AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY PIMENTEL, PRESIDENT OF AZAMARA CLUB CRUISES

*Originally published in Cruise and Travel Lifestyles, Spring/Summer 2011
By Tin Thomas.

Where have you positioned Azamara Club Cruises and how do you differ from cruise lines in other categories?

We have positioned the line to offer a unique product to up-market travelers. The Azamara experience exceeds those offered in the premium category and is much less constrained than luxury categories. What we focus on delivering is a destination-immersive experience for up-market travelers at a great value, which features extra-ordinary service, fine dining and boutique wines. Our more inclusive amenities provide guests with a carefree environment to enjoy their time with us where the cruise fare includes gratuities for housekeeping, dining and bar staff, complimentary bottled water, sodas, specialty coffee and teas, complimentary red and white boutique wines to accompany lunch and dinner, complimentary self-service laundry, and English butler service.

Why was the name changed to Azamara Club Cruises and what changes came with it?

When Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., invited me to take the helm of Azamara in mid-2009, I took a voyage on one of our ships at my own expense. What I saw and experienced was a strong product which I can help make extraordinary. I first noticed that as a result of smaller size and high level of service, our ships exuded a country club atmosphere. Most of our guests belonged to country clubs at home and this was their home away from home – their club. We changed our brand name to reflect that. We also slowed down the ships and itineraries to offer guests more time in destinations through more late night departures and overnight stays in port.

What results have those changes had and do you feel you have found your identity?

The results have been extremely positive. One thing that we pay very close attention to is our guest feedback cards, where we ask guests to rate their experience on a wide variety of factors. The scores are among the highest in the entire cruise industry. They average near-perfect, voyage after voyage. Azamara Club Cruises is coming into its own identity and we feel that up-market travelers are realizing the unique value proposition that we are offering.

Azamara, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are all part of one corporate structure but in the early days Azamara was identified with Celebrity, now it is identified with Royal Caribbean. What do these relationships mean and why the change?

Azamara Club Cruises is a distinctive brand with its own executive leadership. Since we offer an experience that caters to English-speaking travelers around the world we leverage the international sales network that Royal Caribbean International has developed to support its business as a global brand that sources its customers from regional markets, like us. Royal Caribbean has one of the largest global sales staffs of any cruise operator - and these people sell Azamara. That’s very important to us.

As you have indicated, one of your selling points is longer port stays, especially extending into late evenings and overnights. How many of your guests take advantage of this and do you provide them with help in finding evening activities ashore?

Absolutely! Night tourism is one of the options that we can offer our guests after the other cruise ships have left for the day. We offer Land Discoveries, shore excursion options that offer guests an uncommon perspective of the attractions and events where we stay late or overnight, in fact our deployments for 2012 feature more than 50 percent of night departures and overnight stays in port.

You time some of your cruises to provide guests opportunities to take in special events like Carnaval in Rio. Does this boost sales and have you plans to expand these links?

Timing our voyages with well-known celebrations is one of the ways Azamara Club Cruises delivers unique destinations and destination-immersive experiences. What better way to experience a destination than to be able to join in their celebrations? An example is Azamara Quest which will be sailing the French Riviera and calling at Monaco for the Grand Prix. The ship has a late departure at 3 am so that guests can catch the race by day and join in the celebrations in the evening.

What has been your reaction to the unrest in some Mediterranean countries at this time and how have you replaced ports you may now avoid, hopefully for only a while?

The political uncertainty in some of the North African countries is a tumultuous situation. We view our guests’ safety as our number one priority. We also factor in the destination’s ability to be able to continue to provide top-notch experiences for guests. It is with regret that we have had to change a few of our itineraries to ensure that we continue to deliver an extraordinary experience. Toward that end, we have revised a few of our itineraries to sail the Greek Isles, Turkey, the Holy Land or the Adriatic Sea.

You discussed the possibility of fleet expansion with U.K. media recently. What are your current thoughts on this?

What I was really saying was that Azamara Club Cruises has been achieving and often exceeding the goals that I and my team have set for ourselves. As long as we continue to hit our goals and deliver an extraordinary experience to our guests, expansion – not necessarily just in new ships – is surely a possibility.