Cruise Report

SILVERSEA has much to celebrate this year, from the launch of its new flagship Silver Muse next month to Silver Cloud being transformed into a luxury expedition vessel. travelbulletin caught up on all Silversea’s news with the line’s managing director Asia Pacific Amber Wilson when Silver Whisper called into Sydney recently as part of a round the world voyage. Wilson, who stepped into the position six months ago, said getting the brand strong exposure had been a key focus since she joined, commenting that Whisper’s visit to Australia was doing just that. Further publicity had been achieved through the line’s first television campaign which launched last November. “It’s been very, very well received and we’ve certainly noticed a spike in enquiries and bookings,” she said. Wilson was quick to add that “the call to action will always be contact your local travel agent or Silversea” underpinning the brand’s close ties with the travel agency network. In fact, agent support is a key part of Silversea’s strategy with Wilson confirming there was now a business development manager (BDM) servicing each state and territory. “Rather than pulling back BDMS, we’re increasing our trade representation,” she said, while adding that niche markets such as the incentives sector would be targeted. The next six months see no signs of abating for Silversea. While no official rates were released, growth was said to be “very healthy”. “We’ve got a whole raft of activities from client events, functions and agent training will be a big focus for us. With Muse launching in April there’s a big focus on this ship and then we’ll turn our attention to Cloud.”