Diane Moore recently joined Paul Gauguin Cruises as executive vice president. Moore departed Windstar Cruises in June, where she had served as president since May 2008. Cruise editor Johanna Jainchill talked with Moore about her 36 years of cruise experience and her transition from Windstar to the one-ship, one-destination cruise company.
Q: You've worked for several major cruise lines and most recently for Windstar. How did you end up at Paul Gauguin?
A: [Richard Bailey, CEO of Paul Gauguin's parent company, Pacific Beachcomber] called me the day I left Windstar. They were looking for someone to head up the U.S. operations in Seattle. It was a new company, and that was something I had experience with from when Ambassadors acquired Windstar three years ago.
[Bailey] saw that I could bring some continuity to the organization and really pull it together.
Q: Did Bailey choose you because you are known in the cruise industry and the trade?
A: I don't think it hurts. I am someone the agents know, and I've always been very accessible to travel agents. I went to [Virtuoso's Travel Mart conference] last week. I [plan to go] to all our national account meetings; I think it's important that I'm there. I'm a face running the organization here that people know and trust.
Q: What is your first order of business?
A: We want to concentrate on taking the systems this organization put in place over the last year and create a seamless and efficient support system for our travel partners. We are upgrading everything we have, and we are still a bit in start-up mode. We are evaluating whether the decisions we made in the last 12 months were the right ones.
Q: How is Paul Gauguin different from and similar to Windstar?
A: They are both very casual but upscale vessels and products. They both have the open-seating dining concept. The feeling onboard is similar from that perspective.
What sets Paul Gauguin apart is that it is an all-inclusive product: Wines are included, people go to bars and order drinks for no charge. There's no tipping onboard. Paul Gauguin is in that luxury segment of the industry. From a value perspective, that's huge.
Q: How do you put a one-ship, one-destination operation on agents' radar?
A: That is the challenge. I think it's hard because we are a very small company. That's why we need to rely on our travel agent partners and national account partners. Our sales department has to constantly talk to them. We have to use technology. ... That's why we're using webinars and other systems to help us reach a lot more people.
Agents said they were confused about us. They knew the product from under Regent [Seven Seas] but were confused about the new ownership. ... It's fun to be able to talk about the fact that Pacific Beachcomber has been entrenched in French Polynesia for 25 years.
Q: Are the operations different under Paul Gauguin than under Regent?
A: By having the ship as our own company, we can put more emphasis on this particular product than when it was the smallest vessel in a larger company. Particularly now that Regent is part of a much larger corporation, I think the Paul Gauguin would have possibly gotten lost in that.
Q: There are rumors that Bailey is looking to acquire more ships for the brand. What can we expect?
A: I know that he would love to expand and is looking at various opportunities.
This column appeared in the Aug. 30 issue of Travel Weekly.