Transcend Cruises Offering Unique Charter Model on European Rivers

Transcend Cruises Offering Unique Charter Model on European Rivers

Transcend Cruises has already sold $20 million of the charter products ahead of its 2024 launch, said Matthew Shollar, CEO and co-founder.

The company is building two highly-customized riverboats for debut in Europe that are solely targeted at the charter market.

With a background in full-ship charters, Shollar said he had identified an opening in the market to essentially customize a ship for full-ship charters for groups, alumni associations, corporate clients and more.

“The physical hardware of the ships (in the market) doesn’t optimize itself (for charters),” he said. “The process for chartering is not optimal, taking retail departures out of inventory, and the software is not that flexible to be customized for the groups.”

The company’s two newbuilds will feature convertible staterooms, meaning 60 rooms or 30 double rooms (or a mix), depending on client specification. That means the ships are also smaller, capacity-wise than most of the European riverboat fleet which holds about 200 guests. There’s also a wellness area which is absent from most riverboats.

“This has opened up spaces for group locations,” he said, noting five spaces on each ship the entire group can meet and 10 additional spaces for breakout groups. Customized lighting and screens can be tailored to the client. In addition are storage areas for materials, an office for the charter client and even a separate reception desk if a group needs one.

“We’re not in the FIT business, we have no retail pricing, and we will never re-market to the guests on board as we have nothing to sell them,” Shollar said. “We are 100 per cent focused on the full-ship charter market.”

The company plans to operate a season similar to the mainstream European riverboat brands, going from March through New Year. If available, clients can select specific dates with a three-night minimum. Itineraries, the onboard product and destination experiences are fully customizable. Clients can also plan their own shore programs without penalty.

“We will have a customization team that will cover all the different elements for a flat fee. No markups,” Shollar said.

Shollar said the booking window for charters is between 12 and 36 months. With a normal shipbuilding cycle of 14 months, it’s possible the company is able to grow organically by selling inventory and then ordering more capacity.

The ships are also expected to be shallower, saving about 10 centimetres on draft, which could come in handy with water level issues. Battery packs will be used for peak shaving and for close-in manoeuvring.

New ships mean new port calls in the U.S.

Sure, it may not be growing as aggressively or rapidly as the European river cruise market, but the U.S. river cruise industry continues to see a steady number of new vessels being launched each year, the latest being a passion project of Cincinnati native Capt. Joseph Baer.

And while it's always exciting to see new vessels coming online, to get the first sneak peeks at interior renderings and to witness the ways in which different companies are interpreting the U.S. river cruise experience onboard, what some of these new vessels symbolize is more than just new hardware; some are promising to take U.S. river passengers on entirely new river routes and new ports.

For instance, the 70-passenger paddlewheeler Grand Majestic, being launched by Baer's Grand Majestic River Co. this fall, will reportedly be able to sail along some smaller inland waterways due to its shorter height and shallower draft. Baer said that the smaller size of the Grand Majestic means it can clear some bridges and sail in shallower waters that will enable it to cruise to or near Tulsa, Okla.; Omaha, Neb.; Sioux City, Iowa; Charleston, W.Va.; and into the outskirts of Chicago by next year.

American Cruise Lines, too, has said that it plans to look into some new and different waterways in the U.S. as it develops a fleet of five more modern riverboats for the U.S. market. The first two of those are slated to hit the more traditional Mississippi River System and the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest, but the company has previously said that it has its eye on numerous additional waterways, including the Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, Missouri River, Des Moines River, Wabash River, Illinois River, Apalachicola River, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Mid-Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Erie Canal, Hudson River, Oswego Canal, Potomac River and Alaska's Inside Passage.

Hopefully the trend will continue. Because while everyone wants to see places like New Orleans, Memphis and Portland, Ore., when it comes to U.S. river cruising, there is clearly still a fair amount of untapped potential in terms of where to go and what to see. 

AmaWaterways introduces enhanced hiking, biking excursions

AmaWaterways is beefing up its biking and hiking tour options for its 2016 Europe river cruises, in response to customer demand.

