Voice of Luxury: Jo Rzymowska, Celebrity Cruises

Q. How have you dealt with the pandemic?

A. It’s been an unbelievable 18 months and a terrible time for the whole of the industry. We’ve been very focused on our return to service but we’ve also taken the time to think about where we want to take the brand. We spent time working with a luxury guru called Piers Schmidt and he’s helped us develop what we’re calling our ‘new luxury’ positioning. One of the key things that came out of the research that we did with Piers and our luxury travellers was they don’t want to be ‘nickeled and dimed’. It’s not about price, they just want to know exactly what’s included in their holiday. We’ve taken the time to look at that and we feel confident that our comeback will be stronger than the setback.

Q. Celebrity Silhouette is set to return to the UK this summer. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

A. Celebrity Silhouette is coming back for her fourth season, out of Southampton, except this one’s going to be a little bit different. She’s coming back having had a multimillion-dollar facelift. We’ve taken Kelly Hoppen’s Edge design throughout the fleet, as we revolutionise all of our ships to make sure they are offering wonderful holidays for our discerning guests. The key thing on Silhouette is introducing The Retreat, the suite-class area, which is basically a ship within a ship. It has its own restaurant, lounge bar, pool and deck area. We’re very excited about introducing that to Southampton when Celebrity Silhouette returns.

Q. Why was The Retreat an area you wanted to focus on?

A. Because we’ve seen how popular it is with Edge series guests and we’ve seen how much they appreciate having that exclusive area. The joy is they have that area but they can then enjoy the rest of the ship, including the restaurants, the theatre, the bars and the gym. The ship is selling from the top down. Many people haven’t had a holiday for well over a year, so they want to make sure they’re going to have the best holiday.

Q. What Covid protocols will be in place on board?

A. We are asking all guests over 18 to be fully vaccinated. For those under 18, we’re asking for a negative PCR test. All of our crew will be fully vaccinated. We are sailing at lower occupancies, we’re going to be following all of the social distancing guidelines and when people go ashore, they will do so in bubbles. We’re doing everything we can to keep people safe and healthy.

Q. How have the luxury staycations been received?

A. Demand is going to exceed supply this summer from a staycation point of view. Unfortunately, international travel is going to be disrupted this year, but we’re very much looking forward to our guests being able to enjoy our cruises out of Greece and further afield. At the moment, people want to know that they can definitely have a holiday and therefore a staycation is the most definite thing they can have. People are very eager to get away.

Q. Can you tell us a bit more about the competition you’re launching with Aspire?

A. We’re offering Aspire readers the chance to win a three-night Taste of Luxury cruise to Bruges on Celebrity Silhouette, which departs Southampton on October 29. I am going to be on board, so I look forward to seeing some members there. It’s going to be a wonderful, relaxing three nights; guests can enjoy the spa, the restaurants, go to the theatre or just chill out in our Martini bar.

Q. Why was this something you wanted to offer members of the Aspire Travel Club?

A. Aspire members are really important to us. They appreciate the Celebrity Cruises brand and it’s important for us to make sure we give them the opportunity to experience the holidays that we offer. Our trade partners have supported us for many years and we’ve supported them.

Q. How else are you keeping agents engaged through the pandemic?

A. The agent community has really appreciated the way in which we and the whole of the Royal Caribbean group have managed throughout this pandemic and supported the trade. We kept agents engaged on Celebrity Apex and her sailings out of Greece this summer. In April, we announced Celebrity Beyond, our latest Celebrity Edge-series ship, at a virtual event that we opened up to the trade. Even those on furlough were able to take part in training and they’ve found our training programmes really helpful. We’ve also kept the rewards programme going where we recognise agents for doing incredible things.

Q. What does the word luxury mean to you?

A. To me it means intuition, so knowing what our guests want before they know they want it. Celebrity Cruises is about those who really appreciate the finer things in life; they know their wines, they know cuisine, they know they’re drinking out of a Riedel glass. They know the best of the best, but it’s not overly fussy, it’s just simple, clean, beautiful, very easy and makes them feel great.