2) Long Travel Time
Polar region cruises generally range from 8 to 23
days. Advisors who face the time objection can feel
confident that even the short cruises are loaded with
unforgettable experiences.
For getting to the Arctic, the most common access
points from North America are Washington, Alaska,
Canada, and Greenland. In the case of Antarctica,
fly-cruise expeditions allow travelers to explore
the destination in as few as eight days. Antarctica
is most commonly accessed from the tip of South
America: most often from Ushuaia, Argentina for
traditional cruises and Punta Arenas for air-cruise
itineraries that fly over the Drake Passage. Since one
in two advisors sold Argentina and Chile in the last
two years, attaching a Polar Cruise experience plays
to their unique advantage.
3) Not Enough Product or Sales Experience
It is easy to spot this gap when we probed advisors
about their biggest challenges in selling Polar. A little
over one in four advisors stated that they either had
little product sales experience or weren’t updated on
Polar Cruises. Fortunately, most of the challenges
faced by advisors can be overcome by undertaking
training and specialist programs (see Chart 15).
4) Lack of Inventory
Lack of available inventory was also a hurdle; a
commonly-faced problem with booking Polar Cruises
is that it requires advance planning and booking due
to smaller ship sizes and limited cabin availability
relative to ocean cruises. Like one of the advisors
shared, “Availability of sailings is probably the
biggest deterrent with lead times to booking being
so far in advance to secure a cabin.”
With the rapid expansion of ships into the market
and the broadening of itinerary options, hopefully
this will be less of an issue in the future.
However,
there will always be limited inventory due to the
smaller ships and very unique experiences. Advisors
need to help clients plan as far ahead as possible.
It’s also worth noting that the summer seasons of the
North and South don’t overlap. This makes marketing,
promoting, selling and servicing both Arctic and Arctic
an appealing proposition year-round.
FOUR WAYS TO OVERCOME CHALLENGES SELL-
ING POLAR
CHART 15
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25
Cost of Travel and
Limited Client Interest
Biggest Hindrance in
Selling Polar
Challenges in Selling Polar Cruises, Share (%)
Too expensive
Not enough product
sales experience
Perceived as
too far
Quality of current Polar
cruise ships is lackluster
Perceived as
too hardy and
adventurous
Not enough support
from Polar cruise
suppliers
Perceived as
too cold
Lack of available
inventory for the
times and places my
clients want to go
Not enough clients
are interested in
Polar cruises
Unaware of new
products, education
for selling Polar
cruises
76%
27%
35%
4%
37%
9%
43%
17%
47%
24%