Interview with new Silversea President

[Host Jazzbeau]

Silversea's new president charts a different course

 

I don't find the new President's vision comforting at all.  Sounds like he wants Silversea to be a high-priced Royal Caribbean.  God help us!!!

[Observer]

52 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Silversea's new president charts a different course

 

I don't find the new President's vision comforting at all.  Sounds like he wants Silversea to be a high-priced Royal Caribbean.  God help us!!!

 

Yes.  Very sobering for those of us devoted to SS.

[TLCOhio]

38 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I don't find the new President's vision comforting at all.  Sounds like he wants Silversea to be a high-priced Royal Caribbean.  God help us!!!

 

 

Appreciate sharing this reporting and interview. The new SS President brings "fresh eyes" to Silversea and its product.

 

Maybe good? Maybe not?

 

As he mentioned about widening the staff and adding more world-wide diversity, we observed and benefited from that during our February 2024 Mumbai to Singapore Silver Moon sailing.  A number of the staff were from Africa and we enjoyed sharing with them our past experiences in traveling to their countries, etc.  

 

YES, he wants to attract younger customers to prepare for the future as those of us older might not be always be around and able to travel forever in the future.  BUT, as General Motors discovered with their Oldsmobile brand, you cannot trash your existing, mature customers in hot pursuit of those younger and more hip.  GM's mismanagement killed that long-established auto brand.  Delicate marketing/performance challenge?????

 

Look forward to hearing him be more specific and detailed for how he will be "BALANCING" the finances and being customer-focused.  The Silversea audience pays more and expect things to be significantly above average.  How will the Prex respond?? 

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Live/blog, June 2017 from Portugal to France along scenic Atlantic Coast on the Silver Spirit.  Now at 35,748 views.  Many pictures, details for history, food, culture, etc.:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

[Redking]

So .... shorter cruises in the lucrative Caribbean, Mediterranean and Expedition markets. Same as everyone else? Could get very competitive? Where's the point of difference?

[billc23]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Silversea's new president charts a different course

 

I don't find the new President's vision comforting at all.  Sounds like he wants Silversea to be a high-priced Royal Caribbean.  God help us!!!

Thank you for posting this. It sounds like what I really enjoy about Silversea is going to change fairly rapidly. Time will tell.

[DavyWavey70]

Oh dear.

[Lois R]

Trying to understand some of what this guy is saying......."Regionalizing ships".......so each ship will only sail in one region all the time? 

And this younger demographic he wants to attract......so we cruisers that are above 65 don't matter anymore?

Those young families seem to love the GIANT floating cities with the rock climbing walls and ice skating rinks.........I can't imagine they would enjoy SS. Unless he is looking for those folks with no kids or the kids are already out of the house.

 

DW, Oh dear is right...........

[Stickman1990]

22 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

Oh dear.

Yes - doing away with those trans ocean repositioning cruises doesn’t sound good 

 

A few areas for concern but I suspect he’s been given a mandate by RCL to make changes 

 

Strap yourself in folks - and enjoy what we have for the immediate future 

[dawntrdr]

Sounds like he has no experience with, and certainly no appreciation of, the tastes of older cruisers, regardless of their activity level.  In order to get the average age to "65", they are going to have to bring on a lot more 50-and-unders to balance the 80-and-older traditional passengers.  You can bet that the offerings in activities, excursions, food and entertainment are going to be targeted to the younger demographic which is deemed to have more revenue growth potential.  And is there anyone here who prefers 7 day cruises to 10-16 day ones?  If I have to fly somewhere far away, I barely get used to the time change in 7 days and it's certainly not time enough to really immerse in a culture.

 

Under all of the corporate-speak about "delivering beautiful results", the overall message of this interview is not that Silversea is a wonderful brand that we value, we can learn from and burnish, but rather "there is a lot that has to be changed with Silversea, and I'm excited to get started."

 

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Trying to understand some of what this guy is saying......."Regionalizing ships".......so each ship will only sail in one region all the time?

Instead of itineraries that go A to B, then B to C, then C to D (making B2B possible at any stage), you'll have A to A loops repeated all season – just like MSC.  Now there's a roll model for Silversea!

