Stuart Leven is not what one might expect from the UK chief of an $8 billion turnover company.
Almost two years ago, he quit his job as vice-president commercial UK and Ireland at InterContinental Hotels to spend six months travelling around Morocco and Europe in a VW camper van with his wife and two sons, then aged 10 and eight. “At the time, we could think of 10 reasons why we shouldn’t, but not one reason why we couldn’t.”
It is perhaps because of this attitude that in July 2013 the innovative cruise line decided to interview Leven for the role of UK and Ireland managing director. By this point, the family was camping on the shores of Lake Annecy in France - “it was where we could get the best Wi-Fi for a Skype call.”
Leven admits he was not the most prepared for an interview: “I hadn’t shaved in six months, I’d lost three stone, and my kids had to make me a cardboard tie.”
“I saw that what Steve Jobs had been doing to computers, Royal Caribbean had been doing to ships for 40 years”
It was also just weeks after he had passed through the cruise mecca of Dubrovnik, where, oblivious to the interview he would soon be taking, Leven confesses he looked out at the cruise ships dotting the skyline and reflected that cruise holidays were not for him.
He admits “it took some convincing” to persuade him otherwise. “I didn’t know what cruise was - my preconceptions about cruise were the same that others have.”
But then he met the team at Royal Caribbean. “I saw that what Steve Jobs had been doing to computers, Royal Caribbean had been doing to ships for 40 years. Quantum of the Seas proved that fact - that was the hook for me.”
Leven has now sailed on five ships, and booked two cruises for his family next year, one on Allure of the Seas, and another in the summer on what will be the latest edition to the fleet, Anthem of the Seas.
A self-confessed convert, Leven’s challenge now is to convince the 20 million other would-be cruisers in the UK. It is not a task he, or Royal Caribbean, is taking lightly.
Year of change
When I catch up with the UK chief, it is exactly 366 days into his role - a year which has seen the line introduce a number of significant “firsts”.
Since joining last November, Leven has helped implement the tri-branding of the company’s lines Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara, relaunched Royal Caribbean’s trade incentive scheme, seen the arrival of the world’s second-largest cruise ship into Europe and Southampton, and spearheaded the launch of Quantum of the Seas with the UK trade.
There have been some steep learning curves along the way however. Despite starting out as a former travel agent himself - Leven worked as a trainee at Scottish agency AT Mays in 1985 before moving across to Lunn Poly - he admits that initially he “really underestimated just how important travel agents are”.
“We quickly realised that agents were our future for turning people into cruisers”
“It didn’t take long to get up to speed though,” he adds with a wry smile. Both he and new UK and Ireland sales director Ben Bouldin “returned to the shop floor” to spend time with agents - “independents and the larger cruise clubs”.
“We wanted to see how we were selling our product to the travel trade. Eight out of 10 of our bookings come through the trade - we quickly realised that agents were our future for turning people who usually take land holidays into cruisers.”
To demonstrate just how significant agents are to the line, Leven reveals that Royal Caribbean will be increasing its sales staff from 23 to 27 by the end of this year.
“We’ll be investing in our sales team. Their reason for living is high street agents,” he says. The extra sales staff will be focusing on Ireland - both Northern and the Republic - as well as targeting agents that don’t currently sell cruise.
“We’ll be investing in our sales team. Their reason for living is high street agents”
“There will be more sales support for the trade - more sales people will be going into agencies and they’ll be supporting agents throughout the UK, setting targets and presenting rewards.”
And in what seems to be a pointed comment at the cruise lines which slashed commission in 2011, before upping it again this year, Leven notes: “We’re friends for life, not just for Christmas.
“We’ve stayed dedicated to our approach with the trade, and will continue to do so. We’re not just paying lip service, working with the trade is a long-term strategy for us.”
Intelligent naivety
In addition to the importance of agents, Leven reveals there was also another element of the role that took him by surprise when he joined Royal Caribbean: “I’d underestimated the value of the product in the ship,” he concedes - a view that is clearly polar opposite to his opinion now, with Leven frequently describing the ship as “the hero” throughout our interview.
Three of the five-strong leadership team were new to the industry this year. But this “intelligent naivety”, as Leven puts it, has proved helpful. “It means that when we sit down to think, we try to ‘stay dumb’.
“We’re looking at information through the lens of someone that needs to be convinced - it can help lead us to try something interesting.”
This includes new forms of advertising, such as the huge televised adverts which are currently being screened at railway stations throughout the UK, as well as interactive video adverts featured on on-demand television sites.
The latter are tailored to three different target audiences, Leven says - “families, affluent couples whose children have flown the nest and couples who haven’t had children yet” - with certain adverts devoid of the Royal Caribbean logo, in a bid to encourage viewers to click through and “find out what the advert is about”.
Revolutionary visits
It also includes introducing ship tours “with a difference”, as demonstrated with Oasis of the Seas in Southampton two weeks ago.
The ship played host to 100 agents who took part in a series of challenges and quizzes, testing out elements of the ship. “We would rather do an immersive tour where people can actually see, touch and feel the product rather than just walk around the vessel,” Leven says, adding that the feedback from the agents has been “tremendous”.
He won’t be drawn on whether this has now set the precedent for all future Royal Caribbean ship visits, although he admits with a smile: “Oasis was a hint of what they might look like.
“We intend to revolutionise ship visits,” he adds. “Before Anthem and Explorer of the Seas arrive in the UK next year, Ben [Bouldin] and I will be visiting the ships and meeting with the leadership teams to see how we can put the ‘wow’ into our traditional ship visits.”
First of course though, there is the small matter of Quantum of the Seas, which sailed into Southampton on Wednesday, and will be welcoming 500 UK agents and international trade and media for its shakedown voyage this weekend.
“If you’re creating a TV programme, they want to sensationalise things. I would rather invite people to see it for themselves”
With all the buzz surrounding Quantum, which has been billed as the “world’s most futuristic ship”, I ask Leven whether he has been tempted to accept TV offers for a documentary onboard, as Princess Cruises did with The Cruise Ship earlier this year.
“We don’t need the assistance,” Leven replies. “We can talk to the people who we want to. If you’re creating a TV programme, they want to sensationalise things - I would rather throw open the doors to our ship and invite people to come and see it for themselves.”
This weekend Royal Caribbean will be doing exactly that. He remains close-lipped about what those onboard can expect, only that he wants “everyone going to treat it like a real cruise, and to experience everything and shake down the ship for us”.
It is a challenge the invited UK agents will likely be more than happy to take up. As for Leven himself, he reveals he’s most looking forward to watching Bouldin attempt the sky-diving, before trying out the DJ booth in the SeaPlex area. For the man “who took some convincing”, it seems Leven is well and truly converted. The next 20 million should be a doddle.