 “Over the past two seasons, we have seen steadily increasing demand from our passengers for more active excursions,” Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-owner of AmaWaterways, said in a release. “While we have always maintained a commitment to healthy and active travel, we decided to start the New Year by kicking it up a notch.”

The company introduced an array of new tours that will debut in the upcoming season. AmaWaterways has been carrying a fleet of bicycles onboard its vessels for passengers to use for several years now, but for 2016 it is introducing several new escorted bike tours. They include:

• A tour of the historic waterfront town of Willemstad, the Netherlands;
• Cycling along the Sava River and through Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade, Serbia;
• A ride through the Belgian town of Antwerp;
• Tours of the Wachau Valley along the Danube;
• A ride through the historic town of Bamberg, Germany;
• A tour along the Inn River in Passau, Germany

Additionally, in 2016, there will be new hiking tours in 12 port cities. They include:

• A hike to the castle ruins in Durnstein, Austria, which includes two wine tasting options;
• A hike up Fourviere Hill in Lyon, France;
• A Passau Castle hike in Passau, Germany;
• A hike up Mount Pipet in Vienna, Austria;
• A hike to Chateau Gaillard in Les Andelys, France;
• A hike to the Dom Luis Bridge, Old Harbor Quarter and the cathedral in Porto, Portugal

The new guided biking and hiking tours are included in the cruise fare in addition to AmaWaterways’ standard excursions that are often offered at a variety of paces, including gentle, regular and active.

Last year, AmaWaterways developed a partnership with tour operator Backroads to create a series of river cruises that include Backroads-led biking, walking and hiking excursions, which will have their first departures this year. More information about the Backroads Danube river cruise departures can be found on the Backroads website.

Scenic creates new itineraries for 2016

Scenic is introducing several new river cruise itineraries for 2016, including a new route on the Danube, a longer combined France cruise and an extended 21-day Christmas Markets cruise bookended by Paris and Prague. 

Starting next year, Scenic will begin sailing an 8-day Iconic Danube river cruise from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary, which will begin with a pre-cruise stay in Munich. The cruise will go from Passau to the Austrian cities of Salzburg and Vienna and will finish in Budapest. 

The 21-day Christmas Markets cruise will begin with three nights in Paris at the Marriott Opera Ambassador, and will include guided excursions of the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. Other highlights include the German cities of Wurzburg, Freudenberg and Nuremberg, as well as Vienna. The itinerary concludes with three nights at the Prague Marriott hotel.

Additionally, Scenic has combined its Gems of the Seine and Breathtaking Bordeaux cruises to create a 21-day itinerary that combines Paris and the Seine with France’s Bordeaux region. 

With the launch of two new vessels this year, the 169-passenger Scenic Opal and Scenic Jasper, Scenic’s European fleet consists of 12 vessels.

River cruising across continents -- the same, but different

By Michelle Baran

Whenever anyone would ask me about the similarities between river cruising in Europe and river cruising in other parts of the world, I used to answer one of two ways.

Half the time, I responded with something along the lines of, “No matter where you are in the world, river cruising is basically the same.” The other half, I said something like, “Aside from the fact that it’s a river cruise, that’s where the similarities end. Totally different experience depending on where you are.”

In truth, both are correct. (And I’ve started responding with a combination of the two, for the record. Apologies to those I misled prior to this new policy.)

As the river cruising industry shifts its focus from a busy launch season in Europe this spring, toward a slew of newbuilds coming out in Southeast Asia this fall, the change in destination backdrop begs for some comparisons between river cruising in Europe and elsewhere in the world.

Indeed, Europe has set the standard for river cruising in the world. It’s where the market is most developed, it’s the product that is marketed the heaviest, and it’s usually the destination where people often first learn about and experience river cruising.

It sets the bar, so to speak. And then, passengers get the river cruise line’s brochure and see that they might have a ship that sails the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia, or that they offer an itinerary on the Peruvian Amazon. That’s when things start getting interesting.

Maybe they find out from some friends they can even river cruise right here at home on the Mississippi or Columbia rivers. Who knew?

The question is, will they like these other river cruises if they liked river cruising in Europe? Well, first off, let’s address what will be the same or similar between European river cruising and its numerous cousins scattered about the globe.

