Defining
‘luxury at sea’
What do travelers expect from a high-end cruise? Lines set themselves apart with elevated culinary offerings, butler service or crew-to-guest ratios. In the end, it might just come down to the “wow” factor.
I stepped into my suite on the Crystal Serenity and the word “wow” crossed my lips. The room was larger than I expected, with a small table and a deep-blue couch in one room and a king bed in the other. The bathroom was so large I could have lain down in there and still had space to roll around, and the shower looked big enough to fit several adults.
My butler surprised me daily with healthy snacks like pineapple cubes and mini-sandwiches (and a few maybe-not-as-healthy — but delicious — chocolates). My dirty laundry would disappear, and I’d soon find clean outfits hanging in my closet.
This, I thought, is luxury.
Several high-end cruise lines insist that the luxury they offer is unparalleled: Regent Seven Seas Cruises claims “the world’s most luxurious fleet,” while Seabourn Cruises and Silversea both call themselves the “leader” in ultraluxury and expedition cruising; and a new upscale line, Explora Journeys, is on a mission to “redefine luxury at sea,” according to its parent company’s chairman.
But with so many luxe cruise operators in the market, I wondered how travel advisors would define “luxury at sea.”
Is luxury measured by the size (or intimacy) of the ship? The expanse of its suites? Services such as personal butlers, or a dining menu curated by a Michelin-star chef? Is it linked to where the cruise sails and how long the ship stays in port?
“Luxury is so personal. It means a different thing for every single person. That’s why it is the most controversial topic” for luxury travel advisors, said Carlos Edery, CEO and co-founder of North Miami Beach-based Luxury Cruise Connections. What may communicate luxury to one guest may miss the mark for another, he said.
‘Luxury means a different thing for every single person.’
And there are a lot of people seeking luxury cruises; advisors say that the segment is booming. Since the cruise industry roared back to life after the worst of the pandemic, several agents have told me that their business is the best it’s ever been, despite lingering economic concerns about recession and inflation.
Michael Consoli, the No. 1 producing agent for Cruise Planners in the U.S., said his luxury cruise booking volume jumped 25% over last year and is about 50% higher than it was in 2019. People are willing to spend more to ensure they get the experience that they’ve been waiting for since the pandemic, he said.
“Our job is to make sure that they’re getting the best value for their money,” Consoli said.
‘Our job is to make sure clients are getting the best value.’
Clients who are willing to spend on uncommon experiences have more luxury cruise options to choose from than ever before. Since the pandemic, legacy luxe lines have debuted ships, and several new brands have joined the market, including Explora Journeys and the expedition line Atlas Ocean Voyages. Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours began sailing luxury expeditions in 2019, and high-end hotel brands have jumped in, as well: Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is already at sea, and Four Seasons and Aman are planning to launch their first oceangoing ships in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
Edery said that, in a philosophical sense, the main pillars of luxury include the choice to select those elements that guests most value combined with customer service that anticipates needs and exceeds expectations.
For example, if the stateroom attendant leaves “some mixed nuts in your cabin, and they notice all you ate were the almonds, then the next day they would deliver just almonds,” he said. Or if the butler notices you don’t have a restaurant reservation, he or she will present two options where there is availability.
If you’re walking into the dining room and you’re greeted by name, even though you never introduced yourself, you are experiencing top-level luxury, he said.
Personal luxury
The challenge for luxury lines is exceeding expectations when each guest has a deeply personal and varying sense of what luxury is, Edery said. The value in booking through a luxury travel advisor is that they have developed expertise in matching the right guest to the right brand, they stay on top of ever-changing luxury trends, and they not only pay attention to the small details of emerging lines but keep track of how established lines evolve.
Suzy Schreiner, owner of Azure Blue Vacations, pays attention to differentiators among all the lines claiming to be tops in luxury: the amenities, stateroom sizes, dining options. Do butlers receive professional training? Are excursions limited to small groups?
“Size matters!” she said. “There is a difference in your overall experience and perception when you are one of 300 to 600 guests versus one of 4,500.”
Some lines would beg to differ. Although most of Celebrity Cruises’ ships have a capacity between 2,100 and 3,200 guests, the line ran a marketing campaign calling itself a “relaxed luxury resort at sea” in 2022.
“My question is, who said luxury had anything to do with size?” Celebrity then-CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said at the time. “I believe luxury can be delivered at scale, and I believe Celebrity delivers a lot of luxurious experiences at scale.”
At least one line doesn’t want to be associated with the word “luxury” at all. Warren Titus, founder of Royal Viking and revered as the father of modern luxury cruising, reportedly told Viking founder and chairman Torstein Hagen not to “ever use the word ‘luxury.’ It means so many things to different people.”
“And I agree,” Hagen said. “One has to be careful in defining this. But I think we consider ourselves as elegant. Probably understated elegance.”
Schreiner agrees that there is such a wide variation among upscale cruise lines that it’s important to first understand what the word “luxury” means to her clients.
