Regent Seven Seas is selling more luxury cruises and longer journeys as Australians trade up following the pandemic. We are spending more, holidaying longer and looking for the best suites and exotic destinations

“Luxury travel has been the fastest to recover and we’ve seen some interesting trends. We’re seeing a much broader range of destinations – bucket list destinations.  We’re also seeing a lot of close to home including Asia, where people don’t have to travel so far,” said Steve Odell, SVP & Managing Director Asia Pacific, Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

Mr Odell, speaking at an event to launch a new David Jones lounge for a week selling Regent Seven Seas cruises,  revealed that spending had risen to average above $30,000 for two people – and the demand for upper suites is high with the top Regent Suite, at over US$11,000 a night, is selling well in Australia.

“We are seeing more new customers than ever before – more than 50% of people we have booked are new to our brand,” he said.

Regent Seven Seas’ fleet is already two thirds full for 2023, and the line is now turning its sales teams on 2024 and even 2025.

Regent is celebrating its 30 years of sailings, and head of sales and marketing Andrea DeMarco, on a visit to Sydney this week, said the pandemic has unleashed a pent-up demand to celebrate milestone birthdays and weddings which were missed when borders were closed during Covid.

She revealed the line had launched 150 sailings and three launches – all had experienced record bookings.

The David Jones Regent Seven Seas lounge has been hailed as a big marketing success by Lisa Pile, VP and GM for Australia and New Zealand, who created the retail partnership.

This year, Australia will see a visit from Regent Seven Seas Explorer .

Last night, the line celebrated its 30th anniversary with a party at Sydney’s Catalina Restaurant.