For one, the floating-hotel notion is similar. During the river cruise portion of their itinerary, regardless of the destination, passengers will pack and unpack once and their river cruise ship/floating hotel will carry them from one destination to the next, often to small ports from which they can walk into the nearby town.

Additionally, floating on down the river offers a very similar sensation regardless of whether that river is the Mississippi, the Nile, the Irrawaddy or the Danube. Of course the scenery along the river will vary greatly, but that peaceful, gliding feeling is almost universal.

As for what’s different, the ships themselves, for one. There are vastly different types of river cruise vessels suitable for different rivers. European river cruisers might be surprised to find how large the river cruise ships in the U.S. and China are, or how small those in Southeast Asia and Peru are.

And of course, the destinations themselves are where many of the differences are. The bustling river life in Vietnam and Cambodia is nothing like the more reserved rivers of Europe. Floating past Egyptian desert landscapes is quite different from sailing past quaint American towns.

But despite all the differences, I could totally see how someone could love river cruising across continents. Because really, it’s the same. But different.

Europe cruises a holiday bargain

By Michelle Baran

When I first heard that river cruise lines offered holiday-themed sailings during Christmas and New Year’s, I was bewildered. Not only can it be really cold in Europe during that time of year, but the holiday season seems like a time to be closer to home, surrounded by family, friends or loved ones. Right?

Wrong. Interest in holiday season river cruising is growing, and river cruise lines across the board are boosting capacity for the upcoming season to keep up with demand.

River cruise executives say that holiday cruisers can include everyone from single travelers to those who don’t necessarily have family to visit as well as those who simply prefer to get away for the holidays, for instance.

And in addition to the charming itineraries and activities river cruise lines develop for the holiday season — rich in colorful markets, seasonal food and beverages and festive activities (gingerbread making lessons anyone?) — there is another competitive advantage that could further bolster the river cruise segment during the winter season.

What is traditionally considered high season on land in Europe is still the lower off-season in river cruising, where ever-growing capacity is likely to keep it that way for some time to come. And river cruise lines are increasingly marketing that fact.

For instance, AmaWaterways is promoting several of its New Year’s-inclusive river cruises in Amsterdam and Vienna against the higher-priced land options in those cities for ringing in 2015.

What was once a small slice of business that filled in a bit of the river cruising industry’s low season could start to see greater momentum as some of the advantages and the value pricing of holiday river cruises catch on.

So why not pack a warm coat and get onboard the river cruise party boat?

Amid Europe river cruise boom, lines say there’s room for more

By Michelle Baran

It’s hard to believe that 2014 will see considerably more investment and expansion in the European river cruise market than the previous couple of astonishing years of growth and interest — but it will.

For starters, Viking River Cruises will break its own shipbuilding record with 14 additional vessels in Europe next year; a startup river cruise line, Emerald Waterways, is launching with two ships and competitive pricing; and the largest river cruise company in France, CroisiEurope, has decided to make a run at the U.S. market.

And that doesn’t even cover the standard handful of newbuilds and itineraries that most other existing river cruise players are planning to introduce next year.

But even with all that added inventory, retailers insist there’s still a lot of room to grow in this category. That’s because despite all the new capacity and itineraries in the industry, river cruising still only accounts for a small percentage of retailers’ overall business.

In Travel Weekly’s Travel Industry Survey this year, river cruising accounted for 6% of travel agents’ overall business mix, and 22% of travel agents said they were already selling river cruises. But agents say that client requests for river cruises are mounting as the category continues to grow and gain exposure.

“Everybody’s asking about river cruises now,” said Debby Hughes, owner of a CruiseOne franchise in Big Bear City, Calif. “People are hearing about all the new ships and all the new changes. People are looking for something different, something a little more cultural, a little more unique. It’s more inclusive than the larger cruise lines.”

Hughes said her river cruise bookings probably account for between 10% and 20% of her overall bookings, and there is still plenty of opportunity in the river cruise market.

But even Viking, which launched 10 ships this year and six in 2012, in addition to the 14 it plans to unveil next year, has acknowledged that while the demand merits the growth, the industry needs to make sure the infrastructure in Europe can keep up.

