River cruising, reimagined: Transcend brings charter-only vision to Toronto

Transcend Cruises, a charter-only river cruise company designed exclusively for the luxury group market and MICE travel, is inching closer to setting sail.

In honour of their inaugural journey, the company hosted travel advisors Thursday evening  (May 7) aboard a city cruise, taking passengers along Lake Ontario from downtown Toronto to the Toronto Islands and back again.

“What better way to commemorate our true official launch by going to several cities and celebrating with those who have already embraced us and are chartering with us and those who we want to learn more,” said Kimberly Daley, Transcend’s chief operating officer.

Transcend’s first ship, “Connect,” officially launches on Europe’s Rhine River in August.

READ MORE: First look at Transcend Cruises’ purpose-built ship for groups & MICE market

The company has hosted a series of events to mark the occasion, first in Miami (where the company first launched the concept) then Chicago last week and with New York and Los Angeles on the docket.

“Our greatest joy is being able to bring together people so that they can talk to each other,” Daley told PAX, which was invited to participate in the event.

Connect & Evolve

Transcend Cruises currently has  two vessels: the Transcend connect and the Transcend evolve.

The 135-metre ships will offer five separate venues and totally customizable spaces in an effort to redefine the luxury group experience. Plans are to expand to 12 vessels in total.

The company says it was created to address a gap in the market for purpose-built floating venues for groups.

The goal is to combine hotel-style buyouts whilst satiating the growing appetite for the river cruise experience.

READ MORE: Transcend Cruises reveals names of first two ships

“We were frustrated because of the limitations of working with a B2C company to try and do things that were outside of what they normally provided,” Matthew Shollar, CEO and co-founder of Transcend Cruises, told PAX. “When someone came and said, ‘Hey, I need something out of the box, they simply couldn't get it.”

“And people working at the cruise lines, our colleagues, were frustrated because their job was so small compared to the retail side of the business that they didn't get the love.”

Shollar described it as “trying to push a rock uphill.”

What sets the company apart, said Daley, is quality, not quantity.

“We’re focused 100 per cent on groups and delivering what they need, whether it's a service or a product,” said Daley.

“Whether it's a retail agent, or a non-profit museum that wants to do a travel program, or whoever it might be, we’re saying. ‘Hey, we're going to create an opportunity for you to have a business model that you never saw possible before,” added Shollar.

But the experience isn’t just for corporate groups or meetings.

“Maybe it's just someone who's having a wonderful 40th anniversary and they want to have their whole family around them on a very unique program,” said Shollar.

Daley added that it could also be a multi-generational family that wants to bring everyone together.

“It can be a wedding…tour operator that wants to brand their own experience…a corporate executive retreat,” Daley said. “Especially if you have all these hybrid companies that don't often get to get their corporate executives together.”

Every experience is completely customizable. “We can basically enable anything,” said Daley.

Imagine the possibilities

When it comes to working with travel advisors, the Transcend team says they’re eager to form relationships that benefit both parties.

“We’re selling so that we actually require a third party to be involved,” said Shollar. “We don't sell anything to individual guests, I don’t want to deal with the mother-of-the-bride.”

Transcend says it’s committed to working with advisors so the booking experience isn’t daunting or intimidating.

Shollar points out that many advisors see chartering as too risky, without realizing they’re already organizing travel on a similar scale.

Advisors regularly book groups of 30 to 50 couples on large cruise ships, or at resort properties ,at price points comparable to charter experience, he said.

In his view, that means they’re effectively already operating in the charter space – “you just don't know it yet.”

Shollar hopes advisors see the possibilities, calling it an “untapped market.”  

“Agents understand who their clients are and have that segment where they can sell at these prices,” he said.

Daley also said that advisors are able to set their own commission because “they understand what the market can bear.”

As for how sales are going so far, the Transcend team says business is booming.

“2030 is the only year that's untapped and not for long,” Daley said. “This year we're at 97 per cent. For next year, we're already at 30 per cent and we're closing in on bringing that together.”

Daley hopes travel advisors are inspired by those numbers, particularly as the river cruise sector continues to rank among the fastest-growing areas of the travel industry.

“There's a great opportunity,” she said. “Think of it as a river yacht. That’s the demographic that’s looking for this.”

Don't miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today!  Click here to follow PAX on Facebook.