*Sneak Preview* 2011 Shadow Grand Voyage

[Jaffa]

I am lucky enough to share a little secret with the SS board regulars.

This info was confirmed to me today by a very reliable source.
And just to confirm I am not a T/A and have no connection to the industry at all. I have been sailing with SS for a very long time and mainly take grand voyages.

For the first time Silversea will be undertaking a complete circumnavigation of Australia via all Australian water front capital cities plus a whole range of really interesting and excellent non traditional ports and locations.

I am really excited about this as this is a real show of commitment in Australia by Silversea. From what l have been told there will be some extra programes and special shore events as well as lecture serie's and a few suprises along the way.



‘Hallmark Circumnavigation Grand Voyage of
Australia’ aboard Silver Shadow in
January to February 2011.
This premier 34-day cruise will take in smaller
ports including Willis Island, Cooktown,
Broome, Exmouth, Albany, Port Lincoln,
Townsville, Kangaroo Island and Geelong, as well as
state capitals Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart,
Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin.
The Great Barrier Reef, Northern Australia's Atolls,
The Great Australian Bite and North Western Australia's
rugged and uninhabitated North Shelf will also feature strongly.
The cruise will go on sale in the next
couple of weeks and those interested in
joining the voyage will need to make
advance registrations.

I have no idea of pricing at this stage.
It was also confirmed to me that SS will have a ship based in Australasia full time from 2011.
Hope you find this interesting.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

Jaffa, thanks for the inside scoop, what a super itinerary.

[wripro]

It is indeed a great itinerary. I particularly like that it visits unusual ports.

[spook1]

Originally Posted by Jaffa

I am lucky enough to share a little secret with the SS board regulars.

This info was confirmed to me today by a very reliable source.
And just to confirm I am not a T/A and have no connection to the industry at all. I have been sailing with SS for a very long time and mainly take grand voyages.

For the first time Silversea will be undertaking a complete circumnavigation of Australia via all Australian water front capital cities plus a whole range of really interesting and excellent non traditional ports and locations.

I am really excited about this as this is a real show of commitment in Australia by Silversea. From what l have been told there will be some extra programes and special shore events as well as lecture serie's and a few suprises along the way.



‘Hallmark Circumnavigation Grand Voyage of
Australia’ aboard Silver Shadow in
January to February 2011.
This premier 34-day cruise will take in smaller
ports including Willis Island, Cooktown,
Broome, Exmouth, Albany, Port Lincoln,
Townsville, Kangaroo Island and Geelong, as well as
state capitals Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart,
Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin.
The Great Barrier Reef, Northern Australia's Atolls,
The Great Australian Bite and North Western Australia's
rugged and uninhabitated North Shelf will also feature strongly.
The cruise will go on sale in the next
couple of weeks and those interested in
joining the voyage will need to make
advance registrations.

I have no idea of pricing at this stage.
It was also confirmed to me that SS will have a ship based in Australasia full time from 2011.
Hope you find this interesting.

Interesting marketing ploy by SS. At present P&O and Princess own that Aussie market. So SS interest proves there is growing cruise demand downunder. My comments more about the basing of a ship there year around more than the Grand Voyage.

[ging466]

Originally Posted by spook1

Interesting marketing ploy by SS. At present P&O and Princess own that Aussie market. So SS interest proves there is growing cruise demand downunder. My comments more about the basing of a ship there year around more than the Grand Voyage.

Yes it is very interesting - our market is definitely growing. I actually wondered whether that 34 day circumnavigation might be a 'charter'.

Cheers
ging466

[spook1]

Will just have to find the answer to that in the very near future. Have a friend recently off Dawn Princess syd/syd around the world.

[Jaffa]

No it's not charter, it will be brocheured. I don't know wether you will be able to do the cruise in segments but l would assume so.

The Aussie/NZ market is predicted to double over the next 4 years, but this is not new news.

SS announced just before the GFC that they would be baseing the Whisper in Australasia for 2011. The re-announcement has not made reference to whether it will still be the Whisper or another ship. Apart from the Orion SS would be the only luxury segment to opperate down under more than the traditional season of Nov-Mar. If they do go ahead with this, they could do very well out of it. The orion is very overpriced for what you get, and its not all-inclusive.

There is also strong talk that The PAll will be doing a season in the South Pacific in 2011 as well, but l have not been able to have this confirmed.
I would love to do the PAll in the Pacific, l think this would be just perfect for luxury expeditions.

[wripro]

Do the South Pacific seas really require an expedition ship?