[Lois R]

7 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Instead of itineraries that go A to B, then B to C, then C to D (making B2B possible at any stage), you'll have A to A loops repeated all season – just like MSC.  Now there's a roll model for Silversea!

Hi Jazz.........ohhhhh........gotcha.........yes, great roll model of a ship that holds 6,000 people

(not).😮

[Gourmet Gal]

Maybe they’ll change that geriatric sound track on the Bridge Cam TV channel and freshen up the musical offerings ship-wide.  Other than that, none of the changes are appealing.  Glad I canceled my 2026 cruise - the transformation will be complete by then.

[drron29]

54 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Instead of itineraries that go A to B, then B to C, then C to D (making B2B possible at any stage), you'll have A to A loops repeated all season – just like MSC.  Now there's a roll model for Silversea!

🙄😮🥵😨

[DavyWavey70]

I Really don’t mean to be unkind but he sounds like he has no comprehension of his new charge. Either he has no understanding of the passengers, their loyalty and indeed the entire ethos that has built the brand or he doesn’t care a jot about any of the above and believes that his new demographic will be more profitable. The MSC model such as seen on their “Medi-go-round” routes with daily pick ups and repetitive 7 day itins really isn’t what SS is about. The corporate speak and language used also seems to be more about pleasing the shareholders and the trade. This was an interview given to a trade publication, so we have to allow some leeway but it doesn’t bode well. 

[dawntrdr]

2 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Yes - doing away with those trans ocean repositioning cruises doesn’t sound good 

 

A few areas for concern but I suspect he’s been given a mandate by RCL to make changes 

 

Strap yourself in folks - and enjoy what we have for the immediate future 

Hmm, I wonder if this explains those mysterious cancelations we have been seeing for 2025 and beyond...the focus will now be on limiting ships to a particular area and market, so they willno longer be moving from one place in the world to another. The new schedules may already be in the works.

[Redking]

@DavyWavey70 "medi-go-round" haven't hear that, it's brilliant. Is there an equivalent for the Caribbean?

[turtlemichael]

There is enough in his comments to convince me that there will be major changes to what the historic market has loved about Silversea. Of course, his objective will be to make a healthy profit for the shareholders (and get a nice fat bonus for himself). He appears to believe that a product, slightly upmarket on the traditional RC offering, will lure a younger, still working, affluent clientele to replace the fuddy duddies like me as we either fall off the perch or find something more to our liking.

 

Nothing is forever and I'll fondly remember my Silversea experiences and the many nice people I met along the way. We have one more cruise booked and then that will be all from us. 

 

On another note. I suspect Ms Muckermann read the tea leaves and wanted to preserve her own marketability. Good luck to her.

[markham]

So he tees up the mass market crowd that he or his bosses know from RCL by giving them benefits on Silversea that they did not earn. To do what? It’s more than fill the ships and give them a taste of a new product. Which may well then beg the questions: Will they bite, stay or go?

How will this pan out?

 

What we can see is that change is happening at the expense of Silversea’s traditional passenger-base.

 

Look at this interview. Its content is simplistic- one-sided and shallow in effect. It pays little due to the Silversea product that has engendered loyalty for many years and whose beautiful new ships with their loyal crew have delivered. What specifically does this president intend to enhance from that formula? Anyone see anything here? Does he know? Does he care?

 

His plan is a risky gamble. GM got over Oldsmobile’s demise since they had Buick and Cadillac as the next step-up aspirational brands. There is nothing, IMO, for Silversea passengers to value in Celebrity and RCL. And about those RCL and Celebrity 40 year olds with those energetic kids looking for activities, what are they going to do with themselves? No climbing walls on Silversea yet. Bus excursions? For them and after these weekly MSC-type cycles it will be a mistake not to be repeated. It will be back to Celebrity, RCL, MSC, Carnival, Costa and that segment for those one-weeker packages.

 

And about the competition, I wonder that Regent and Seabourn executives will make of this self-inflicted injury to the Silversea brand. How very sad. But now, and after thinking about this mess, I am going to cast my net wider for next year’s luxury cruise bookings. I hear excellent things about to 2 newest Regent ships, and for expeditions Seabourn Venture and Pursuit are truly wonderful.

