Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ Frank Del Rio

Frank Del Rio launched the Seven Seas Explorer July 13 in Monaco, the second ship Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has introduced since he became CEO in 2015 and the first for Regent Seven Seas Cruises in 13 years. Del Rio spoke with cruise editor Tom Stieghorst in the Explorer’s 4,400-square-foot Regent Suite about why Regent markets the 750-passenger vessel as “the most luxurious cruise ship ever.”

Q: You’ve said the Explorer cost way more than the $450 million it was supposed to. Can you tell us by how much?

A: No. It’s in excess of $450 million… We’ll leave it unprecise. But I believe it’s the most expensive [cruise] ship ever built on a per-berth basis.

Q: Who should travel agents look for as customers for this ship?

A: This ship is built for the one-percenters. We’re not apologizing for it. I think we should celebrate success, celebrate wealth, and I think this ship is a trophy to that end. This particular suite is the 1% of the 1%. You don’t save up all winter long to go on a cruise on this ship, much less this suite. You’ve made it, you’re successful. [If] you want to enjoy the best of the best at sea, this is the one you pick.

Q: This [suite] is $10,000 a night. Has it sold out this year?

A: It was sold out and somebody canceled. So there’s one cruise left, I think it’s Nov. 2.  But the rest of the year is sold out and well into 2017.

Q: You know the competitive set. What distinguishes this ship?

A: This is a 56,000-ton ship with just 750 guests. Luxury [has] got to be multi-dimensional. It means different things to different people. But among the things that luxury must mean in cruise ships is the luxury of space. The luxury of volume. When you’re in the middle of the ocean, space that you can walk on is at a premium. Take a look at the volume here. Not just this suite, but other suites. In the restaurants, you’re not huddled. You don’t have the table right next to you right on top of you. There’s space between the tables. Look at the theater. Besides being two stories, you’ve got room to roam. So room is very, very important.

The materials. There isn’t an area where we said, “Let’s just cut back a little.” The artwork. The [$250,000] piano. The $60,000 [Regent Suite] mattress. The Tibetan prayer wheel [in the Asian restaurant]: it’s a real prayer wheel, made of bronze. It’s not plastic. The [deep] balconies… It’s the comfort level. At my house I sleep on the same mattress you’re sleeping on in a regular suite. It’s that good.

Q: So it’s the hardware?

A: And, of course, the service. You can build all this great hardware, but if you don’t have the software, the people to deliver … because three months from now you’re not going to remember this piano, or the beautiful entrance to Pacific Rim, you’re going to remember that the service was fantastic. … That the food was great, but you won’t remember all these architectural elements or the design of the room itself; you won’t remember that wall unit was glossy. What people remember is the service, and so we work very hard to have extraordinary service. We treat our people with dignity, with respect, like family. We pay them very well; they’re incentivized.

Q: What’s been the reaction so far?

A: I’m flabbergasted at the reaction of those aboard. There hasn’t been any whisper of anything [bad]. I haven’t even had any suggestions. It’s that good.