Want to Grow Your Cruise Sales? Start With High-Touch Pre- and Posts
As packaged extensions fall short, advisors are winning business by crafting deeper, more personal journeys on either side of the sailing.
Photo: Courtesy of Silversea
In the luxury segment, headline narratives often focus on new ships, itineraries, and onboard concepts. But as several advisors and suppliers told Luxury Travel Report during a cruise roundtable at last week’s Signature Travel Network annual conference in Las Vegas, the real competitive battleground isn’t on the ship—or even in the air. It’s everything that happens before and after the core itinerary.
From villa-based pre-stays to multi-day overland extensions, advisors say pre- and post-trip design has evolved from a nice-to-have add-on to one of the most valuable components of a client’s overall journey. And unlike air programs or bundled two-night packages, pre- and post-trip planning is where advisors believe they deliver their deepest expertise.
One of the biggest drivers is simple: high-end travelers want more time and more meaning around their long-haul trips. “People want to go longer, so automatically it’s going to be pre- and post-trip,” says Morgane Beltaief, the vice president of consortia and strategic partnerships for Explora Journeys. But while suppliers acknowledge the interest, advisors say the packaged options they’re offered rarely match what clients actually want. “Our clients are looking to us because they don’t want what the cruise lines are offering,” explained Adele McIntosh of San Diego-based Legendary World.
The gap becomes clearer when advisors describe their actual process. Annette Stellhorn of Accent on Travel starts every major trip the same way: “My consultations normally begin with a core product,” Stellhorn said. “And then while we’re down there in South America, how about Iguazu Falls or Easter Island?” She sees pre- and post-trip time as an opportunity to build “amazing” combinations clients would never attempt on their own. “They’re really using us for what we’re good at,” she said. “They don’t have to go back another time to the destination.”
The contrast between advisor-built extensions and supplier-built ones came up repeatedly. Advisors uniformly praised the strength of cruise and tour products—but few had complimentary words for bundled air-and-hotel programs. “[They] are in the cruise business,” said McIntosh, “Not in the air business, not the hotel business.”
Some of the issues are logistical. Advisors serving smaller markets say that inclusive programs simply exclude them. Daniela Harrison, who works with Avenues of the World in Flagstaff, Arizona, explained that many bundled perks—such as Blacklane airport transfers or first-class air—aren’t actually available to most of her clients, given the 80-mile distance to the nearest participating airport.
Others point out that packaged programs often limit hotel choices or restrict stays to one or two nights, which doesn’t align with how their clients travel. “Two days is not enough,” McIntosh said. “If the partner is only offering a two-night product or a one-night product that doesn’t do me any good.”
Where pre- and post-trip design becomes transformative is in its ability to personalize a journey far beyond what packaged programs can support. Advisors can use this window to structure complex, once-in-a-lifetime experiences: multi-country overland journeys, private guiding based on mobility or pace preferences, villa stays with friends or extended family, or multi-gen setups where every member of the group needs something slightly different.
Afternoon tours might work; early-morning excursions might not. Clients might want “just us and the guide,” Stellhorn said. “Or it changes depending upon their physical ability and how much they can walk.” These are the nuances advisors can deliver, and packaged programs cannot.
This level of customization also ensures that clients get what they’re really after: meaningful time in a place. “Value is really when you came home, and it was your best vacation ever,” Stellhorn added. That doesn’t come from a standard hotel night or a preset city tour. It comes from carefully planned extensions that match why a client chose the destination in the first place—wine regions for culinary travelers, remote archaeological sites for history lovers, or a few quiet days in a villa before the pace of a group departure.
Suppliers are responding. Several brands noted they’re expanding their ability to support advisors with customized pre- and post-trip logistics, tapping destination management companies to handle bespoke arrangements. “We have introduced destination experts where you call the desk and we can now build these one-of-a-kind types of journeys,” Joe Leon, vice president of sales for the Americas at Silversea, said, emphasizing that this service is targeted to advisors, not consumers.
But even with new tools, advisors were clear that pre- and post-trip design remains their space. It’s where they build loyalty, add value, and shape the full arc of a client’s travel experience. “That’s where we shine,” McIntosh said, “and that’s where the travelers need us.”
If the core itinerary is the anchor, everything before and after is where luxury becomes personally crafted, not for a demographic, but for the traveler who wants the entire journey to feel seamless, intentional, and entirely their own.
