UK and Ireland managing director Peter Shanks said “a big opportunity still exists for more luxury agents to get involved with selling Silversea” adding the line has the largest sales team of any ultra-luxury line to be able to help them to do so.
“We have strong relationships with many agency networks and consortia, but our latest recruitment project will be to really reach out to all those luxury independent agents who have potential Silversea clients – there is a huge financial opportunity for agents in working within this niche and a chance to build loyal, repeat clients too,” Shanks added.
He stressed how a field sales team of seven and support team of five were well placed to “find more partners to join the growth journey with Silversea”. “We’re looking to identify and nurture first timers for Silversea and have a host of incentives and initiatives coming up in April to help us do this,” he promised.
Shanks said demand was high for Mediterranean cruises at the moment, as people looked to stay “closer to home”, but added for 2023/24, forward bookings for Asia were strong.
He said there had also been a “significant uplift” in revenue per passenger since Christmas as people choose to cruise for longer and trade-up.
“Of course, it’s a sign of pent-up demand, but also that people want to really get more out of their time away, especially combining cruises – our itineraries make it easy to do that, and not repeat any ports, which makes it a great opportunity for clients and agents,” he added.
Door-to-door options
Along with its newest ship Silver Dawn and “game changing” Silver Nova – which is set to launch in July 2023 – Shanks highlighted many ways agents could entice clients. These include the “Door-to-Door” inclusivity increasingly being offered, whereby one price ensures everything from luxury chauffeur pick-ups from home, flights, pre-cruise hotels, all inclusions during the cruise and private transfers to and from the ship.
“This is a really attractive offering, as it makes sure everything is taken care of in one place, something that has become especially important as a result of the pandemic,” Shanks said.
Interesting niche products and cruises would also prove appealing to affluent customers he said, such as the Antarctica “bridge”, whereby customers can fly from Punta Arenas in Chile to the region and join Silver Explorer, instead of using up to four days that would usually be needed to sail the notoriously choppy Drake Passage.
“We feel we really found a purple patch with this – the first winter of operating it was really successful,” he said. “For some cruise clients, it’s a must to say they have sailed to Antarctica across Drake Passage – for others, they want to save time and also have the income to pay that premium to cut out the crossing by flying, meaning they can take just a week’s leave to experience Antarctica.”
