Augustus Lonsdale, head of sales UK and Ireland for Windstar Cruises, speaks to Cruise Trade News about his plans to boost the line’s standing amongst agents in the UK, how Windstar is supporting the trade during wave and the company’s Setting Sails programme

What destinations are proving popular for Windstar Cruises so far this year?

So far this year, we’ve seen the impact of our appearance on Cruising with Susan Calman, so Tahiti has been very popular, especially after increasing to around 25% of UK enquiries last year. Beyond that, the show has also seen us increase demand for our Wind Class ships, so their sailings in the Greek Islands and in Costa Rica have driven good enquiries.

Can you talk us through your Setting Sails Wind Class refresh, and how it will impact agents?

Our Setting Sails programme is all about putting our guests at the heart of the redesign for our beloved Wind class ships. All public areas and staterooms will be refreshed by the completion, bringing these ships to the next level and giving them a more modern look and feel. It’s also a critical operational update, not just cosmetic.

The ships will get new masts and technical upgrades that will ensure they continue delighting guests for years to come. For our agents, we’re aware that there is still a lot to learn about Windstar Cruises and that having two distinct classes of ships can seem like something that could be overwhelming, so this update will further align our Star class and Wind class hardware.

How is Windstar Cruises supporting agents during the wave period?

Alongside premiering our product on Susan Calman, we’ve supported our agents with great offers and incentives to help motivate them to sell Windstar. Every booking through to the end of February receives £100 in Amazon vouchers, whilst guests can benefit from the opportunity to receive $100 on board credit per person for any booking, or, if they book a premium suite, an upgrade to all inclusive for free.

We’re continuing to look to innovate in our promotions, so agents should watch this space for more ways we have in store to support them, based on the feedback we are receiving, and if there are any barriers to sale they are finding, I would love to hear about them by emailing me on [email protected].

Not only that, but we want to help stimulate demand for our agents, as we appreciate there are a lot of options out there for their clients – we will be launching our first UK website in Q1 of this year, to ensure that more guests can find Windstar Cruises and bring enquiries to our valued agent partners.

What are your predictions for 2024?

We strongly expect that 2024 will be Windstar’s best year from the UK, and the first three weeks of the year have given us no reason to doubt that – in fact, quite the opposite with two of our strongest ever weeks in this market.

I think the main thing we want to see is more consistency in pricing and that’s something we’re working hard to deliver for our agents – many lines who added new capacity over the last few years having been fighting to ensure those ships are sold out and the price drops have reflected that, but for us, we are seeing more and more guests book further out to avail themselves of the best offers and ensure that they get that one suite that they want – especially when in some cases there are only around 74 rooms to choose from!

How can agents convert land-based travellers to take a cruise break?

I think the best way is to let them know that going on a cruise doesn’t mean sacrificing seeing places. So many of those who are staunchly against cruise, hold that view because they feel they won’t get the chance to fully immerse themselves into a destination and will just touch on it.

However, for us particularly, we know that by staying later in port and by reducing travel time into the destination by ensuring town or city centre docking locations, they will get the chance to experience that buzz as the destination transitions from daytime to night-time, or to go further afield onto an island and see it in a way they never would have thought possible with cruise.

What advice would you give to an agent who has never sold Windstar before?

Windstar can seem a bit of a niche, but I would encourage agents to really understand what they are being asked for and match that up with our USPs, as we deliver on so many of those common requests.

With a fleet of ships between 148-342 guests, we deliver the luxury experience they are looking for at a size that is becoming less common within the industry and offer a more relaxed casual way to cruise without compromising on the luxury they love, whilst for guests who have historically sailed on larger, premium lines, we offer the choice (with up to five different restaurants onboard and a wide range of destinations) they expect, whilst delivering a small ship experience meaning they can get into destinations those larger ships would never make it into.

I’d also encourage agents to speak to their river cruise clients – with our destination focussed cruises, featuring lots of late night stays and overnights, city centre docking locations and enriching excursions and onboard experiences, we feel that many of those who have river cruised but thought they would never ocean cruise will find their home onboard a Windstar ship, giving them a way to see even more of the world, in the way they love.

Are there any new ships on the horizon?

I’d confidently say that Windstar will grow. As a business, we are ambitious – you only need to look at things such as our plans for the UK market, or our investment in the Star class and Wind class Ships, to show that – and we are looking at expansion possibilities and proposals all the time.

If we continue to see the consistently high repeat rates and the strong demand from our key markets, as well as increased business from those new international markets we are forging paths into, then it makes logical sense that we will need to look at what is next for the brand.

Being a small company means we can make quick decisions about what is best for the brand, and projects such as the Star plus class and Setting Sails refresh show that we are in a good place to move on opportunities should they come up, so definitely watch this space.