A dual strategy for sustained and successful growth

Over the last couple of years, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises has honed its focus on two very diverse sides of the business. Owned by TUI AG, the German cruise line pursues distinct market strategies with its luxury and expedition offerings. With the latter segment in particular currently experiencing unprecedented growth, rival cruise lines are vying for their share of the action, but Pojer is confident that his company’s lengthy experience will continue to stand it in good stead.

On the luxury side, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ two ships, Europa and Europa 2, serve distinctly differentiated guest requirements. “With Europa, we have a ship that we’re targeting to the traditional cruise passenger who likes the captain’s dinner and likes to dress up – and we are targeting directly and very intensively to this client,” explains Pojer. “With Europa 2, the clients are younger; they are the more modern elite who are still in business, with jobs to do, not yet retired. So we changed our offer to include seven-day, 10-day and 18-day cruises. We very clearly position the ships; the retailers and the passengers have understood that.”

Having specialised in cruises for German-speaking travellers since its inception, the line is successfully pursuing its recent stronger focus on marketing to English-speaking guests. “We are progressing well in the English-speaking markets, especially with Europa 2 and select expedition cruises on Hanseatic, which are the two ships we have offered to the international market,” says Pojer. “The Europa is more for German-speaking guests, as is the Bremen, our second expedition ship.”

Already, it is not unusual for Europa 2 to sail with up to 120 English-speaking clients onboard. Pojer says: “It really works well: most of our guests on the ship are bilingual, so despite the fact that we are very strong in the German-speaking markets, we really have a high interest in the ship for the international market.

“We realised by looking at the interests of the people that come onboard Europa 2 that they want to meet people of other cultures. They want to exchange, and language is not a barrier. The type of clients we have on Europa 2 all speak English and culture-wise, they have similar interests. I also think that in Europe, luxury as such is changing, away from ‘having’ to ‘being’. People want to experience something for themselves. This is the challenge we have to deliver.”

Pojer points out a trend for Europa 2 to attract clients from land-based travel options, rather than from cruise competitors. He says that 50% of clients on the ship are new to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and almost 45% of these have never taken a cruise before. “They are coming because of the space ratio; because of the individual service; because of the art collection – and the routing, because we are small enough to go to ports where other ships cannot go.”

For both of the luxury vessels, constant updating is a major factor in maintaining a high guest rating. “Our philosophy always has been to spend the money on maintenance early enough, because I realised in my former career in the hotel business that afterwards it’s much more costly – and it has really paid off,” says Pojer. “We go to the yard for renovation every two years. We’re not obliged to do so but we strongly believe that keeping up the hardware is essential.

“We made a lot of changes on the Europa last time we were in the yard – the restaurant, the bars and all the bathrooms are new,” Pojer adds. “With Europa 2, even the first time in the yard we were making improvements. We realised that our family apartments were not up to our benchmark, so we did completely separate rooms for children and parents, with different decoration, to make them very functional. Europa 2 is a better ship today than when she was built.”

Expedition cruising is the other strand of the business and as new polar sea routes open up, the appetite for expedition cruising in the market in general has ramped up sharply. Pojer is outspoken about the risks posed by the trend: “In order to do successful expedition, experience counts a lot, and I have the feeling that some of the companies that are trying to enter this business have not realised that but think: ‘OK, we’ll build a few expedition ships and then we’ll go.’ We are doing real expedition and we will never do ‘expedition lite’. To do it right, you do more than you’re supposed to do – there is all this learning about safety and respecting the environment and we pay a lot of attention to that.” For example, he points out that the line’s pioneering Northeast Passage itinerary last year was the culmination of a full 10 years of planning.

Asked whether Hapag-Lloyd Cruises will announce new tonnage to take advantage of growth in demand for expedition cruises, he concedes: “We are very successful in expedition with our ships, so I am looking at how we can grow that business. We know that we have the market for it.”

The company pays close attention to sustainability in its operations, both as part of the parent company’s sustainability policy and in its own right, through its ISO 14001 environmental management certification. “We have both older tonnage and new tonnage. With older tonnage you are limited in what you can do – but we feel very much obliged to do the maximum we can do, because we believe that as a leader of the German-speaking market, we have to be a leader on that.” In the expedition side of the business, Pojer says that his company’s commitment to the environment can sometimes lead to a decision that “we won’t go to a place because we believe it should be still untouched.”

Fortunately for the company’s cruise guests, there are still many exciting new destinations opening up to balance the equation. For example, Europa 2 will visit Cuba for the first time this year in October and November, calling at Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Isla de la Juventud. And for all of the company’s discerning guests, there continue to be many exciting new cruise options in the pipeline.