Damien O’Connor, Trafalgar vice-president, river cruise, joined the brand’s new river arm last April before Trafalgar Verity and Trafalgar Reverie, previously sister brand Uniworld’s River Queen and River Princess respectively, underwent refurbishment in October.  

Speaking on Verity in Amsterdam on Friday (10 April), O’Connor told TTG more than $1 million was spent on refurbishing Verity and Reverie as he revealed Trafalgar’s focus is now on designing its new ships.

“We called it a light refurbishment [on Verity and Reverie],” said O’Connor. “We didn’t want to go all out because we want the design intent on the new ships to come back.

“Pretty much everything was refurbished. Chairs were reupholstered; banquettes and tabletops were replaced. All mattresses, tableware, carpets and linen were replaced.”

'We really want to give it some thought'

O’Connor said the two new-build vessels, which are currently being constructed about a 90-minute drive south of Amsterdam, are bigger than Verity, Reverie and Harmonie, a third charter ship which will operate under the Trafalgar brand from next year.

He said: “The new ships will carry 180 passengers across 90 staterooms. We’ve held back on Verity's design because we wanted to define the new ships’ design and then bring that back to the rest of the fleet.

“We really want to give it some thought about how we can stand out from the crowd a little bit without going full Celebrity [River Cruises].”

The river cruise market is preparing to welcome two more new operators – National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions later this month and Celebrity River Cruises next year. 

Dedicated solo cabins

In addition, Trafalgar is considering installing between eight to 12 solo cabins on its new ships, according to O’Connor, who previously worked for Royal Caribbean Group and claims to have spent 10 years telling former group chief executive Richard Fain about the profitability of river cruise.

“We’re looking at having solo cabins onboard. That’s quite new to river – not to ocean, of course – but having purpose-built solo cabins and not charging a solo supplement,” he added.

O’Connor said Trafalgar “definitely” wants to have “an alternative dining experience” onboard. “It would be a speciality restaurant with 30 to 40 seats onboard,” he explained.

The new ships will also have a second lounge, in addition to the main lounge, where “private parties or meetings” can take place. O’Connor also suggested the lounge could be turned into “a sports bar” showing high-profile football matches on the TV.

O’Connor said whether the ships have a pool on the sundeck is still being discussed. “You have to question how important it is on a ship – they’re not very big. I can think of better ways of utilising the space,” he explained.

“We’re looking at innovations to our sundeck area and seeing what we can do. However, there’s a very little you can do because everything has to come down when you go under bridges.”

O’Connor said selling cabins through travel agents is a key part of the brand’s sales operation. “At Trafalgar we’ve got those relationships and those contacts but not within river cruise or cruise generally,” he added. “We're building an extension of those relationships.”

O’Connor confirmed he hired Lindblad Expeditions’ former chief revenue management officer Cris De Souza earlier this year to strengthen Trafalgar’s existing trade relationships and build new ones. De Souza is Traflagar’s commercial director.