Tom Stieghorst
Azamara Club Cruises president Larry Pimentel likes to reference a favorite childhood book, "The Little Engine That Could," in explaining the dynamic behind his small but willing cruise brand.
It's a fanciful comparison, but in at least one respect it seems to describe what's happened after Pimentel's arrival in 2009.
Since 2010, when Pimentel's management improvements began to gain traction, Azamara has doubled its per diems, a feat not matched by its much larger sister brands Royal Caribbean Cruises and Celebrity Cruises.
"Azamara is on a roll," RCCL Chairman Richard Fain said, on hand for the christening of Azamara's third ship in Southampton last week.
It hasn't come overnight. With perhaps mock exasperation, Fain said it has required patience to wait for Pimentel's strategy of "Destination Immersion" to catch on with agents and the traveling public.
Pimentel said he had cautioned that the idea of radically emphasizing the destination, rather than the ship experience, as a reason to cruise would seem strange to some and would need repeated explanation and exposure.
But, he said, as a result of putting destination first and foremost, with long stays in port, including late night and overnight visits, the fares at Azamara since the second quarter of 2010 have doubled.
It helps that Pimentel starts his comparison in the trough of a recession that began with the 2008 financial meltdown, and ends it after an eight year climb to record-low unemployment and record-high stock market levels.
And Fain concedes that Azamara as a brand was coming from a low point, relative to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Launched in haste in 2007, Azamara was floundering when Pimentel was brought in. He renamed the line, adding the word Club to its moniker, and launched its destination focus.
"We just simply stayed longer and did night touring, when most ships were not doing night touring," he said. "The whole point was connecting this brand to the local culture. And that's how this brand really got a distinguishing factor."
After several years of having long waiting lists for some cruises, Pimentel convinced Fain and the RCCL board to acquire a ship from Carnival Corp., the former P&O Princess Cruises ship Adonia, to finally add more capacity to Azamara.
To be sure, doubling per diems doesn't necessarily mean doubling profits. While brand profitability remains undisclosed within RCCL financial reports, it is likely that Azamara's entire fleet, even with three ships starting this year, is less profitable than one Royal Caribbean Oasis-class vessel on its own.
Still, doubling per diems remains an achievement, and not Azamara's only one, in Pimentel's view.
"I feel like we have created a brand with a purpose," he said before the Pursuit's christening last week. "And that purpose, while it is profitability for our shareholders, goes beyond that to connecting people to people.
"And the guests seem to have a love affair with the product," Pimentel added. "Which is completely delightful and has taken us to this place where we are today."