Scenic Poised To Expand Consumer Awareness

with Ming Tappin

Last week Scenic dropped by North Vancouver where 130 consumers and 25 agents gathered to learn about the luxury river brand. Lisa McCaskill, Scenic's V.P. of Sales & Marketing in Canada, along with Derek Legault, Senior Director of Sales made up the tag team, enlightening the audience with the history of Scenic, its river cruise offerings and their newly announced super yacht.

While almost everyone in the audience raised their hand when asked if they have cruised before, only about 1/2 had done river cruising and even a smaller group has cruised with Scenic. Judging by the big turnout though, it’s clear that consumers are interested in learning about this brand as they have not been extremely visible in the marketplace.

The biggest oohs and aahs from the audience came upon seeing images of the Scenic Eclipse, their Discovery Yacht that will be launching in 2018. Outfitted with ultra-luxury suites upwards of 2,500 sq. ft., complete with 2 helicopters and a submarine, it will cater to the most discerning and affluent client looking for expedition cruising in style. And surprisingly (or maybe not!) its inaugural cruise is already 2/3 sold out.

Although Scenic directly markets to the public, the company is eager to work with travel partners. In fact, travel agents were encouraged to bring clients to these presentations as agents can effectively have a cruise night without doing any of the work or paying for a venue. Derek informed me that at one of the shows, one agent brought along 30 clients to take advantage of this convenient set up. 

I ran into Donella Chong of Uniglobe One Travel who brought 2 clients to the event. The couple will be retiring in 3 years and plan to travel the world extensively. They were very excited to learn about Scenic and now the seed has been planted, which is the smart way to cultivate a luxury booking as they generally do not happen overnight.

Sue Mehlenbacher of Expedia CruiseShipCenters came with a colleague to learn about Scenic and believes her current river cruise clients who have not yet tried Scenic will certainly enjoy the luxury and all inclusiveness onboard. Her task now is to cultivate, nurture and guide her clients towards luxury river cruising.

With 14 river ships and a super yacht, Scenic is certainly going places, and with these successful roadshows, surely they'll be continuing this series, coming soon to a venue near you.

Ming  Tappin is a cruise veteran with over 20 years’ experience in the industry and has sailed on 37 cruises and counting. Based in Vancouver, Ming is Owner of www.yourcruisecoach.com.