By
Susan Parker |
Oceania Cruises has more than doubled in size with the arrival of Riviera in the fleet on 11 May this year and sister ship Marina in 2011. The company began with three 700-passenger ships and has now added two 1,250-passenger vessels. To many cruise line executives, this might seem crazy, but not to Frank del Rio, chairman and CEO of parent Prestige Cruise Holdings and founder of Oceania Cruises. “When upscale cruise lines grow, they typically grow from a very small base, so the extra capacity represents a very large growth,” says Del Rio, adding: “We will enjoy record per diems in 2012 in spite of the two extra vessels.”
The brand continues to prove very successful, he says. “The ships are full to the brim even in a difficult year. Riviera and Marina, along with the R-class vessels, are having another stupendous year.”
The two new ships are an evolution of the popular R-class vessels. They reflect the Oceania heritage that comes out of these first vessels: Insignia, Regatta and Nautica. Although chartering Insignia to Hapag Lloyd Cruises certainly took the pressure off the tremendous growth, Del Rio does not foresee the charter being extended. “The dynamics of the business will always rule but I expect to have Insignia back once the charter tenure is over,” he says.
The design of the new vessels has been updated and is not as classic as on the R-class. There is an emphasis on specialty restaurants and on space so that passengers do not feel crowded. Del Rio comments: “I believe Riviera and Marina are the most beautiful, sophisticated, elegant and upscale vessels to have been launched in the last 15 years. They are not too big or small and they don’t have too many neon lights. So many ships today are institutional. We went out of our way to make them residential. When inside you don’t feel like you are in a ship but in a stately home or a high-end boutique hotel.”
The size of the ships has much to do with current construction costs. “One has to amortise over more berths in order to make financial sense, which generally speaking means brands build larger and larger,” explains Del Rio. However, the company was also keen to add certain amenities that the guests were looking for. For example there are four specialty restaurants instead of the two on the R-class and nine dining venues in all to cater to the 1,250 passengers.
Del Rio says that he wanted to build on the tradition of high quality Oceania cuisine and the culinary centre on board is an extension of this. “If we made any mistakes on Riviera and Marina it is that we didn’t make the school big enough. We disappoint a lot of passengers.”
In the past Oceania has not been known for top-end entertainment but that is all being changed. The company now has the only Andrew Lloyd Webber performance at sea, ‘Now and Forever’, which is getting “rave reviews” according to Del Rio.
When it comes to staterooms there was a desire to make them more comfortable on the new ships and so they have been increased in size by on average 35 per cent across all the categories.
Asked if changes will be made to the R-class ships as a result of successes on the two new ones, Del Rio says he is inspired by the concept of a casual library coffee bar at sea along the lines of the existing Barista coffee bar.
In general, though, he is not keen to ‘homogenise’ the ships. “Each has a strength and a following and I think it would be foolish to try and convert one to another. Each one stands on its own. Many cruise lines today and even yesterday were built on the latest fads but fads come and go. Our ships are not like that. We have a classic, timeless feel.” The fact that the company does not feel pressure to update its vessels in order to have the latest trends says much about the Oceania ethos. Discussing changes that were made to Riviera following on from Marina, Del Rio notes: “When we launched Marina we thought she was the perfect ship. On Riviera we raised the ceiling height on deck fourteen by eight inches and reconfigured the thalassotherapy pool area.”
The art collection is an important part of the uniqueness of each ship, with every piece on both ships an original and so by definition very different from one another. “It surprised me how much our guests notice the art collection onboard,” admits Del Rio. “The number one complaint is that we don’t have a self-guide tour or a book of the art so we are working on both this summer. We are hopeful of having an iPad-based walking tour and a coffee table catalogue on both ships by the end of the year”.
The significant increase in capacity that the two ships bring has had an impact on the company’s international base. “We thought it would be prudent to broaden the market so we set out to do more, for example in Australia and the UK. What has been surprising has been the overwhelming response from the new markets. Asia and Latin America have been very strong.”
The new class of vessels has certain amenities that the R-class does not offer, including more variety in accommodations, which appeals to a broader market. “We are seeing more and more Holland America Line and Celebrity passengers,” says Del Rio. “They recognise more quality than they have tried before. They don’t want to be with 3,000 guests and Oceania vessels are true mid-sized vessels.”