Regent targeting new-to-brand clients with luxury partnerships
Brand partnerships with the likes of Faberge and the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team have been critical in attracting new-to-brand customers for Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Speaking to Cruise Trade News during the 2025 CLIA Conference, Regent and Oceania Cruises senior vice president international and consumer sales, Steve Odell, said bringing in first-time cruisers is “really important for the lifeblood” of the companies’ future successes.
“The Global Hotel Alliance partnership gives benefits to past customers with access to certain privileges, like upgraded pre- and post-hotel stays, but absolutely the Aston Martin F1 Team and Faberge partnerships are about bringing new customers into the mix,” he said.
Odell believes booking habits have evolved since the pandemic, but there remains a sense of “revenge travel” – a term coined during the pandemic to describe travellers booking holidays to make up for lost time – amongst some Brits.
“I think there is still a bit of revenge travel, especially with longer voyages. We went on sale with our Oceania 2028 world cruise and the demand at the higher end of the pricing scale was staggering,” Odell said.
“People are going for longer and committing further out. That might have slowed a bit, but we are able to go out 36 months ahead of departure and still be well sold.”
Odell, who was appointed to lead both Oceania and Regent earlier this year, praised the brands’ marketing teams for getting through to Gen X and Millennial travellers.
“This business is going to have three, four, five new ships launching in the next six years, so we need to fill them somehow,” he continued.
“We are getting Oceania’s Allura this year and in 2027 and 2029 we are getting two more ships, each carrying 1,200 guests each. We are also adding a lot of capacity with the Regent Prestige class, which will offer 40 per cent more space but only 10 per cent more guests.”
Key to filling this capacity is combining the two brands’ strengths to attract more customers, Odell said.
“One of the things that we are trying to do is position the brands more accurately according to where they sit, like price point for example,” he added. “Regent’s average booking is around £15,000 and Oceania is around £8-9,000.”
“There are differences between both but there are similarities. The Regent customers are very loyal to the brand, but I think we will be able to convince Oceania customers who buy at the higher end to try Regent.”
