Small Cruises Return—But Pandemic Complicates Resurgence

River cruises were doing social distance long before passengers wanted it. With low passenger capacity, no interior cabins, private balconies, dedicated ventilation for each room, no buffets, pools or theaters to cram into, river cruise ships were unintentionally tailored to pandemic-era travel. Cruise companies that once took those traits for granted now must build entire marketing campaigns around them. “Each stateroom has its own independent HVAC and there's no shared ductwork and that’s the same for all the interior spaces and lounges,” said Alexa Paolella, spokeswoman for American Cruise Lines. “Geez, this is embarrassing sometimes because there are so many advantages [to river cruising] right now ... I think all cruising is wonderful, so I don't want to knock somebody for doing something different.” All cruise lines took a hit when Covid-19 sank the cruise industry in 2020. According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) industry group, worldwide cruise passenger volume fell more than 80% from 2019 to 2020 thanks to the pandemic. That erased an estimated $77 billion in economic activity, 518,000 cruise-related jobs and $23 billion in cruise-industry wages. Cruise Industry Carefully Charts Its Return to Sailing Plan your comeback Steve Born, chief marketing officer for Globus family of travel brands, said that his company’s Avalon Waterways river cruise line spent much of 2020 refunding and rescheduling passengers. However, he and his team were able to save 60% of their original bookings by letting passengers rebook them at a later date. Avalon’s 2021 volume is only about 30% to 40% of what it was during pre-pandemic 2019, but early bookings for 2022 are double what they were around this time in 2018 for 2019 after Born and company adapted to customers’ needs. “At first, it was about how we could help fill in the blanks of information about borders, and health and safety requirements and resource information when there really was not a single entity where they could go and get that,” Born said. “It was a 180 from selling the features and benefits of travel to concepts and ideas about reliability, and that we can be a resource for them.” Born’s team added travel updates to the Avalon website to let customers know which countries were open for travel and what restrictions they might face. They initiated a flexible booking policy to help avoid case spikes and shutdowns. Lastly, they spelled out the company’s health and safety procedures in clear terms, deciding early on that Covid-19 vaccinations would be required for all Avalon passengers. This spring, that foundation of information allowed Avalon’s marketing team to return to something resembling normal with its new campaign, “Plan your comeback.” “We've been playing defense over the last 16 months in terms of just being reactive, and providing information, content, trust, reliability, relevant messages and one-to-one communications,” Born said. “Starting in May, we were able to add offense to the mix, where we could actually be proactive, again, about selling travel, and about planning for the comeback to travel.” Cruise close to home Avalon launched its first cruise since the pandemic shutdown, from Paris to Normandy, on July 20. Roughly five months earlier, on March 13, American Cruise Lines ran its first cruise of the pandemic from Florida to South Carolina. All 13 of American Cruise’s boats are based in the United States and operate along U.S. rivers and coastlines. To some pandemic-era passengers, that proximity to home is a plus. “They don't want to have to travel with a passport, they always have access on land to U.S. medical care,” Paolella said. “It's an advantage for some people and a reassurance, especially now.” American Cruise Lines' "Cruise Close to Home" push isn't just a marketing campaign: It's an ideology. American Cruise itineraries include trips up the Mississippi River, along the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific Northwest, up the Hudson from New York and along the islands dotting New England’s Coast. The company’s Alaska cruises that began in June were the first to that state in more than a year, while its Chesapeake Bay itinerary made it the first cruise line to dock in Washington, D.C., in 60 years. Roughly 99% of all American Cruise guests are from North America, according to the company. As Paolella noted, most also drive straight to the ships and don’t have to fly to a destination just to board a cruise. For keeping their cruise close to home, passengers are rewarded with 350-square-foot state rooms, private balconies, outdoor lounges, small port towns, excursion groups of just a few dozen people and all-inclusive packages. While those features aren’t specific to American Cruise—European cruise line Viking touts independent HVAC and filtration in all its state rooms as part of its “Welcome Back” push—the company’s array of U.S. destinations is unique enough to get competitors’ attention. According to CLIA, cruise passenger volume in North America was 15.4 million in pre-pandemic 2019, compared to just 7.7 million in Europe. Though much of that North American volume (12 million, went to the Caribbean), Viking saw enough potential in U.S. river cruises to enter market for the first time with Mississippi River cruises in 2022. “The competition is always good, and everybody offers something a little different and each line has its own style,” Paolella said. “But I think it's important for people to know that it's already here, and that it's not being reinvented.”

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A River Runs Through It: Small Cruises Are Back—But Pandemic Challenges Complicate Resurgence

The promise of seclusion gives local boatlines a compass amid the uneven progress against Covid-19

Jason Notte

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Jason Notte