Cruises for the Curious

Have clients who are Anglophiles more interested in history and archeology than in suntans and shopping? If so, you might want to take a close look at Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises, three British cruise lines operated by All Leisure Group.

In February 2013, Steve Tucker, a seasoned cruise line executive, became president of All Leisure’s operation in North America. Tucker, who heads the company’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters, previously was vice president-field sales for Silversea Cruises and also spent time at Holland America Line, Orient Lines and Norwegian Cruise Line. Vacation Agent recently caught up with Tucker.

Tell us about All Leisure Holidays.

All Leisure Holidays is a publicly traded company based in the U.K. We have six brands — three fully-escorted tour operator brands and three cruise brands. We currently sell only the three cruise brands here in the North American market. The Fort Lauderdale office opened in 2003.

How do Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises differ?

Before I tell you the differences, I think it is important to note the similarities of our cruise brands. Being British-based, we do include gratuities on all three of our brands, as well as port charges.

Another important similarity is our focus on educational cruising. We have exclusive partnerships with the U.K. National Trust, Royal Horticultural Society and National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies.

These partnerships not only give us unparalleled access to a great list of guest lecturers, but also special access to castles and other historical venues not available to other cruise passengers.

PHOTO: The Hebridean Princess was chartered twice by Queen Elizabeth II.

As for the differences, Hebridean Island Cruises is a luxury brand that pampers 50 guests on board the Hebridean Princess. The Hebridean Princess is in service from March through November each year. For the remaining three months, she undergoes extensive maintenance and refurbishment to keep her in tip-top and immaculate condition.

The Hebridean Princess typically spends the majority of her season cruising the Scottish Isles, although we also touch Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. In 2015, she offers some cruises into London and Northern France.

Hebridean is completely all-inclusive with all gratuities, shore excursions and spirits included. We even have our own blend of Scotch whisky. We provide bicycles for use ashore as well as fishing tackle if you go on one of our fishing excursions, which are also included.

Hebridean Island Cruises is most famous for the charters we have done with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She has chartered the ship twice, including once for her 80th birthday.

Swan Hellenic is an iconic British premium brand that was established in 1954, so we are celebrating our 60th anniversary this year. Swan Hellenic represents an excellent value with so much included on the 350-passenger Minerva, such as gratuities on board and ashore, shore excursions and port charges.

Our excursions provide insight into the local history, culture, geography and wildlife of the areas we visit and are never focused on shopping. Our guest lecturers also stay on board for the entire cruise and not only dine with our guests but also go on the included shore excursions.

The Minerva was extensively refurbished in 2012 with the addition of a new lounge, promenade and 32 balcony suites. All bathrooms were renovated as well. The ship has two open-seating dining rooms. The Minerva sails to five continents and 184 ports.

Voyages of Discovery offers cruise vacations on the 1990-built, 540-passenger Voyager to lesser-known ports accompanied by guest lecturers. We offer a variety of optional shore excursions that are not focused on shopping.

The Voyager underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation before entering service in December 2012, replacing the original flagship. She has the choice of three restaurants for dinner, all of them open seating, all with no additional charge.

Itineraries range from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, the Far East, including Japan, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

What sort of outreach and marketing efforts do you make toward North American travel agents?

One of the first things I changed was our outreach to the travel agent community. We did that in a variety of ways, from adding “Call us or your travel agent” to all of our marketing initiatives as well as webinar training, and we are in the process of developing a travel agent training program.

We also have Ivonne Brown, our vice president of sales, dedicated solely to supporting the travel agent community.

Would a typical American cruise passenger book one of your cruises?

We are definitely in a special niche within the marketplace whereby our guests are looking to further their knowledge of other cultures, history and ancient civilizations.

Put another way, on a day at sea, our guests are more apt to try to get the best seat at one of our guest lectures as opposed to the best spot up on the pool deck.

Who is your typical client?

Our typical client is over 50 years old, very educated and looking to further that education and has an interest in ancient civilizations, archaeology and history. We get very few, if any, passengers under 35. Hebridean Island Cruises does tend to skew to an older demographic.