Interview with new Silversea President

[taxatty]

27 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

There is only one real success story in the cruise business over the last ten years: Viking.

 

Go back and read this interview again with this thought in mind:  he wants to make Silversea into Viking.  Everything he says now fits.

Maybe with one exception--Viking as you know doesn't allow cruisers under 18. Although Silversea doesn't really encourage bringing children onboard (and the vast majority of its existing clientele doesn't appear to want them), there are some, and banning them wouldn't fit the RCI and X status matches.

Edited Sunday at 07:14 PM by taxatty

[Syd58]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

There is only one real success story in the cruise business over the last ten years: Viking.

 

Go back and read this interview again with this thought in mind:  he wants to make Silversea into Viking.  Everything he says now fits.

Not a fan of Viking at all.  

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

There is only one real success story in the cruise business over the last ten years: Viking.

 

Wondering how you come to that conclusion.  Perhaps if your criterion is rapid expansion.  Otherwise....??

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 minute ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Wondering how you come to that conclusion.  Perhaps if your criterion is rapid expansion.  Otherwise....??

Rapid expansion without debt, which means their success is borne out by bookings and revenue.  Also expansion to the point of domination – they have almost as many River ships in Europe as all the other lines combined and they are the only River ship operator on 4 continents; they have 10 premium Ocean ships plus 8 more on order (more than any other line); and they have now entered the Expedition cruise market.  What other cruise company can say the same?  You may not like them, but success is success.

[Texas Tillie]

29 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Rapid expansion without debt, which means their success is borne out by bookings and revenue.  Also expansion to the point of domination – they have almost as many River ships in Europe as all the other lines combined and they are the only River ship operator on 4 continents; they have 10 premium Ocean ships plus 8 more on order (more than any other line); and they have now entered the Expedition cruise market.  What other cruise company can say the same?  You may not like them, but success is success.

 

And there seem to be enough people who don't mind tying up their money way in advance, That alone would keep me away, but if you can get it, do it.

[gnome12]

I wonder how the IPO will affect Viking’s operation? Once you have shareholders to please things can change. 

[Redking]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Rapid expansion without debt, which means their success is borne out by bookings and revenue.  Also expansion to the point of domination – they have almost as many River ships in Europe as all the other lines combined and they are the only River ship operator on 4 continents; they have 10 premium Ocean ships plus 8 more on order (more than any other line); and they have now entered the Expedition cruise market.  What other cruise company can say the same?  You may not like them, but success is success.

And two serious incidents in the past few years, one of them fatal (on its new expedition ship) puts me off. I know that the likelihood of a serious incident exists on any cruise line, but it still gives me pause for thought.

[Syd58]

1 hour ago, Redking said:

And two serious incidents in the past few years, one of them fatal (on its new expedition ship) puts me off. I know that the likelihood of a serious incident exists on any cruise line, but it still gives me pause for thought.

Not a fan of their food or the design/furnishings of their staterooms.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I wonder how the IPO will affect Viking’s operation? Once you have shareholders to please things can change. 

I believe the founder kept a majority of voting shares.  Another reason not to buy the stock, unless you really believe in the founder's vision.

 

Oddly, while I don't plan to sail with Viking, I think his vision is sound and the cruise line will continue to succeed.  At this point he has built economies of scale in rivers and premium ocean that are similar to why nobody can complete head-on with Carnival at the bottom.  And that also means I don't think the new Silversea vision will succeed, because the Royal bean counters will never give him the number of new-builds necessary to achieve Viking's economies of scale – remember that all of their ships are identical and even the planned ocean ships were only changed to incorporate future-proof ecological upgrades.  If you like Viking, you can easily make it your only vacation choice – and many do just that.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, Redking said:

And two serious incidents in the past few years, one of them fatal (on its new expedition ship) puts me off. I know that the likelihood of a serious incident exists on any cruise line, but it still gives me pause for thought.

Never seems to affect Viking's bookings.  River cruising is an interesting area of cruising:  almost everyone who tries it likes it and has a great time on whichever river cruise line they chose and therefore tends to stay with that line.  Since Viking River does more advertising than the rest of the industry combined, a majority of first-time river cruisers start on Viking – and stay there.  That is the cash engine that is funding the rest of their growing empire.

[kirtihk]

On 6/20/2024 at 12:27 PM, jjs217 said:

I have a SS cruise booked for August 2025, which I don't plan on cancelling.  However, I won't book another SS cruise until I hear how all of this shakes out.  I understand profit is the bottom line concern, and I am one who is willing to pay a little more in order to keep a luxury experience.

I wonder what might happen to our 3-leg part of the 2026 world cruise on Dawn(March 14 - May 2, Perth, Australia through Bali, Singapore, Thailand, Bombay, Egypt, to Israel).  That will be our first Silversea cruise (we’ve cruised on Regent Splendor (and in December will cruise on Voyager) and on Seabourn Venture and Pursuit - all lovely!).

Edited Tuesday at 12:22 AM by kirtihk

[TLCOhio]

On 6/23/2024 at 9:55 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I believe the founder kept a majority of voting shares. I think his vision is sound and the cruise line will continue to succeed.  At this point he has built economies of scale in rivers and premium ocean that are similar to why nobody can complete head-on with Carnival at the bottom.  And that also means I don't think the new Silversea vision will succeed, because the Royal bean counters will never give him the number of new-builds necessary to achieve Viking's economies of scale

 

Appreciate these great business background details about Viking and these follow-ups.  Very interesting path with their growth and future plans.  For Silversea, the competition is growing!!

 

Not sure if we would do Viking or not.  Don't like their advance payment requirements, but as they keep adding more ships and offering unique, diverse itineraries, it could be a future, real option for us to consider.  We stay flexible depending on the ports and value factors by Silversea, etc.  

 

Just saw this am on the morning cable TV news the second commercial for Silversea.  That says to me that SS is feeling some future bookings softness and that they need to widen their "pitch" beyond just mailings and past customers doing new bookings;   

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio