Richard Turen
Looking back at a lifetime of travels, I marvel at the fact that each of us is still capable of being surprised, even shocked, by the things we see and experience as we traverse this planet.
But in my case, I would not have imagined that I would ever be surprised by what I experienced on a cruise ship.
I worked for one of the major lines and then joined my wife in launching a cruise-intensive consultancy specializing in the so-called luxury market decades ago. I write about the cruise industry from time to time, and I edit the largest ad-free, hype-free consumer-focused cruise website that is devoted to identifying the World's Top Ten Cruise Lines. I have just completed my 143rd cruise -- this time to the Greek islands, accompanied by 30 of our clients.
So if you had asked me two weeks ago if my travels could still surprise me, I would have probably responded, "Yes, except for sailing one of the top-tier cruise lines."
And I would have been wrong!
This cruise was a serious learning experience; I had to suppress many of my assumptions while observing levels of service, care and commitment that none of the 30 clients who accompanied us had imagined existed at sea.
Boarding the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's new Luminara in the suburbs of Athens was a pleasant and efficient process. Officers walked behind the check-in staff, personally greeting many of the arriving guests by name. They had done their homework.
The interior of the 428-passenger ship was designed by a team that has obviously never been on a cruise ship. It felt much more like a home -- a home that might have been the result of a collaboration between famed architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
There were a significant number of missing cruise components, including public meeting rooms, shipboard announcements, lifeboat drills, dining reservation hysteria and shore excursion announcements.
No one missed them.
The central gathering area is the Living Room, a real living room, with a bar and a variety of comfortable chairs and couches -- and small staff offices hidden from view.
The Luminara is not a small cruise ship, or even a yacht. It is a unique experience at sea, resulting, I am convinced, in Ritz-Carlton now occupying the position of the top-rated sailing experience in what I like to call the "TrueLux" category.
The room service menu was elaborate. The TV was the best at sea. There was a coffee bar with fresh sandwiches changed every three hours just down the hall and restaurants that competed for guest favorite with no clear winners. Our private party in Dining Privee was outstanding, and several chefs showed up to share the warmth in the room.
The entertainment went far beyond the promises of a brochure. Some of it was memorable, like an all-out, dress-in-white dance club session that attracted most of the ship.
But enough of that. What I really want to share with you is not what the management planned but rather what service levels were achieved without their prior knowledge.
You see, neither Ritz-Carlton nor Marriott owns these "yachts." According to a number of sources, the private equity firm Oaktree owns 55%, with 30% owned by the Scheinberg family, founders of PokerStars, the online poker platform that they sold for $4.9 billion. Singapore owns the remaining 15% of the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.
So how is Ritz-Carlton managing these ships for their investors? That story is all about heart and soul and a truly caring staff. It was so much more than any of us were expecting.
I'll share that story next time.