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

[drron29]

It doesn't matter if us current old Fuddy duddies like me die off. there is already a new lot ready to take over the Fuddy duddie roles we vacate.

The youngest baby Boomers turn 60 this year. If SS downgrades it's product likely that many will head to Regent,Crystal Seabourn etc.

 

The real problen is the rapid expansion of the fleet. Since the Muse was launched they hae added over 2500 more passenger capacity more than doubling the number of Fuddy Duddies they needed.

 

So now we are going to pay the price for their over enthusiatic growth of the fleet.

[Port Power]

“Not happy, Jan!”

 

I love transoceanic cruises.  I prefer longer voyages 14+ nights.  I like back to back sailings to extend time on board and see new destinations or revisit favourite places.  

 

I have never heard of Silversea ships sailing empty to relocate apart from the recent problems.  He is using that most unusual circumstance as if it is a regular occurrence.

 

I’m in my late 60s, so thought I had a good decade left for luxury cruising.  Well, I do, but it seems that Crystal and Regent will benefit from my future patronage.

 

Oh, dear, indeed!

[markham]

I hope I don’t ruffle too many feathers with this observation: if Silversea had wanted to upgrade the fleet for its sustainability it certainly would have built its 5 newest ships. And it would also have retired the rather tired, less efficient older ones such as Whisper, Shadow, Wind, Cloud etc. That would have shown thoughtfulness, forward momentum and purpose.

 

Where we are now is unclear, and I see nothing smart in/about this recent press situation. With Barbara Muckerman’s departure the brand may well be adrift and rudderless.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[DavyWavey70]

3 hours ago, drron29 said:

 

The real problen is the rapid expansion of the fleet. Since the Muse was launched they hae added over 2500 more passenger capacity more than doubling the number of Fuddy Duddies they needed.

 

So now we are going to pay the price for their over enthusiatic growth of the fleet.

This is exactly what has gone wrong with P&O. They’ve added new “huge” ships that their loyal client base do not want to sail on resulting in them advertising heavily “All inclusive holidays for £599” etc. Needless to say their new clientele are new to cruising to say the least, it’s evident in the number of brawls taking place onboard since the changes. One pool attendant even got glassed by one of their new guests. I’m sure their shareholders are happy for now though.

[markham]

Not sure I see much in the way of parallels.

 

P&O was always a UK mass market brand below a mixed luxury/cabin class Cunard brand. Silversea was more of a small luxury and staid brand whose fleet got old relative to competitors Seabourn and Regent which built new ships 15-20 years ago and offered better entertainment, IMO. It was imperative for Silversea to set new standards with the Muse class and now Nova class; these are hardly mega ships and maintain much of the old standards re crew ratio and food quality.
 

I guess you can say the parallel is that Carnival harmed P&O with their big “fun ships” ethos. Fighting and glassing doesn’t sound fun at all and there is probably no way out. But for Silversea there is: keep luxury luxury and the brand above the mass market fray. Sure, return the flowers to the dining tables and keep your loyal Silversea customers happy, even if that carries higher prices. And leave the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity crowd to find their way across the old fashioned way- by paying for it.

 

Unless, of course, no one at Royal Caribbean knows about luxury brands. Then it will be game over, ceding the market to the committed players who do get the concept.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[dawntrdr]

Also,  does anyone feel vaguely disturbed about Hernandez' comments about staff nationality?  ["Having a few countries dominate in certain areas onboard creates real problems," he continued. "It's not healthy for the brand, it's not healthy for the crew."]  I am happy that SS is making an effort to provide good jobs to people from more nationalities, but I certainly wasn't aware of "real problems" in the current cohort, at least not for the customer experience.

[flyers]

https://www.travelweekly.com/Arnie-Weissmann/Silversea-new-president-charts-a-different-course

It seems that RCI feels that the long-term survivability of Silversea is to downgrade the product so as to entice a younger clientele (below 65 ) moving over from RCI and Celebrity. Maybe they have surmised that this generation now has the financial resources to be able to afford the Silversea fares. Looks like us older timers are being forced to abandon ship!