“We have 14 Longships on order for next year because the demand among our passengers is there, and we believe that the waterways we sail in Europe can accommodate that type of growth,” said Richard Marnell, Viking’s senior vice president of marketing. “But we do recognize there is a need for investments in local infrastructure, and we will actively work to play a role in those discussions.” 
Asked if her clients have started to notice any degree of crowding on European river cruises, Hughes said they had not, nor did she expect they would.

“People are used to larger ships,” Hughes said. “They’re used to getting off with thousands of people. I’ve never had a complaint that there were too many other tourists in town.”

As for the growing issue of rafting, where river cruise ships are forced to dock alongside one another, thus requiring passengers to walk through other vessels to embark and disembark, Hughes said, “Being able to go from one boat to the next, it’s one of the quirks of being able to cruise in Europe. It’s just one of those neat things.”

Few can deny that the growth and increased competition in the river cruise industry has spurred a race for better and more diversified product.

While for some river cruise lines, such as Tauck, that has meant amping up its upscale accommodations with more suites (Tauck is launching two newbuilds in Europe in 2014 that will each have 57% more suites than the company’s existing vessels), for others, such as Emerald Waterways, it has meant coming to market with more attractive pricing and amenities.

Earlier this fall, Scenic Tours, an Australian company, announced that it was launching Emerald Waterways, which would serve as the lower-priced alternative to its existing river cruise brand, Scenic Cruises.

In an attempt to capture the four-star river cruise market, Emerald Waterways will officially launch on April 15 with the unveiling of two newbuilds, the 182-passenger Emerald Star and the 182-passenger Emerald Sky, both of which are being outfitted with more playful features such as a heated swimming pool and a movie theater.

An eight-day cruise along the Danube, Rhine and Moselle rivers on Emerald Waterways will start at $2,230 per person, compared with an eight-day sailing through the Netherlands on Scenic Cruises that starts at $2,735 per person.

French river cruise line 

CroisiEurope thinks there is space in the lower-priced river cruise market, as well. After 38 years of selling river cruises in Europe, CroisiEurope this fall launched a website and call center devoted to U.S. retailers and clientele. The company’s pitch: low-cost river cruises with a multicultural mix of passengers.

“The founder of the company had the philosophy to make this product available for the mass market,” said Michel Grimm, international sales director for CroisiEurope. “Our pricing is very aggressive.”

An eight-day CroisiEurope river cruise, including meals, open bar and excursions, won’t run more than $2,400 per person, Grimm said.

As a European river cruise operator, CroisiEurope will host a mix of nationalities onboard, something the former Peter Deilmann Cruises tried to do with German- and English-speaking clients on its ships. Some observers say that strategy played a role in Deilmann’s demise several years ago.

But CroisiEurope’s executives are adamant that for the right customer, having people from different countries onboard will be seen as an added draw, not a drawback.

“This is not for people who want the safety of being with all other English speakers,” said John McGlade, director of CroisiEurope’s U.S. reservation center. “For people who want the international experience, it’s the perfect marriage.”

CroisiEurope is also building up its own fleet of canal barge vessels that have a capacity of 24 guests. The barges will allow the pricing on the canal itineraries to also be more aggressive than existing, more expensive canal barge trips that can often host only six to 12 passengers onboard.
Tour operator Abercrombie & Kent had resisted the river cruise market for years, focusing solely on those much smaller capacity and intimate canal barges in Europe.

But last year, the company introduced its first river cruise program with the launch of Connections by A&K, its new line of itineraries priced about 30% less per diem than a typical A&K small-group journey.

For 2014, Connections by A&K is expanding its river cruise offering from three departures in 2013 on the 152-passenger Amadeus Brilliant, to 18 departures in 2014 on a fleet of three Amadeus ships. The vessels are owned by Austrian shipping company Luftner Cruises, and Connections will limit its onboard group sizes to 24 passengers.

For 2014, Connections will offer nine river cruise itineraries ranging from nine to 17 days.

The river cruise industry “is growing by leaps and bounds,” Hughes said. “They’re getting innovative, they’re getting more competitive.” All of which, she said, is better for retailers in this swelling market segment, as well as for their clients.

