Silversea hails trade as ‘fundamental’ in selling Endeavour
Silversea has hailed the trade as “fundamental” in helping to fill the line’s growing number of cabins and achieving ambitious growth plans, as the line christened its newest expedition ship Silver Endeavour in Antarctica on Saturday.
The 200-passenger ultra-luxury vessel is the third Silversea ship to be christened in 10 months – following Silver Origin in February 2023 and Silver Dawn in April – and was the world’s first ship to be christened in Antarctica.
On Silver Endeavour’s shakedown sailing, chief commercial officer Barbara Muckermann said: “Today Silversea is the largest player in luxury and expedition globally, with a 21% market share. By 2027, we will land at 34% market share – one guest out of three will stay with us.
“This is why for us it’s absolutely fundamental to strengthen the partnership with trade distribution. We will need a lot of help to make sure these ships get filled. In 2023 alone we will have a 53% growth in our capacity – so we’re growing massively.”
Muckermann hinted that new trade programmes were in the works for next year. “We’re working on some new programmes for next year. One of the things we’ve been looking at is how can we really try to accelerate the cash into the hands of travel advisers,” she added.
“The great thing is you get the commission on the champagne and the caviar and everything, so our commissions tend to be really nice cheques. The disadvantage is that our booking curve is really far away, so we have been working on that.”
The line recently launched a new commission system offering up to 2% more commission: 1% for new customers or customers returning for a second cruise with the line, and another 1% more for expedition bookings.
“We want to make sure that everybody understands that expedition for us is strategically very important,” Muckermann said.
Silver Endeavour will join Silversea’s fleet of polar expedition ships, which operate in destinations such as Antarctica, Hudson Bay and Greenland.
In keeping with strict conservation rules, a replica champagne bottle was made out of ice for Silver Endeavour’s christening, held in the Lemaire Channel. Guests viewed the ceremony from the water, in the ship’s zodiacs.
Endeavour will initially be based at King George Island, in Antarctica, and will be used for the line’s fly-cruises, which allow guests to visit the continent without sailing across the notorious Drake Passage.
The PC6 polar-class ship – which operated briefly under Crystal Cruises in 2019 before it was bought by Silversea – can travel through 1 metre-thick, first-year ice comfortably where other ships may have to turn back, allowing for access to more remote areas.
Muckermann was unfazed by the launch of new ultra-luxury ships from Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton. “We’re actually very happy about that, because cruising is such a small portion of the overall market,” she said.
“We believe that, considering the awareness of brands like Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton, more people will at least start looking at cruising. And we know that the moment they start considering cruising they’ll start talking to their travel advisor, doing their due diligence, and they will discover us that way.
“There’s $50 billion of luxury tour operating out there that we can all take and convert into cruising, there’s space for everybody.”