On The Deck: Karen Woods, product & commercial manager at Avalon Waterways
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The rivers of Europe are alive with music. it seems you don’t have to go very far right now before you hear about the success of the river cruise sector and how the operators are enjoying a European renaissance. A couple of months ago Viking River Cruises launched eight vessels – beating its own record, set the year before. There have been also been launches by the likes of Uniworld, AMA and CroisiEurope. A week ago it was Avalon, which officially christened the Avalon Expression in May – a month before it inaugurated the Avalon Artistry ii in April. The river model is clearly working right now and, if indications are correct, it’s likely to continue. We sat down with Avalon’s product & commercial manager Karen Woods to discuss the product and the UK market.
Can you explain your role within Avalon and what that entails?
Being the product & commercial manager of Avalon UK, my main role is producing the brochure and having a competitive product to sell. Driving business from both direct consumers and working closely with the trade. i am lucky as my job is very varied as i get involved with trade events like the River Cruise expo in Amsterdam and the Selling Cruise Conference and also consumer cruise shows too.
What is unique about Avalon?
Our ships are unique. Our state-of the art Suite Ships are still the only ships in the industry to have two full decks of Panorama Suite measuring 200 sq ft each. The bed faces the floor- to-ceiling window which opens up to an impressive wall-to-wall 11 foot panoramic window creating a unique open-air balcony. Our customers are delighted with the amount of space which includes a seating area for six people.
Bringing on more capacity is obviously great for the industry. Can you describe what this means for the UK market?
We’ve launched two Suite Ships this year and are planning three more in 2014, so our fleet will be a total of 13 ships in Europe, eight of which are Suite Ships. At the moment, river cruising is a very strong market and having more capacity is only a good thing for the UK which means more choice of ships for consumers and availability.
What challenges do you face right now?
With such high demand, the challenge is getting the message out to consumers and agents that to get the best price and the cruise they want, it’s best to book as early as possible. This also means they can take advantage of our early booking offers.
Can you tell me what the future entails for Avalon? Where would you like to be in 12 months time?
The future is exciting for Avalon; 23 May will see the launch of our 2014 Europe brochure as well as a new Asia, Africa & the Americas brochure featuring the Mississippi, Mekong, Yangtze, Nile and the Galapagos. New for 2014 is a cruise on the Amazon. We are continually growing our European sales but are focusing on getting established in other destinations further afield.