SLOW travel and longer voyages will be a heavier focus for Cunard Line in the future, senior vice president commercial Liz Fettes told Cruise Weekly.
This style of sailing is popular with Australians, explained Fettes, who is Down Under for Cunard’s ‘A Letter from Australia to the World’ event aboard Queen Mary 2 (see page 3).
Despite the ending of its home port program in Australia, the market remains one of Cunard’s most important, she said.
“Australia is such a vital market for us, and we appreciate the loyalty and the affinity for the brand,” said Fettes, pictured right with sales & marketing director Amy Williams.
The local market will be key to the cruise line’s guest sourcing for its lengthier, more destination-heavy voyages.
“Grand World Voyages will always have a presence with Australia, I think that’s a huge push for us.
“We’re also looking at specific voyages we can do back-to-backs on,” Fettes added.
Other programs popular with Australians are Cunard’s ‘connected voyages’, she said, which encourage guests to daisy chain sailings aboard the cruise line’s different ‘Queens’.
Cunard’s European program will also begin to include more long voyages, in response to the line’s focus on extended voyages.
A lot of Cunard’s current European itineraries are seven nights, Fettes explained, with the cruise line to incorporate more 14, 21, and 28 night voyages with few repeated ports. MS