Harry Sommer, who is about to enter his second year as CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, has already made significant moves as head of the three-line cruise company. NCLH recently pledged $5 billion toward new ships and refurbishments for Oceania and Regent, after placing an eight-ship order across all its brands just a year ago. Cruise editor Andrea Zelinski spoke with Sommer about how his style differs from that of his predecessor, Frank J. Del Rio.
Harry Sommer
Q: You have referred to your predecessor as your mentor, but in what ways do you differ from Frank?
A: He has been a great mentor and a great friend. I learned so much from him, I'd say more about the product side of the business -- how to deliver a great experience to our guests. Sometimes, there was a thought of "product at all costs." Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to cut product but to perhaps do a slightly better job at balancing ROI and ROEx [return on experience], financial metrics against guest experience metrics. We've done a lot of research; we're very, very data-driven to find out exactly what our guests like.
Q: Can you offer an example?
A: We found that having a slightly smaller and simpler menu was a win. The bottom third of the menu items, no one ordered. Removing them from the menus didn't decrease the guest experience because no one was ordering those items. But it allowed us to focus more of our time and attention on the two-thirds that they did order. We did that fleetwide across all 32 of our ships, and it's been a huge win. We have the highest guest satisfaction scores on food that we've ever had. We had similar thoughts on entertainment.
It's not that I'm not focused on the product; I think Frank did a fantastic job on the product. We're now focused on delivering that same fantastic product at a more rational cost basis.
Q: What's happening on the technology front?
A: It wasn't really something that had been a focus before, but we're making big progress. We're developing a new internal reservation system. It doesn't sound like it's meaningful, but this new reservation system, which is going live this year across all three brands, will allow for a much better guest experience. That's been a multiyear effort that's finally got to come to fruition.
We recently launched a new mobile app for the Norwegian Cruise Line brand across all 19 of our ships in the fourth quarter. We hope to replicate that on Oceania and Regent in the near term because that has been very receptive, like a 4.8-star rating in the Apple Store, which is just great for a new app. We're about to launch a new website for the NCL brand, which is going live probably in early March. So, really, lot of focus on the technology side, but things that are mostly meaningful from a guest experience.
Q: What should travel advisors know about your direction right now?
A: We support the travel advisory population in every way possible, and we're thrilled that we are now seeing record booking levels from the trade across all three brands. It's a recognition of our partnership. We're all in. We support the trade. The trade supports us. We consider that to be the cornerstone of our guest-acquisition strategy, that they're first and foremost. The second thing is we have a huge growth plan. If you look at this new order book [13 ships by 2036], our revenue should be about 50% higher than it is today at the tail end of the order books being delivered. Obviously, the travel advisors are going to want to invest in companies that are growing, where they can grow with us.