Silversea's Kristian Anderson, Lori Nojaim & Brad Ball
Silversea Cruises has seen some very nice potential from the Canadian market over the past few years and has decided to put more emphasis on ramping up their efforts to work with travel agents here. RCI veteran Lori Nojaim was named Director, National Sales, Canada about a month ago and has already made 3 trips to Canada to start building relationships. Lori is based in Syracuse, which she calls Canada-adjacent and says her primary focus will be to help Canadian travel agents find and develop more Silversea clients.
Plans include several agent FAMS to ensure the trade understands the Silversea product – both their existing smaller (286 to 540 guests) luxury ships and their newer foray into expedition cruising with 3 (100 to 132 guests) dedicated vessels that have been acquired over the past 5 years. They now claim to have become the leading expedition line in the world with their 3 ships dedicated to specialized itineraries.
Silversea executives Kristian Anderson, Vice President of Sales for North America and Brad Ball, Director, Communications joined Lori in Toronto last week to chat with the trade over a delicious luncheon at the outstanding One restaurant at Yorkville’s Hazelton Hotel, about what’s ahead for Silversea.
Kristian emphasized that they intend to remain openly supportive of the agent community and will continue to advocate on behalf of travel agents. He says Silversea recognizes the value of a truly professional agent is unassailably invaluable!
Anderson says they are looking ahead to an incredibly strong 2014 and feel that their brand integrity is being recognized by travel agents as well as their commitments to honour price guarantees when fares are lowered... not to mention their generous commission levels. We always have to mention that!
Brad says the line has noted an increasingly younger customer demographic with a trend that sees some business people sailing on longer voyages and actually conducting business throughout their journey taking full advantage of onboard WiFi. The average age of a Silversea cruiser has now dropped into the 44 to 55 year old bracket. The fact that Silversea doesn’t repeat itineraries in back to back consecutive sailings, makes combining several itineraries popular with their affluent clientele. He says they log about 55% repeat cruisers... which all adds up to nice opportunities for travel agents who develop Silversea clients.
With that type of clientele, adding new and enticing destinations and experiences is a big priority. Several of their most popular new itineraries sail the Aleutian Islands, the Black Sea, West Africa and, of course, the Galapagos Islands. Another trend they have noted is a big increase in multi-generational bookings, often returning to destinations the parents or grandparents have cruised previously – but want to re-experience in a style they have become more accustomed to. Fully inclusive luxury is always worth repeating,
