Few, if any, cruise industry leaders can say they began their careers at sea sweeping crew corridors late at night – Laura Hodges Bethge’s journey to the top at Celebrity Cruises has been far from conventional.

Born and raised in Miami, Hodges Bethge was just 18 months old when her father, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty. Aged two, attending pre-school early, she would plead to stay longer when her mother came to pick her up, and this lust to learn saw her become the first person from her family to go to university.

Although her grandfather’s disability had already inspired in her a lifelong advocacy for inclusivity, it was while working as director of disability services at a university that she embarked on “a short project” with Royal Caribbean to help make its fleet more accessible; for someone seemingly fixed on a career in education, the opportunity set her life on an entirely different course.

“I’ve been at Royal Caribbean Group for 23 years now – but there was never a grand plan,” she smiles, sitting down with TTG in mid-July. “I’ve always been an inquisitive person. My mom – gosh she’s a force – made me naive enough to think I could do whatever I wanted.”

Royal approached Hodges Bethge to advise its accessibility programme, and although she was in her mid-twenties and didn’t yet have a passport, she quickly found herself in at the deep end at German and Finnish shipyards. “It was very challenging, when you think of older ships with these huge thresholds, tiny spaces and thin corridors... but so rewarding,” she says.

“I spent my first decade at the company bouncing around different jobs – I fell in love with hospitality. We didn’t have a lot growing up, but we had family. Our vacations consisted of loading up the station wagon and going up the East Coast to visit my grandparents. We loved it, but I didn’t know people took these types of vacations [cruises]. My world had opened up.”

ECLECTIC EXPERIENCE

After travel’s post-9/11 slump, Hodges Bethge took a role in hotel operations as a night cleaner onboard Explorer of the Seas. It was the makings of an eclectic CV, which also spans marine operations, sales and marketing, time heading up commercial in Shanghai, and product innovation, which saw her lead on development of Royal’s Perfect Day private island. In fact, there are few corners of the corporation Hodges Bethge hasn’t touched.  “I haven’t been in accounting – and that’s probably a good thing,” she jokes.

It was while she was in investor relations, working closely with [Royal Group’s former and current presidents] Richard Fain and Jason Liberty, that Hodges Bethge says she felt “a big shift” in her aspirations. “To see the business through their eyes, it really inspired me,” she recalls.

She became executive vice-president of shared services during the latter stages of the pandemic, acting – as she describes – “as the connective tissue between all the brands”, a role that cemented her position in Royal Group’s senior leadership team.

After taking over from Lisa Lutoff-Perlo on 1 May, Hodges Bethge has been in charge for just 80 days when we meet, but it is already her third visit to the UK, this time to mark Jo Rzymowska’s departure as Celebrity’s managing director EMEA. Rzymowska will be succeeded later this month by Giles Hawke – so what was it about Hawke that won him the coveted role?

“Jo’s are huge shoes to fill,” Hodges Bethge acknowledges, “but Giles has been in this business for 30 years – he’s a veteran, he’s super-strategic and has a great disposition. He’s very collaborative and likes a good debate. I think that’s the way you get the best out of people.”

Hawke’s long-standing relationship with the trade was another important factor. “Our trade partners know what they can expect from him, which is comforting, and really important for the Celebrity brand going forward,” she explains.

SURPRISES IN STORE

Her own leadership marks a wider transition for the Celebrity brand with penultimate Edge-class ship, Celebrity Ascent, due in December and a fifth and final, as-yet-unnamed Edge vessel, launching in autumn 2024. Ascent will have “a few surprises that haven’t been announced yet” teases Hodges Bethge, while “Edge 5” will have “broader transformations”. “We want to put the cherry on top.”

Hodges Bethge highlights two areas of the guest experience – entertainment and destination – where she believes the line needs “to push further”. Fuelled by her own passion for dance, entertainment is close to Hodges Bethge’s heart; the line’s vice-president of entertainment, Lisa Lehr, she says, has some “phenomenal ideas” for its last Edge vessel.

And when it comes to destination, Celebrity could soon go further than its recent move to use Royal’s Perfect Day. “Guests have been clamouring for us to have a private destination – I can’t do that tomorrow, but what I can do is take them to one our group has,” says Hodges Bethge, who adds the move could help Celebrity secure investment for its own destination. “It’s certainly our desire and something we really want to explore.”

Meanwhile, work to conceptualise the successor to Celebrity’s Edge series is under way. “We’re at the very beginning,” says Hodges Bethge. “This next year is all about dreaming of what comes next on land and at sea.”

Focusing on the present, Hodges Bethge says the line’s plans to base Celebrity Apex in Southampton next summer highlights its commitment to the UK, while its move to deploy an Edge-class ship across the UK, Europe, Caribbean and Alaska “puts our best hardware where travel partners and guests want it”.

The strategy comes back to Hodges Bethge’s main ethos of putting agents and guests at the forefront of Celebrity’s plans. “Lisa [Lutoff-Perlo] left me with this amazing brand – and if you keep the customer as your North Star, you’re going to create the things that matter.”