Will CroisiEurope’s pricing, diversity resonate with U.S. passengers?

By Michelle Baran

French river cruise line CroisiEurope is making a run at an already pretty crowded U.S. market with a simple concept: low-cost river cruises with a multicultural mix of passengers.

“The founder of the company had the philosophy to make this product available for the mass market,” said Michel Grimm, international sales director for CroisiEurope, which after 38 years in business recently unveiled a new website and call center devoted to the U.S. source market.

“Our pricing is very aggressive,” Grimm said, adding that an eight-day CroisiEurope river cruise including meals, open bar and excursions won’t run more than $2,400 per person.

“With these kinds of prices, we come with an offer that is very interesting,” he said.

For anyone who knows the river cruising market, that’s actually quite a deal. 

As a European river cruise operator, CroisiEurope hosts a mix of nationalities onboard, but the company’s executives said that for the right customer, that should be seen as an asset, not a drawback.

“This is not for people who want the safety of being with all other English speakers,” said John McGlade, director of CroisiEurope's U.S. reservation center. “For people who want the international experience, it’s the perfect marriage.”

CroisiEurope, which is still run by the founder’s children, builds all its vessels in the same shipyard in Belgium. Building, owning and operating all its own vessels is how the company claims it can keep its pricing so competitive, a concept it is bringing to the canal barge market, as well.

CroisiEurope is also building up its own fleet of barge vessels that have a capacity of 24 guests, in contrast with many of the existing canal barges that can often only host six to 12 passengers onboard, rendering them an expensive vacation option.

One other differentiator? Building ships of different sizes that can navigate lesser-sailed inland waterways, including the Guadalquivir and Guadiana rivers in Spain, the Tisza River in Hungary and some of the smaller estuaries off of the Danube and Rhine rivers.

CroisiEurope is based in Strasbourg, France, and has a fleet of 30 ships, including several barges and coastal cruisers, which sail in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Vietnam and Cambodia.

River cruise lines lose millions of dollars to European flooding

By Michelle Baran

River cruise lines last week began to unravel the tangle of dozens of canceled cruises and hundreds of rebookings and refunds they have had to issue in the wake of some of the worst flooding in Central Europe in decades.

The lines also started to take stock of the millions of dollars in losses they incurred as a result of the flooding.

An uncharacteristic level of rainfall at the start of June caused water levels to surge throughout parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

The rains forced local populations to evacuate, threatened to submerge cities and created a logistical nightmare for river cruise lines that were forced to cancel cruises and alter itineraries along the Main and Danube rivers as well as along the Main-Danube Canal.

“This is the worst flooding that we have experienced in the 20 years we have been operating river cruises,” said Guy Young, president of Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection. “This historical flood and the impact on our cruises has certainly been an anomaly.”

Young estimated that Uniworld will be forced to write off more than $5 million in lost revenue due to the flooding, which he said affected seven Uniworld vessels and 16 departures, with five cruises having to be canceled.

The challenge has been not just dealing with the constantly changing situation on the rivers and the affected vessels and passengers but also with the financial fallout of having to re-accommodate and rebook hundreds of passengers while also offering them refunds and future cruise credits.

As of June 13, Avalon Waterways had canceled eight departures since June 1 and made several additional itinerary changes. Most of Avalon’s European fleet was affected in some way by the flooding, which in turn had an impact on approximately 1,000 Avalon travelers at the height of the flooding, according to Patrick Clark, Avalon’s managing director.

But that’s just the start of the problem. Not only are canceled cruise departures lost revenue (affected passengers were offered a full refund), but all the river cruise lines are offering passengers additional compensation, generally in the form of a $500 future cruise credit.

For cruises that were not canceled but sailed an altered itinerary, the company had to either add more land arrangements or swap in accessible sites for destinations made unreachable by high waters. River cruise companies have said they offered some measure of compensation for passengers on altered itineraries.

Avalon also offered to cover passengers’ air change fees and said it was protecting agents’ 10% commission on the canceled cruises as well as full commissions on re-bookings.

