Explora Journeys has reiterated its commitment to the travel industry, with the ultra-luxury cruise line’s Chief Commercial Officer addressing back office improvements are necessary to keep up with the brand’s rapid growth.
During a trade briefing aboard EXPLORA II ahead of the ship’s christening in Civitavecchia, Italy last Saturday, Achille Staiano was transparent that the burgeoning cruise line has some work to do on fostering business relationships.
While detailing some of the subtle changes between EXPLORA I, delivered in July 2023, and EXPLORA II, Staiano said Explora Journeys was taking the feedback of guests, partners, operators, media and port authorities to ensure a winning business formula.
Subscribe to LATTE’s free eNewsletter to keep up to date with everything in the luxury travel industry.
“Like everything in life, we are not here to come say something and then disappear. Our industry plan is very clear. In the next in the next three years, Explora Journeys will reach a fleet of six ships. We will always look for more. We never stop. We will look and continue to invest and make sure that our fleet continues to expand.
“While we are expanding our fleet, of course, we are looking at differences, at improvements, little fine-tuning.”
“We have been in a startup phase. Our aim is also to improve the back office to support you better in your daily activities, so bear with us. We are growing fast. We’re going to be closer to you and we will never lose the art of listening. We always listen.” he said.
“We want to have your feedback. We believe that through your feedback we can always find some further fine-tuning to improve our product. This is extremely important.”
“After one year of operation, it is encouraging to hear the feedback that we have the best culinary experience at sea, the best Wi-Fi at sea, we are aiming for the best service at sea, and to also provide the best service for the trade at back office level. So bear with us,” he said in the forum.
Speaking exclusively with LATTE, Staiano said he was “very excited” for this latest milestone, the delivery of EXPLORA II from the Fincantieri shipyard.
“We have big pressure on us to make it successful that we are up to speed. We believe that we are on the right track. We’ve made some necessary fine-tuning and we are fully concentrated on making sure that this product will be a success,” he said.
“We developed this concept which was redefining ocean travel by giving a more sophisticated experience, by making it more rich in experiences, elegance, richness, sophistication and peace of mind. All of these aspects are connected with the ocean. The ocean is the common denominator of our life. By connecting people with the ocean and sailing in a unique way, this is what we call the ‘Ocean State of Mind’.
“We understood that by having an innovative product like Explora Journeys, having the courage to launch a new brand right after the pandemic was not easy, but when you have the courage of launching a new brand, and realise that in many markets it’s also a new product, it made us aware we need to go the extra mile. There are markets like North America and a few others… Australia, the UK or Germany, that are more ready for this, while certain others have not been nurtured properly.”
Questioned by LATTE about guest loads and price point, Staiano admits that capacity is a priority after year one.
“We were an unknown brand, and launching so rapidly post-pandemic means our ships still have some space. Certainly, some sailings need more support than others,” he said.
“We’ve been sailing at a decent capacity. We have ships operating at over 75-80%, some others a little less, so now we are making sure that for next year we are successful by going over 90%,” the Italian now living in Geneva said.
On the pricing side of the business – which Chris Austin, Explora Journeys’ President for North America recently stated was positioned attractively in launch-phase to lure new-to-brand cruisers – the MSC Group’s luxury cruise brand is already bumping up pricing, Staiao added.
“Being more stable with our sales and having the right anticipation is giving us an opportunity to look at the base loading. Yield and revenue management is what will make the game, and even though we will continue to increase pricing, if we compare ourselves to other luxury environments, hotels, etc it makes our pricing extremely competitive with service that is extremely rich, so we are very confident that we can reach a real level of success.”
On the subject of partnerships, and in particular with Formula 1, Staiano told LATTE that Explora Journeys’ involvement will gradually ramp up each season. This year, Explora Journeys has had a brand presence at the Grand Prix in Canada (Montreal), Silverstone (British GP) and will add the Las Vegas Forumla 1 in the United States in November.
He said brand awareness at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix will “give us an additional boost with all the other communication we are doing…It’s all part of a contiuned presence on the market to show off our logo at people that will resonate with our brand.”
Quizzed about Explora Journeys and potentially having a presence at the Melbourne GP, Staiano said: “Yes, it could be. In fact yes, Australia is one of the markets we’re going to target very strongly. It could be definitely one of the possibilities,” he concluded.
