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Explora Journeys‘ President, Anna Nash, is enthusiastic about the opportunities that lie ahead with the ultra-luxury cruise brand, especially having joined a relatively young brand to “help shape and grow the business” during its infancy, she tells LATTE from her new office in Geneva, Switzerland.

Nash was appointed President at Explora Journeys a few weeks before the launch of EXPLORA II last month. The Englishwoman’s background in entrenched in luxury hospitality, including the last 10 years with Aman as Chief Commercial Officer, based in London.

When LATTE chatted with Nash she was five weeks into her new role and settling in. She was excited to have just signed for the keys to her new house, meaning she won’t have a virtual “negative step count walk to work” from her current corporate apartment adjacent to the cruise line’s headquarters.

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Here, Nash explains the lure to Explora Journeys.

“My 10 years at Aman was the most amazing experience that I could have wanted from a career and a role. Aman will always hold a real special place in my heart,” she says. “When this opportunity came my way, and after conversations with Mr Vago, I was really enraptured by his vision and where he wants to take this brand.”

Mr Vago being Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Group. He reports to Captain Gianluigi Aponte, the Founder and Group Chairman of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA.

“Having experienced it firsthand, I very much see the ships – in a way – like a European, sophisticated hotel whose home is the ocean. There are many, many similarities. But I was also very curious about the ship operations,” she said.

“For me I’ve always been connected to the water. I grew up on the water, so there was a natural pull in that sense. I find water very calming and very emotional, so the opportunity to take what I’d learnt in land-based ultra-luxury hospitality and bring it to the seas was really an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down.

“And looking at the Aponte-Vago’s vision, taking that to the next level and building on that vision and really connecting on a deeper emotional level with our existing guests, but also using this opportunity – with me and a fresh look – to bring a new audience to our brand as we grow and scale as well.”

“I think that brand building opportunity is really a once in a lifetime chance.”

New cruise audience

Explaining in greater depth about the “new audience,” Nash continues:

“There’s the audience that already cruise that will typically plan their vacation around itineraries or around ships, or around sailings. But for me, there’s an opportunity to tap into an audience that maybe has been curious about taking a vacation on the seas, but haven’t yet made that jump.

“I speak from my own experience of cruising in the past. And I definitely think that there still is a certain stigma that’s associated with cruising. I think it’s a misunderstood sector for perhaps people that don’t understand it.

“People maybe feel that it’s aimed at a certain narrow demographic. When I’ve travelled in the past with my husband, friends look at us quite curious, and ‘you’re going cruising?‘ and I will say probably slightly judgemental because of our age.

“But also I believe there is a certain curiosity to them and they want to learn more and understand why we’ve chosen that, and maybe in their minds they’re thinking ‘why haven’t we done that before?‘

“There’s a real opportunity to think about the natural journey, the decision-making journey of people when they decide on a vacation, and why cruising isn’t always in the that decision-making, and opening it up to a wider audience.”

“I think also that those that don’t understand the cruising sector view it as over-complicated.”

“Land-based hospitality is what they know and it’s the route they naturally take. Having come from that side of the industry but having cruised myself, really think about the decision making process and the narratives that we need to use to make it clear that cruising is a really uncomplicated way of travelling, is a really seamless way of seeing many destinations in one go, being able to unpack your suitcase is a real treat. You’re here for a week, you can unpack, this is my home.”

“I know as someone who has dabbled in cruising in the past, the first time or second time when you’re still new to cruising, you don’t really know how it works on board. It takes a few days to really understand the routine and the rhythm and all the amenities that are available to you, and what you can and can’t do.

“There’s a real opportunity to hold peoples’ hands perhaps, earlier on in their journey, so they can really make the most of it once they’ve stepped onboard. So there’s a few personal experiences I think I can bring into that.”

Explora Journeys’ point of difference

“For a brand building point of view, we have something that is very, very different. The experience we offer really does feel quite unlike cruising in many aspects.

“The choice of restaurants that you have on board, you have the à la carte in all of the restaurants, but another thing that I think that is quite interesting, if you think about a hotel… somewhere near Portofino… people will pay for the best room for a sea view. A sea view is something generally that people always want in a hotel. If you’re in a destination where the coast or the sea is outside, you pay extra for the water view.

“All of our suites have the most amazing sea view. In fact, all of our restaurants have amazing sea views. So I think it’s just a mindset to get people familiar with what we’re doing, what our vision is, and also that we really welcome those that perhaps don’t feel they belong in a cruise community.”

“I really feel there is an opportunity to open up our narrative to everyone and I’m really invigorated and excited by that.”

LATTE questions Nash if she believes that demographic is younger than your typical cruiser?

“Very much so. If you look at what the younger demographic want, they want to tick off bucket-list destinations. They want to tick off places as they go and I think being on a ship that moves you have that incredible joy of waking up somewhere different almost every day.”

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