“Usually, when my clients say ‘luxury,’ they’re indicating that they want fewer passengers,” she said. “They want more things included. They want the service and food to be excellent. You can get that from luxury brands, but you can also get that from some premium brands.”
‘When my clients say “luxury,” they want fewer passengers.’
She asks clients whether they want features like butler service, business-class flights and excursions included or whether they are simply looking for something casual where everything is excellent, regardless of the price tag.
“I have plenty of executives who have a bundle of money and who really want a great experience, but they want to be relaxed,” she said; they don’t want to wear a suit to dinner. She put one such client in a suite on a Windstar Cruise. While she doesn’t consider Windstar to be a luxury cruise line like Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Windstar fit what that client was looking for.
Conversely, she said, “some people are booking certain luxury brands because they still have fine dining with dress codes, with mandatory ties or sports jackets. To them, that feels luxurious.”
How the luxury lines stand out
Cruise lines claim very specific areas where they believe they have an edge, said Carlos Edery, CEO and co-founder of Luxury Cruise Connections, an agency based in North Miami Beach. Here is his assessment of how the lines position themselves:
Azamara: Most time in port.
Crystal: Traditional elegance, dressier, larger ships than some competitors.
Oceania: Focus on cuisine.
Regent Seven Seas: Most all-inclusive, upscale experience, modern classic elegance.
Seabourn: A much more relaxed experience, less dressing up, no English butler.
Silversea: More classic elegance, with an English butler, dressier dress code than some competitors.
Viking: Consistency without having to think too much, good service and good logistics.
All-inclusive luxury
Other clients are drawn to all-inclusive pricing, particularly when the air package includes business class. Diego Riveron, who used to work in sales for the old Crystal Cruises and now sells for Luxury Cruise Connections, said his clients have been especially hungry to travel after the pandemic. And the key element he looks for when judging a luxury cruise experience is all-inclusive pricing.
“To me, luxury means you should not have to be nickel-and-dimed or have to worry about anything. Everything should be taken care of, seamlessly,” he said.
‘Luxury means you should not have to worry about anything.’
He also pays attention to the look and feel of a ship as well as the service. Attention to detail and anticipating guests’ needs are a big plus.
As an example, he said guests shouldn’t have to flag down a server to refill their drink. And if a guest fills out a form about preferences and special requests, the room should reflect the preferences upon arrival. Cruise lines should get to know guests’ likes and dislikes.
Riveron is not looking only for good customer service but for a luxury line to “wow me every day and make sure I’m being well taken care of,” he said.
Riveron can count on one hand the number of lines that tick all those boxes for him, he said. They include Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, Scenic Cruises and Explora Journeys.
“The cruise lines all try to sell themselves as the biggest gold coin in the pot. Once you get to know each product and their offerings, you know how to differentiate them,” he said. “In the high-end market, there are so many competitors now that you didn’t have 15 years ago. There’s just so much to choose from.”
When qualifying clients for a luxury cruise, his strategy is to get them talking: Are they used to living in high-end luxury? Are they looking for opulence? Do they want specific destinations?
“It’s about what they define as luxury, what’s important to them,” he said.
The trend he’s seeing now is that high-end clients are itinerary-driven; they want to cross destinations off their bucket lists. But they aren’t willing to trade their luxury preferences in exchange for visiting a remote destination or access to rare amenities like a helicopter or diving in a submersible, he said.
“If they can’t have their ‘must-haves,’ they won’t go,” he said.
Jeannie Cartier Sauleau, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Sixth Star Travel, judges luxury by the design of the ship, like the flow from one area to another. She also looks for “wow” moments, like the view when riding up on a glass elevator overlooking the ocean.
That was what she experienced on Silversea’s Silver Ray, which debuted in June. She noted how the long, wide hallways and light streaming in made the ship feel spacious. She also pointed out how a coffee shop in the reception area created a space for people to gather and network.
Sauleau also concerns herself with the quality of the large suites. “People demand that. They want that space because that’s what luxury is about.”
But to her, the culinary experience is what makes or breaks a luxury experience. Lines offer that in various ways, such as Explora Journeys partnering with a rotating cast of illustrious chefs or Regent Seven Seas’ fine wine selection where guests aren’t limited to “only a basic house wine.”
Luxury seekers
Sauleau focuses on selling luxury cruise and land travel but said that she doesn’t cater to high-end clients only. She also works with people looking to make the occasional step up to luxury, such as younger clients trying out a cruise.
When she gets a new client, she asks what lines they have sailed. But that doesn’t mean those are the cruise line she’ll recommend. They will talk about the client’s budget. Prices for brands like Silversea, Seabourn and Regent have gone up “quite a bit, but people are still booking it because that’s what they want,” she said.
She’ll explain to clients that it’s often the little details that shape a cruise experience, such as the passenger-to-guest ratio, being with like-minded people, calling at unique ports and the suites.
But one element that’s difficult to explain is the feeling they’ll have when they walk into their suite one day and whisper “wow.”
Built with Shorthand