Presidents Message (Winter 2019)

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DWertanzl

 

 

PRESIDENT’S

MESSAGE

 

 

 

With a new generation of ships on the horizon and the first one already in service, we had a wonderful 2019 and are looking forward to an exciting 2020 and beyond.

 

This summer was very busy for all of us, those onboard our ships and in our corporate offices in Miami. The M/V VICTORY I and M/V VICTORY II (Victory Cruise Lines) operated on the East Coast and in the Great Lakes of the US most of the summer and into the fall. The M/V OCEAN DIAMOND with Iceland Pro Cruises had a strong summer season, circumnavigating Iceland and visiting Greenland.

 

Also, in the Arctic, were M/V OCEAN ADVENTURER with Quark Expeditions, M/V SEA SPIRIT with Poseidon Expeditions, as well as our first summer of operation onboard the M/V OCEAN ATLANTIC with Albatros Expeditions. M/V OCEAN ENDEAVOR was up north in Canada and Greenland with Adventure Canada. Due to its successful implementation last season, we added an additional “Slow Food” voyage onboard the M/V OCEAN ENDEAVOR for Adventure Canada who were pleased and have said they are increasing the voyages for next year. In September, we began our fall program in Amsterdam for Semester at Sea with the M/V WORLD ODYSSEY.

 

Very exciting news is the successful launch, VIP Voyage, and the inaugural Antarctica cruises onboard the brand-new M/V GREG MORTIMER with Aurora Expeditions out of Ushuaia. We are all very excited about the new addition to our fleet as it is our first new build as operators for CMI Leisure. The ship is a beauty with excellent performance. One very welcome and exciting upgrade is the crew area onboard, as well as the crew cabins, which are well appointed including large screen televisions and bathrooms in each cabin. Kudos to the owners and all who have been involved in

the building and start-up process.

 

What does the launch of the new GREG MORTIMER mean for us? It is the beginning of a new dawn and future growth pattern for CMI Leisure. With every innovation, we need to embrace new techniques and knowledge in order to keep up with the expectations of our clients and their guests. Continuous learning becomes reality!

 

There are over 40 new expedition ships on order in the next few years. The expedition segment continues to become increasingly more popular and we have been riding on that trend for some time. Most of our managed ships fall into the expedition segment and we have one of the largest market shares.

 

With such excitement, we must remember to stay focused on our existing clients, as well as those who will see growth with the new builds from the Infinity Class of ships, namely Aurora Expeditions and Albatros Expeditions. We hope to add a few new names to our client roster as the new ships are completed.

 

I am excited about the bright outlook for all of us these next few years. However,

 

“If anybody asks us what we do, first we are hoteliers, and we must be proud

hoteliers … we are professionals, no less than a doctor, an engineer.”

Nakul Anand Executive Director, ITC LTD .

Corporate Hotelier of the World, 2019 > Hotels Magazine

 

with the challenges ahead comes great responsibility to be ready and prepared. We will need more crew members and hope to promote from within our onboard crew for future shipboard management positions; keeping in mind that some of our current ships will still be in service for several more years in addition to the introduction of new ships, providing ample employment

opportunities onboard.

 

We restructured our onboard organization last year, implementing new middle management positions with a focus on succession planning, i.e. the Food and Beverage Service Manager will move up to the Hotel Director position. One of our goals for next year will be to standardize

our programs even further, modifying our IT systems, simplifying and becoming more accurate. We are working with MXP, our systems provider to implement their next version and have also upgraded our accounting system in our corporate office.

 

Our guest satisfaction scores have been on target and we have received a lot of positive comments about the excellent “hospitality attitude” demonstrated by the crew onboard our ships. Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of you for all your hard work and support this year, making our guests and clients happy. It is a great feeling to read all the wonderful comments from our ships. Thank you for making us proud here in Miami. This is the True “Cruise Hospitality Experts” spirit.

 

We pride ourselves in providing each client with a customized package for their onboard guest experience. As Cruise Hospitality Experts, we have demonstrated our ability to deliver just that and will continue to do so. Preparing for growth is our motto for the next several years. We anticipate implementing at least one new ship each year for the next three years, and possibly even more. That means that we must be organized in order to deliver the desired level of product for our clients with high guest satisfaction. We have some exciting times ahead.

 

We had a change of management in the Miami office this summer as Mr. Donald Cameron and Mr. Shahbaz Kazi left the Company. We restructured our organization and welcomed back Mrs. Annabelle Alvarez as the new Director of Operations Support, added our new Vice President of Finance, Mr. Laz Hernandez to our team and Mr. Tayfun Aybar took over the position of Vice President of Hotel Operations. Please join me in welcoming our new team members.

 

Regional influences in the culinary world is still a trend our clients and their guests are asking for. It is getting more and more demanding; many of our guests wanting greater variety and healthier options in their dining experiences. We are committed to improving our carbon footprint by removing single use plastic items such as straws, water bottles and small plastic containers, etc., in order to protect our environment, particularly our oceans, which is our home.

 

On December 13t, we celebrated the season with our annual Holiday party, thank you to the many involved in the planning and organization of this wonderful event. We introduced some fun new features with the addition of a Julius Meinl coffee and Padre Tequila station to showcase some of our suppliers. We want to thank them for their support and participation this year.

 

Thank you all for a wonderful year.

Keep up the fine work!

 

Best regards from Miami, Happy New Year.

 

 

Dietmar Wertanzl