn't sure, but there are many possible projects and he may consider further board roles. He and his wife built a new house on the Sykes homestead in Appleton, Wisconsin, that's been in his family five generations, since 1851.

'After logging over four million air miles and traveling to many countries, I might be one of the few people who doesn't have "travel" at the top of my retirement to-do list,' Sykes said.

Quipping about 'riding off into the sunset,' his parting words: 'I've had a great career and appreciated the journey.'