After an eight-year gestation, Pearl Seas Cruises plans to launch in June with its first ship, the 210-passenger Pearl Mist. It is an offshoot of American Cruise Lines, which has operated on U.S. rivers since 2000. President Charles Robertson has been involved with the company on and off since the 1970s. He spoke with cruise editor Tom Stieghorst about the project.
Q: How did you decide to go into the ocean cruise business?
A: It was a fairly typical analysis. We did surveys and listened to our past guests and so on. It's really not ocean cruising in the classic sense like Royal Caribbean or Silversea. Pearl Seas will be doing a lot of inland rivers, St. Lawrence Seaway, Great Lakes, coastal New England, so the bulk of it is not open ocean cruising; that's really only a very small part of what we're doing.
Q: How did you pick the initial itineraries?
A: That's an evolving process. The port facilities in a lot of these places are getting better. In some cases where they didn't have them, now they have them. As we start to run these cruises we'll take into account passenger commentary and so on. Some of these ports hardly see any cruise business now, so that's a real benefit to the passengers; they'll get a real cultural experience that they won't get if they're going ashore with 1,000 people.
Q: What parts have you found most challenging?
A: I don't know; it's fun. Challenges, when they're fun, don't seem quite so much like challenges. We had some difficulties with the shipyard. The shipyard that started the boat didn't finish it. That's been somewhat of an issue, but it really doesn't affect the passengers or the passenger experience. It delayed the process, but it's all worked out fine.
Q: What are you doing to define Pearl Ocean as distinct from what everyone else is doing?
A: The most important thing is that it's small. People will pay more, and rightfully so, because it's more expensive to operate small ships. Our feeling is that the intimate experience, the personal experience, all the stuff you can get on a small ship is hard to deliver, I think impossible to deliver, on a larger ship. And we hear it from our passengers every single day, over and over, that they will not go on a large ship. We think 250 is about as large as makes sense for our demographic.
Q: Are there plans for more of these ships?
A: We'll probably have an announcement later this year about a second or possibly a third ship.
Q: Do you have a fairly select group of travel agents you work with?
A: We certainly have big producers and small producers. The travel agent business is sort of [our] heart and soul. We put a lot of effort and energy into it. As we become more visible and larger, it's going to become more attractive to travel agents. Once they understand that their commissions are four or five times what they are with Carnival, I mean, it's much better to get a commission on an $8,000 ticket than it is on a $1,000 ticket.
Q: There's a rumor that you're going to be gaining new competition in the river cruise business.
A: I predicted this for years. I absolutely believe there will be competition. I don't think it's in any way unhealthy. So we look forward to it. I assume you may be talking about Viking, which I think is a good company. A strong player. I know Tor Hagen, and I like him. I think he's smart. So it's going to happen. And that's OK.
Follow Tom Stieghorst on Twitter @tstravelweekly.