[spook1]

Aussie intineraries will be posted on SS website next week.

[MMDown Under]

Originally Posted by wripro

Do the South Pacific seas really require an expedition ship?

Yes, I think it would be wonderful for visiting a lot of the smaller outer islands in Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, Somoa, etc.

The possibilities are endless in this part of the world. Roll on SS!

[Keith1010]

I just checked the Silversea Web Site and it does show pricing of cruises for January thru May of 2011.

I see that they include a 30 day R/T Sydney cruise on the Silver Shadow starting January 19, 2011.

Keith

[Keith1010]

June thru December of 2011 fares have now been added as well.

Keith

[ging466]

Originally Posted by Keith1010

I just checked the Silversea Web Site and it does show pricing of cruises for January thru May of 2011. I see that they include a 30 day R/T Sydney cruise on the Silver Shadow starting January 19, 2011. Keith

Thankx Keith1010 for letting us know.

The 30 day cruise is way out of my reach. Single supplement is 175% making it a per diem of US$1029 and that's without the port charges/taxes.

Toooo expensive for me.

Cheers
ging466

[ging466]

Originally Posted by Keith1010

I just checked the Silversea Web Site and it does show pricing of cruises for January thru May of 2011. I see that they include a 30 day R/T Sydney cruise on the Silver Shadow starting January 19, 2011. Keith

Thankx Keith1010 for letting us know.

The 30 day cruise is way out of my reach. Single supplement is 175% making it a per diem of US$1029 (Vista) and that's without the port charges/taxes added.

Toooo expensive for me.

Cheers
ging466

[Jacko]

Never seen anything like this before. Have reserved a cabin on Deck 9. TA said all standard veranda cabins are spoken for.

[meow!]

Apparently your TA is right. On Silversea's own website, the 30 day round Australia voyage aboard the Shadow (then exchanging places with the Whisper) in January, 2011 is now at 55% discount (versus the "normal" 60% discount). So if such an expensive voyage, around 2x$20,000 per couple (and excluding airfare) nearly sells out more than a year before sailing date and within a week of its being posted, is this just a "one off" or an indication of recovering business?

That being the case, unless there are other changes, we may tentatively book (cancellable) a Caribbean aboard the newbuild Spirit for November, 2010 for one-sixth the cost of the above mentioned voyage to scope out the new ship for ourselves.

[Jaffa]

Well this article say's it all l recon.
The circum is almost sold out.
SS is doing very well in Australia and worldwide seems to be defying those detractors on these boards with strong loads for the whole year as well as very solid future bookings internationaly.
For a private company SS seems to be holding their own very well in these tight economic times.





IN 2011 SILVERSEA CRUISES WILL BECOME THE
first luxury line to offer an Australian
circumnavigation and the company is
confident of a sell-out.
Karen Christensen, regional director, told
CW that Silversea was “very excited about its
two maiden events” - the 30-day
circumnavigation on Silver Shadow and the
119-day Inaugural World Cruise on Silver
Spirit, which debuts next month.
There was “deliberate thinking” behind
the new offerings, Christensen said.
“While there have been premium cruises
around Australia before, the luxury sector
has never operated a circumnavigation and
we’ve had a lot of our Venetian [past]
passengers interested in it, so we’re meeting
that demand.
“Interest and registrations from Australia
have been outstanding, before we even
officially went on sale [on Monday] and with
80% of suites already sold we
have little doubt we’ll fill all remaining suites.
“If we didn’t think we could support it
locally, the company wouldn’t do it,”
Christensen said.
Silver Spirit’s world voyage also passes
through Australia, with shorter 39-day
sectors available between LA and Sydney or
80 days between Sydney and Southampton.
As Silversea’s third largest market, and the
second largest market for its PAll Antarctic,
Arctic and expedition cruises, Australia is “a significant piece
of business for the company,” she said.
Looking back on the year, she revealed
that 2009 had been “surprisingly very good.
“Nobody could say the year started off
well, but the pressure has been on pricing,
not passengers, and we’re going to finish
the year better than expected at 75% occupancy.
“We had pressure to keep the balance
between price and product standard; we
can’t make money onboard and we can’t and
will not drop our standards, but our all-inclusive
prices have been competitive and we’ve
been able to hold our own.”
Next year is also “off to a very good start,”
Christensen said.
“2010 went on sale in July and sales have
been exceptional – we have had 15
recordbreaking weeks for the past five months,
both in our local office and globally.”
Christensen encouraged agents to
undertake ICCA training to keep up with
ever-changing nature of cruising.
“It’s agents’ responsibility to put the right
people on the right ships, and the success of
repeat customers will be higher than any
other sector – it’s commission for jam!”
Silversea has a 58% repeat customer rate,
while of those new to Silversea, 16% have
never cruised before. "Our age demographic
continues to drop from 58 (averaged) 3 yrs ago to 51
in 2009.
The company will continue to pay a
higher-than-average 13% commission,
Christensen confirmed.
Silversea’s 2011 voyages opened for sale
on Monday and full details of itineraries are
now available at www.silversea.com.

