CTN heads to the Big Apple to attend the Azamara press conference and catch up with the cruise line’s main man, Larry Pimentel. 

It’s teeming with rain in New York when I go to meet Larry Pimentel at the swish Ritz-Carlton by Central Park, but despite the awful weather the Azamara president and CEO is in fine fettle.

He has taken over a suite at the hotel to conduct interviews with domestic and foreign press to coincide with the company’s major announcement: the unveiling of no fewer than 1,700 pre and post-sailing land programmes, as well as a rebranding of the company’s name and logo.

After conducting intensive research into what type of land tours are currently being offered by the cruise industry, Azamara set about devising the highly ambitious new programme. The thing that Pimentel is eager to emphasise is that these are not your run-of-the-mill shore excursions, but rather extended stays designed to culturally enrich participants’ lives.

They are divided into three main types: namely, five-star land travel programmes spanning three to six days, billed as “once-in-a-lifetime experiences”; a more mid-market offering, featuring a larger-size group; and then shorter stays in a number of fascinating cities around the world including the likes of Lima, Rio de Janeiro and Nice.

(As an aside, Pimentel reveals that his own top choices would be an African safari, glamping amid the salt flats in Bolivia and venturing into the Borneo rainforest to catch a glimpse of the indigenous orangutans).

“These tours will be available on 100 per cent of embarkations and disembarkations from this October and on all future deployments,” notes Pimentel; in his words, this represents a “huge palette” of land-based options that is “broader than any other cruise line has put together”.

The line’s name change further reflects the move away from focusing specifically on the cruise aspect; “Club Cruises” has been dropped and Pimentel is keen to explain why:

“We are specialists in experiences, not just cruises.” The logo has also been overhauled and its three main features now include an open world symbol that signifies the opportunities for global travel, as well as the brand’s commitment to connecting guests to both iconic and off-the-beaten-track destinations.

Destination immersion has long been a mainstay of the company’s philosophy, avidly championed by Pimentel, and the new programme moves the concept on even further. The Azamara CEO highlights the importance of the destination aspect, referring to the accompanying product literature for the brand.

This doesn’t, as he points out, reference the cruise industry at all and has more the look of a classic travel guide book. He identifies it as a promising opportunity for the travel trade: “This is the perfect occasion for agents to talk to clients who usually go for land-based holidays.”

In fact, research from industry body CLIA shows that it is destinations that are driving  the interest in cruise (a point which was highlighted at the CLIA 2019 Next Generation conference) with Instagrammable cruise locations pinpointed as one of the main trends for this year.

Pimentel believes that, given the fact that most ships currently arrive in the morning and depart in the evening, the company’s new programme of land journeys will enable passengers to take a much more in-depth look at the destination, whether that be Inverness or Iguazú.

The company is partnering on the programme with some of the most renowned names in travel, such as Micato Safaris, PerryGolf, luxury train provider Belmond and upscale tour operator Abercrombie & Kent.

Such time-honoured expertise doesn’t come cheap, but Pimentel is adamant that price point is the last thing agents should be focusing on, encouraging them instead to home in on quality: “This is not a deal-orientated programme, but it is good value based on what you get for the price.”

Asked how the on-board experience will be able to match this impressive new initiative, Pimentel has no fears. “We already have the wow factor with our ships, now that we have Pursuit” (the latest addition to the fleet, launched last August); he also acknowledges the importance of the human aspect of the business: “Our staff are our secret weapon.”

All in all, Pimentel is clearly proud of the line’s achievements and describes the land journey roll-out as “a remarkable addition to the cruise industry [portfolio]”. Asked whether other lines will follow suit, he says he believes this is inevitable given that Azamara is “setting a new standard and following a best practice approach that will be embraced by the marketplace”.

He believes the uptake will be particularly strong among British agents, given that the UK is the largest package holiday market in the world and he promises that fam trips and tool kits will shortly be made available to agents.

Part of the travel agent’s remit, he believes, is “to offer options that excite and inspire customers to explore more”, an approach that dovetails neatly with Azamara’s own enhanced product offering.

For more information, visit azamara.co.uk.