By
Michele Witthaus |
As Holland America Line (HAL) celebrates this impressive landmark year, chairman, president and CEO, Stein Kruse, marks a meaningful anniversary of his own – a full decade as leader of the company. Contemplating this personal moment in the wider context of the company’s legacy, he comments: “It is a real privilege and honour to be the steward of a brand like HAL, which has an incredible legacy and a history of 140 years of continuing business operation. And although I don’t think we should dwell too much on the past, we should have a healthy respect for milestones, particularly at the senior level of the company which I represent.
“With a company and brand as cherished as ours, this is a very privileged job. I see myself as a steward, shepherding a very good company through yet another significant phase of its evolution.”
In his ten years at the top, Kruse has achieved some weighty career goals. “I have overseen the very significant growth of the company from less than half the size; I have taken delivery of a number of ships and sold off others; and I have had the opportunity to inaugurate new ships in the presence of royalty and celebrities.”
Having been deeply involved in some key developments in the fleet, does he view any particular ship or class more fondly than the rest? “When people ask me what is my favourite HAL ship, I always say it’s the last ship,” is his reply. “The reason is that over a number of years, we are able to learn from what we did last. I’ve always seen our ship design process as being very evolutionary; we keep building on what we did before.”
With the first vessel in the Pinnacle class in the planning stages for delivery in early 2016, Kruse is looking forward to the next phase. “Having seen the pretty much unequivocal statements of success with Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam, which we introduced to great fanfare, we are looking again at being able to take these masterpieces and move forward to yet another level as the next-generation Pinnacle class starts really taking shape. We will once again evolve the shipbuilding and design process.”
Partnership with all the key participants in the creation of a ship is a crucial part of this iterative process for Kruse, involving a move from the initial general agreements with the shipyard, designers and architects towards detailed specifications. “That’s where you sit with world-class designers; you know the limitations imposed by the costs, the size of rooms and the number of cabins. To build inside of a massive industrial design project that three years later turns into a gorgeous cruise ship: that process is fascinating and it’s currently underway for the new ship.”
Quizzed about the details of the design for the newbuild, Kruse is understandably tight-lipped at this early stage. But he does reveal some intriguing glimpses into the direction the project may be taking: “We will have in this new Pinnacle design a very elegant and classic departure from some of the things people think about how we do things. It’s a post-Panamax ship and the beam will be wider than on any other HAL ship. This gives us the opportunity to do more dramatic things in some of the public areas.”
Convinced that the coming years are going to bring “phenomenal growth” to the cruise industry, Kruse is clearly excited to have the opportunity to participate in the coming boom. “The populations that are going to have access to international travel and vacation experiences, such as the cruise industry represents – it is just fantastic. Literally tens of millions of people are entering into middle class standards, looking for travel and cruise experiences.” If, as he concedes, “the cruise industry has had a bit of a black eye with recent setbacks,” he believes that if the industry does a good job of addressing those, it has tremendous future potential.
“I’m excited about the fact that, as we continue to mature in places like the US, Europe, the UK, Canada and Australia, we’re also growing very significantly, both as a company and as an industry, in established western markets but also in emerging markets. From a real growth perspective, countries like Japan, China, India, Russia and Brazil represent a very exciting opportunity for us.”
Kruse is ready to take the company forward to gain its share of that new growth. “What excites me most is the opportunity to be the global cheerleader of 17,000 fabulous people and to drive that energy forward. I’m always excited when we achieve success – whether it’s building a new ship, passing regulatory inspection, or having someone say something nice about our ships – because we did it together.”
Ports, planning and profitability
For HAL, the port experience has always been a crucial factor in the line’s appeal to guests. It ensures the continuity of this reputation by careful planning, says director of deployment and itinerary planning, Simon Douwes. “There are lots of factors to take into account when planning itineraries. It’s not enough to shortlist destinations according to their attractiveness and availability at the desired time of year. Based on previous experience and common sense, we look at areas that offer adequate facilities for turnover ports, with sufficient airlift. For us that’s very important because we still have a very large percentage of our passengers coming from North America.
This is an abridged version of an article that appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2013 edition of International Cruise & Ferry Review. To read the full article, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats.