Oceania Cruises – 15 Years of Luxury

I got my start in publishing 15 years ago operating in the luxury consumer space. A lot has changed since then – magazine and newspaper content migrating to online, innovations in targeted marketing and a more personal approach to the brand/customer relationship. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the profile of the true luxury consumer. The world’s most discerning buyers require the best and nothing less.

In the travel business, that means a lot of the extraordinary and none of the ordinary. During a recent trip to CLIA’s Cruise360 I had the good fortune of sitting in on an interview that was being conducted with Oceania Cruise’s Senior Vice President of Sales, Nikki Upshaw. Oceania is one of those brands that has made a name for itself by delivering a unique product driven by some unbelievable culinary and destination experiences. One of these experiences is the once-in-a-lifetime Southern European Jacques Pepin experience where guests will be treated to specially designed signature menus, engaging lectures, culinary demonstrations and much more. If your customer is a “foodie,” this could be the experience for them.

For cruisers looking for a more intimate, luxury experience, Oceania could be a right fit. When you think Oceania, think Alaska. The Regatta, for example, is an intimate, 648-guest ship that has undergone a multimillion-dollar transformation to create a virtually new ship. With more than 400 professionally trained staff onboard, that’s almost one staff member per vacationer.

One other thing that really grabbed my attention was the focus on creating a family and not just a brand.  Operating specifically in the luxury space, that caught me as an interesting point of view. They see the crew, shore side teams, guests and, most importantly, travel professionals as a part of their brand family. They cite “gradual innovation” on behalf of travel agents as one of their main differentiators which applies to the product as well as the tools that agents can use to sell their product. 

For agents today, there’s no question that pairing the right customer with the right vacation product is hugely important, and that is certainly the case with selling cruise. In the cruise space, matching the right customer to the right product can be the difference between a one-time cruise customer and a lifetime cruise enthusiast. Knowing your customer is paramount and when selling a luxury trip, the expectations of the most discerning travelers are elevated, so we need to be able to elevate our game to service that customer.

Speaking of luxury, Oceania’s 2019 and 2020 collection is now up for sale. For the true luxury traveler, try Oceania’s 180-day Around the World journey, which explores 95 ports on four continents across 27 time zones for a voyage truly unlike any other.

About the Author

With more than 18 years of business experience in brand marketing, media and sales development, Luke has tackled issues across multiple categories of business including travel, automotive, technology, luxury retail, media, e-Commerce and manufacturing. His breadth of experience across consumer direct, wholesale and e-Commerce distribution channels makes him an effective omni-channel thinker.  Luke currently serves as Managing Director of VAX VacationAccess.