Explora Journeys, MSC Group's luxury cruise brand, will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the debut of its first ship, the Explora I, in August, the same month its sister, the Explora II, is expected to launch. Newly appointed president of North America Chris Austin sat down with cruise editor Andrea Zelinski at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference in Miami earlier this month to talk about the brand and why travel advisors should be putting clients on an Explora Journeys cruise.
Chris Austin
Q: Who is the cruiser you are trying to attract?
A: We're an ultraluxury, lifestyle ocean experience for discerning travelers. By "discerning travelers," I mean, if you're curious, if you want to discover more of the destinations, immersion in a destination, but you want to be in an elegant, luxury, all-inclusive environment.
We welcome loyal cruisers, and we welcome new-to-cruise. Most of the new-to-cruise are coming from luxury hotels. Why do they find this attractive? Because we have designed a boutique, cosmopolitan hotel, European vibe with beautiful, elegant design ... the ship feels like a very elegant resort.
I think "discerning traveler" is a key characteristic; they're younger, working, affluent. The established luxury cruiser who's curious about a new brand will find that we are different, more distinct.
Q: Is Explora Journeys right for families?
A: Of course, families are welcome, as we're owned by a family. We've designed the ship with numerous connecting suites, so that's perfect because not a lot of families actually want to have their kids in the same suite as the parents. We also have Club Nautilus, which is designed for younger adults, guests under 18. It's full of the stuff that they want to use; you can't get them out of there. There are four pools on the ship, [but only] the Helios pool is adult-only. That's sort of flipping things to give adults their own space, as well.
Q: What's behind Explora's shorter itineraries?
A: The six- or seven-day itinerary is very appealing to an affluent traveler who's still working, who may want to work onboard. One of the first questions they ask their advisor is, "What's the Internet like?" And advisors say, "Well, it's complimentary, and it's incredibly good." So we're perfect for bleisure.
Q: Speaking of advisors, where do they fit in?
A: We need the advisor community to promote, to retell the story and to share it with their clients. And I would actually say, we're the brand that they should all have top of mind, because we have space. I'm not shy in telling people we have space: We're operating in our ninth month of a brand-new brand that has incredible testimonials -- not our ninth year, not our 19th year.
So if travel advisors cannot find the luxury hotel or resort that their clients are asking for or maybe the suite category on a classic traditional luxury cruise brand, they should check us out. We should ideally be the first, but if not, then the second brand they check, because they'll find the space, and we will deliver this incredible high-end, ultraluxury experience.