[meow!]

Thank you so much for such an informative posting.

Originally Posted by Jaffa

... “If we didn’t think we could support it locally, the company wouldn’t do it,”...

So most of the passengers of this circum-navigation are Autralians, no wonder the non-included airfare is not important.

... but the pressure has been on pricing, not passengers, and we’re going to finish the year better than expected at 75% occupancy. We had pressure to keep the balance between price and product standard; we can’t make money onboard and we can’t and will not drop our standards ...

On the Celebrity board, we asked whether their ships were full a month ago. We were told that they were just 100% full then (based on double occupancy), instead of 106% full (many cabins with three passenges) just a couple of years ago. So presumably, mass market ships operate differently from luxury ships, with the latter much more able to accept sailings that are not full. Perhaps protecting price point "class" is more important for luxury ships, and the fact that their staff and business model don't depend on tips and onboard purchases make them less vulnerable to vacant cabins.

... Silversea has a 58% repeat customer rate, while of those new to Silversea, 16% have never cruised before. "Our age demographic continues to drop from 58 (averaged) 3 yrs ago to 51 in 2009 ...

As we discussed last year, Silversea has a higher "repeat" proportion than even Oceania. We are rather surpised by the low average age, presumably one baby will pull down the average age significantly. If they instead quote median instead of average age, it will be more telling.

... The company will continue to pay a higher-than-average 13% commission, Christensen confirmed ...

No wonder one major on-line agency (cannot be named and cannot correspond) promised us 12% discount on the amount Silversea receives (other than taxes and fees). Moreover, major agencies get more than the 13% regular commission in the case of Silversea. By the way, regular commission for the mass market lines is 10%, but these lines give super deals to certain agencies on certain sailings, such that we got our 12 days British Isles aboard Celebrity Century in a minisuite and including round trip business class with United Airlines from the west coast for only 2x$4000 in May of last year!

[Jaffa]

I remember about 18 months ago that in a speech to Seatrade SS stated that on average 20% of passengers on any given sailing were solo bookings.

given this info l wonder how this would effect the total occupancy numbers which they claim is 75% for 2009. I would assume that could be part of the effect of the 75%.

But on the other hand, SS solo supp's are pretty steep so even though they state 75% occ maybe they have not lost as much $$$ due to this than one might first believe. Even with the 75% number, revenue good be well into 80/85% ocupancy level field
Hence why they stick to the high solo $$$ rates. Even in tough times.

I was very suprised that Aussies are the PAll 2nd bigest market worldwide and Silversea's worldwide 3rd bigest market overall. Concidering were are only 20 million population, that makes these numbers quite astounding for the luxury segment.

The other interesting comment for me is that for SS there main objective through the GFC has been on pricing and not passenger numbers.
They played a big risk with this stratergy but it seems to have worked.
I know by reading the Seabourn board there has been some negative discussion re the "type of passenger" sailing in 09 and the effect this has had on the regulars enjoyment of the cruise overall.
Seabourn played harder on pricing than SS did in 09 and perhaps this has had something to do with this.

At first l was cranky that SS was not as price competitive as Seabourn this year. But Seabourn seems to have maintained good occupancy levels as well. So both lines useing different stratergys came to the same end.
Maybe Seabourns pricing point has just changed the passenger demographic slightly.
So Seabourn sails cheaper & more full than Silversea in 09 but with a slightly different passenger demographic than they went into the GFC with.

[meow!]

Very helpful suggestions. One point though, Seabourn used to have triplets of 200 passengers each, now they are (or soon going to) having an additional triplet of 450 passengers each. That is a total increase of 225% (more than tripling).

Silversea (other than PA II) used to have 2x295 + 2x382 = 1354 berths. The introduction of the newbuild Spirit will only increase 540 berths or 40%. Perhaps Seabourn needs to be more aggressive in trying to fill their ships!

P.S. Pardon our ignorance, what is GFC?