INDIAN FUN ‘N’ FOOD
“There are two things that define the customer from India, or even from Asia. One, it is very difficult to discipline us for more than a couple of nights on holiday. So when we introduced our packages we made sure there were two-three night packages from Hong Kong and Singapore.
The other thing is Indian food. A very large vegetarian community likes to travel. In West India, Gujarat is a key supporter for us. In Kolkata there is a huge Marwari community and in the South you cannot disregard the vegetarians. Our ships have adapted to this. When you book a passage you can choose from Indian meals five times a day from three of our restaurants. Non-vegetarian Indian meals are available on payment.
Adult entertainment has not been a huge draw, as in many other countries, such as China where they get motivated by the concept of gaming. Sure, it is available on our ships but we are primarily a family destination. Gaming is not the driving force for our guests.
Indians make exciting customers. We are the first ones to volunteer for any games on the ship. On a holiday we are quite sporting. And while customers may negotiate before they get on board, once there they are happy to spend and shop.
GROWING LUXURY
When we started, the two-nighters were the biggest sellers. The customers wanted to spend the least, so our economy cabins, the inside state rooms, were the most popular. Today, the packages with more than three nights are the most popular. The balcony cabin, which is our premium class, is the best-seller. We are in the process of introducing four nights and five nights. The second-time cruise traveller is now happy to explore Europe, the US or the Caribbean and the Mediterranean with our newly introduced Norwegian Cruise Line. Alaskan cruises are very popular. Earlier cruises was part of a bigger holiday but now people travel for cruising.
PREFERRED AGENTS
We work with 14 preferred agents across India who have access to our booking system. They, in turn, work with sub agents. We have structured training for agents. We organise fam trips for them. And, just like the airline industry, we also offer them preferred rates if they want to holiday with family.
Students & groups
We are part of the Genting Group. Now the restructuring will enable us to cross-sell across the board with other group brands such as Resort World Sentosa and Universal Studio.
We have started working with school groups for children between Standard 7 and 12. Depending on the requirement we bring in the education component. We can show them what an object looks like on a radar. Since we are a combination of a hotel and a ship we talk about hotel management as a career. So we familiarise the students with the challenge of delivering food with quality equivalent of seven-star, cooked on hot plates. We have taken one school group already and we are in talks with others.
We have hosted a few weddings but that is a niche market for us.
SEASONS
On an average, we handle 1000 passengers a week with a 10% year on year growth. We cruise in Malacca, which is good across the year.
The segment changes according to the time of the year. The peak season is from April to June end. We get a lot of customers from North India between mid-May to June. From January to March and from October to December there are a lot of honeymooners. January to March and July-September also see MICE and incentive travel.
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Cruise control
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INDIAN FUN ‘N’ FOOD
“There are two things that define the customer from India, or even from Asia. One, it is very difficult to discipline us for more than a couple of nights on holiday. So when we introduced our packages we made sure there were two-three night packages from Hong Kong and Singapore.
The other thing is Indian food. A very large vegetarian community likes to travel. In West India, Gujarat is a key supporter for us. In Kolkata there is a huge Marwari community and in the South you cannot disregard the vegetarians. Our ships have adapted to this. When you book a passage you can choose from Indian meals five times a day from three of our restaurants. Non-vegetarian Indian meals are available on payment.
Adult entertainment has not been a huge draw, as in many other countries, such as China where they get motivated by the concept of gaming. Sure, it is available on our ships but we are primarily a family destination. Gaming is not the driving force for our guests.
Indians make exciting customers. We are the first ones to volunteer for any games on the ship. On a holiday we are quite sporting. And while customers may negotiate before they get on board, once there they are happy to spend and shop.
GROWING LUXURY
When we started, the two-nighters were the biggest sellers. The customers wanted to spend the least, so our economy cabins, the inside state rooms, were the most popular. Today, the packages with more than three nights are the most popular. The balcony cabin, which is our premium class, is the best-seller. We are in the process of introducing four nights and five nights. The second-time cruise traveller is now happy to explore Europe, the US or the Caribbean and the Mediterranean with our newly introduced Norwegian Cruise Line. Alaskan cruises are very popular. Earlier cruises was part of a bigger holiday but now people travel for cruising.
PREFERRED AGENTS
We work with 14 preferred agents across India who have access to our booking system. They, in turn, work with sub agents. We have structured training for agents. We organise fam trips for them. And, just like the airline industry, we also offer them preferred rates if they want to holiday with family.
Students & groups
We are part of the Genting Group. Now the restructuring will enable us to cross-sell across the board with other group brands such as Resort World Sentosa and Universal Studio.
We have started working with school groups for children between Standard 7 and 12. Depending on the requirement we bring in the education component. We can show them what an object looks like on a radar. Since we are a combination of a hotel and a ship we talk about hotel management as a career. So we familiarise the students with the challenge of delivering food with quality equivalent of seven-star, cooked on hot plates. We have taken one school group already and we are in talks with others.
We have hosted a few weddings but that is a niche market for us.
SEASONS
On an average, we handle 1000 passengers a week with a 10% year on year growth. We cruise in Malacca, which is good across the year.
The segment changes according to the time of the year. The peak season is from April to June end. We get a lot of customers from North India between mid-May to June. From January to March and from October to December there are a lot of honeymooners. January to March and July-September also see MICE and incentive travel.
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