Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' new cross-brand loyalty program for its three lines -- Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises -- launches this month. Cruise editor Teri West spoke with Harry Sommer, NCLH's CEO and the interim president of NCL, and Jason Montague, NCLH's chief luxury officer, in New York about the loyalty program, NCL's leadership changes and updates to its private islands.
Travel Weekly: Why now for this adjustment to the loyalty program structure?
Montague: We never have really taken advantage of the benefits that all three brands offer. We have amazing past guests, and they do want to experience different itineraries that we're not always offering. We think there's a big opportunity to reward our guests. Spending a lot of time on the ships, it's one of the comments that you often hear: "Why don't we actually get our loyalty across both brands."
Sommer: It's probably the single biggest comment I get. Some people ask, "Is there really a lot of potential crossover between the NCL brand and Oceania and Regent?" Because it is slightly different demographics. Although NCL's age skews younger than Oceania and Regent, we carry more senior people on NCL than we do on Oceania and Regent just because of its size. And the same with affluence: Even though the typical NCL guest is slightly less affluent than an Oceania or Regent guest, we carry more affluent guests on NCL. So we think there's tremendous crossover [potential].
TW: How do loyalty programs shape customer behavior?
Montague: Once you get a guest to come back the second and third time, they're understanding the value proposition and what we're delivering. I think that's when you kind of pull them in as a loyal customer, and then it's just recognizing that they're spending their time and money with us and giving them back something in return for that. Loyalty is incredibly important, but being able to expand and bridge that over our other two brands and giving them even more opportunity is something that's great for us, because we're leveraging our full ecosystem of customers, and it gives them more opportunity to see the world in a different way.
TW: How are things going after the big leadership change at NCL, with president David Herrera leaving in August?
Sommer: We're sort of at an inflection point with the brand. We have seven ships on order, the investment at Great Stirrup Cay. We're expanding brand reach, evolving the NCL brand a little bit, which is sort of natural for us, and we just thought this was a good time to change direction a little bit with leadership. I'm stepping in on an interim basis.
My goal is not to do two jobs indefinitely. We have an extensive search and hope to have someone seated by the beginning of next year.
TW: How is your Caribbean positioning, specifically in the Western Caribbean, as some competitors beef up their private destinations there?
Sommer: We need to compete in both the eastern and western. It's two different products. In the Eastern Caribbean, we have Great Stirrup Cay. We believe all the enhancements we make -- first the pier, the private beaches, the adults-only area, the relaxation area and, of course, the waterpark next summer -- will truly position Great Stirrup Cay as the best island in the Caribbean.
In the Western Caribbean, we have Harvest Caye, our top-rated destination on Western Caribbean itineraries, and we're going to invest there, as well. We haven't really talked publicly about what the next steps are. The island isn't quite as large as Great Stirrup Cay, but there's absolutely room for more development. We're going to focus on Great Stirrup Cay and get guest feedback, and then we're going to apply some of those lessons to Harvest Caye. We're very excited about that, and I think we will do more than compete. I think we could win in those areas. And that's our goal.
TW: Is the benefit to a slow and steady approach seeing what works and what doesn't?
Sommer: Being a fast follower has its advantages, because you can see what worked and what didn't, and you can see what the competitive set has done, what they've done well and what they've done poorly. And we can adjust our plans accordingly.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.