THE Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is “actively” looking at bringing one of its yachts to Australia, in the wake of the line opening its local office (CW 08 Jul).
Vice President & General Manager Seb Seward (pictured), who recently relocated from the United Kingdom to Australia for the role, said although there are no firm plans in place, there is a strong desire from Ritz-Carlton guests to cruise Down Under.
“There’s no firm plan at the moment, (but) the itinerary planning team are actively looking at it, as they analyse a range of destinations” Seward revealed to Cruise Weekly.
“We’ve got Asia Pacific voyages from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo launching at the end of next year, which I’d say is the first step in terms of bringing our yachts closer to this direction,” Seward added.
“There’s a strong desire; we know that our customers want to want to be able to travel on our ships down here.”
Although adding headcount is also still a while away, Seward said the cruise line is looking to build out a reservation and sales team, to be able to most effectively serve the market.
“I’m hopeful within the next six months or so that we’ll have hired personnel; we’re looking actively on the reservation side and the sales side,” he explained.
“We recognise that to service our customers, our trade partners most effectively…we need to set up a reservation team here.
“We also want to set up a sales presence both more extensively in Australia, but also in Asia as well,” Seward added.
The cruise line’s head said local reaction to the opening of an Australian office for has been “really positive”.
“There’s a lot of knowledge about the Ritz-Calton brand, and there’s excitement as well with the timing of launching our Asia Pacific itineraries,” he enthused.
“There’s lots of excitement about those established Mediterranean and Caribbean offerings, and our up-coming Northern Europe launch, so we want to be able to effectively speak to our trade partners and get the word out about our unique product.” MS