“The accounting is the last piece of our puzzle,” said Clark.

“Our approach is to make the right decision for customers,” he added. “If we made those decisions well, we know that the customers and their agents will come back to us.”

Since Viking River Cruises has the most river cruise ships sailing Europe’s inland waterways, the flooding also caused it to do the most juggling. As of late last week, the company had canceled 13 sailings and modified 25 itineraries.

“There is a financial impact anytime we have to cancel a sailing,” Richard Marnell, senior vice president of marketing at Viking, wrote in an email. “With the 2013 season nearly sold out and vibrant sales already for the 2014 season, Viking’s breadth provides the ability to withstand such an impact.”

Viking might be able to withstand the financial impact, but Marnell’s statement indicates another dilemma: where to put all these passengers who now need to rebook their river cruise.

“The biggest challenge will be re-accommodating passengers on a similar cruise this sailing season,” he said. “We’ve experienced such high demand for the 2013 sailing season that we may not be able to reschedule passengers until November or December, or even until the 2014 season.” He added that for affected passengers, 2014 itineraries will be protected at 2013 prices.

Tauck, too, was concerned about lack of available inventory to re-accommodate affected passengers, according to Tom Armstrong, Tauck’s corporate communications manager. Tauck has canceled five cruises on two ships, which affected approximately 450 passengers.

With hundreds, perhaps thousands, of passengers on the prowl for a new river cruise to take, it’s no wonder that river cruise line A-Rosa, based in Rostock, Germany, sent an email to the trade last week offering up its product as an alternative.

“Some may view it skeptically when a vendor offers assistance, as it may be interpreted as capitalizing on the misfortune of others,” David Morris, president of David Morris International, which represents A-Rosa in North America, wrote in an email. “That being said, one primary reason for sending this is that most river boats this summer in Europe are completely sold out, leaving your clients with little or no alternatives.”

Consequently, A-Rosa is offering river cruise passengers displaced by the floods preferential fares on several departures, is waiving single supplements and is offering a $500-per-cabin credit on any 2014 A-Rosa sailing.

“We sincerely hope that your clients are minimally affected by the current floods and hope you can find suitable alternative plans with the river boat company you booked originally,” Morris wrote. “If you cannot, we are here to help.”

As the flooding appeared to slowly recede last week, the devastated areas of Central Europe have begun planning recovery. At least 21 people were killed in the floods, according to news reports, and the economic toll of the deluge in Germany alone is likely to reach about $16 billion, according to global rating agency Fitch Ratings.

As the cities along the rivers begin to rebuild, the river cruise companies are declaring that the worst is over. At press time, Viking had estimated that most cruises would sail with minimal impact beginning June 15 and expected all cruises after June 21 to operate normally. Avalon, too, said sailings over the next few weeks should see minimal impact.

“The floodwaters have been receding rapidly,” reported Rudi Schreiner, president of AmaWaterways, which did not cancel any sailings but saw seven ships and 14 departures affected by the floods. 

Schreiner, too, estimated that water levels and cruises should return to normal within the next week.

Viking plans eight-ship order for 2014

By Michelle Baran

As part of a newbuild order that appears to be growing without end, Viking River Cruises said it plans to launch eight Longships in 2014 in addition to the 10 ships it will launch next year.

When the first two 190-passenger Longships, Viking's newest class of river cruise vessel, launched in March, the company revealed plans to launch six Longships each in 2012 and 2013 with the option for six more in 2014. Those plans have grown to 10 in 2013, and now eight in 2014, for a total of 24 new ships in three years. 

"The river cruise segment is rapidly growing, as more travelers are inspired to experience old destinations in a new way," Viking Chairman Torstein Hagen said in a release.

He added that Viking has had an "overwhelmingly positive response" during the first season for the new Longships, and stated that "we are pleased to continue our expansion to meet that demand."

Viking will simultaneously inaugurate eight Longships in a christening ceremony in late March in Amsterdam. The two additional Longships ordered for 2013, the Viking Baldur and the Viking Magni, will join the fleet in late August and September, respectively.

The ships are all being built at the Neptun Werft shipyard in Germany, part of the Meyer Neptun group.