On the Deck: Lynn Narraway

Having led Holland America Line (HAL) for a number of years, she formerly took control of Seabourn’s UK operation in the last 12 months. If managing one cruise line wasn’t enough, how about trying two. 

HAL has 15 vessels sailing right around the world – a huge logistical task and one which requires a great line of communication with UK agents and consumer.

Now Narraway’s focus has to represent the diversity of both HAL and Seabourn to the UK market. No easy task – especially considering both companies intend to bring extra capacity to their fleets within the next few years – with all the extra marketing requirements such exploits will no doubt involve. 

We caught up with the lady herself to find out how 2013 has gone so far.

How has the year gone for Seabourn and HAL so far?
We’ve had a good year for both brands. I’ve had HAL for many years now but Seabourn was a big year for me. Holland America was moved from London to Carnival House in Southampton and with that move I’ve taken on six-star luxury brand Seabourn. We can now utilise all the services in Southampton – IT, legal and HR – while retaining our commercial independence.
However the brands are very different and thus have different needs and in some cases different agents. We have to work out how we can support the strategies of our agency partners and work together to bring about results.

There has been some price lowering for HAL in particular. How have the sales been this year?
Yes, but we’ll finish up year-on-year for HAL overall. All our ships sail full and we have a good international strategy – about 25% of our passengers come from our biggest international markets like Australia, the UK, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia. That’s been a big change for us: we’ve moved away from being focused on the US and Canadian market to being more international, which has been great for the UK market.

Is there more scope to grow the market within the UK?
Definitely; if you look back over the years we started with an overnight, which led to a couple of mini cruises and from that it’s grown to 11 ex-UK sailings from Dover to the Norwegian Fjords and Baltics. There is also the Mediterranean programme which sits very well with the UK market. We have mid-sized ships but have a good space ratio onboard – our staterooms are sometimes 50% bigger than our competitors – and those factors all serve us well.

Do you think the current pricing reflects the true value of HAL cruises?
It’s not really about price, it’s about delivering value and explaining to the consumer what is involved in a cruise holiday compared to a regular packaged holiday. Yes, the industry does see lower pricing but that’s no different to any other part of the travel industry. Cruise lines that have a few cabins to sell is no different to an airline having seats left on a flight.

Is there a communication challenge between cruise line and agent when it comes to pricing?
I think we’re doing that as an industry and for most cruise lines that is an objective. When you speak to various sales teams, that is certainly part of their overall strategy – and there are some very good travel agents out there who understand the value of cruising. There was around 1.7million passengers last year but there is still a way to go yet. We need to convince the travel agent to book earlier – selling further out – that will help the cruise lines not have to sell their last few cabins at a lower price.

So it’s about getting that message across?
Yes and it’s not an easy transition to make. It’s trying to pull the booking window earlier. At HAL we have a number of long haul destinations and to get good value on the air part of that package, the agents need consumers to book earlier. It’s about creating excitement around bucket lists and we are finding that people who want those destinations – like South America or Antarctica – are prepared to book earlier.

What tactics do you use to engage with the trade?
We run a lot of webinars, there’s a training academy; four business development managers who work directly with agents; a weekly newsletter that goes out and generally a lot of communication about new product and destination and best practices on how to sell us.

What do you think the future holds for the UK’s luxury market?
The feedback we get back from our guests is really good and we have some great agents that are focused on selling Seabourn, My vision is that we need to be more focused on the luxury traveller rather than just trying to move guests from one luxury line to another. It’s about growing the number of people that fit the profile for a luxury holiday. And Seabourn should be on their lists as another luxury travel choice.

If the split is 75% North American and 25% international guests for HAL, what’s the split for Seabourn?
It varies from itinerary to itinerary but for some of our European cruises you could be seeing as many as 30-35% of passenger coming from the UK while our winter Caribbean cruises typically have low British representation.

You mention that you want to have a higher focus on the luxury traveller rather than stealing passengers from other lines. How do you intend to do that?
I don’t want to give all our secrets away! I believe that good travel agents already have those guests so for them it’s the process of explaining what Seabourn could offer. The luxury traveller is looking for excellent service and something new and different – but how many have thought about cruising? It’s about explaining the product and what’s onboard without telling them upfront that they’re on a ship. It’s about getting them excited about what we offer because I believe the luxury traveller is the right profile for our brand.