Page 16 - 2021 European River Report

AVALON
The Avalon Envision
Avalon Waterways’ Global Health
and Safety team recognized
the severity of the COVID-19
pandemic early, and in March cancelled
spring and summer sailings. Passengers
could get a voucher good for two years
or a complete refund. Pam Hoffee,
Avalon managing director and COO
of parent company Globus Family of
Brands, said. Her first thought was how
to accommodate her customers.
With a background in operations and
product development, Hoffee knew short
term losses were far less concerning
than the health and safety of Avalon’s
passengers.
“We were one of the first lines to
cancel travel in March. We made that
decision relatively early. And our advisor they’d be cruising or not.
partners really appreciated that we took
that very swift and realistic decision,
84 Cruise Industry News: 2021 European River Cruise Market Report
WATERWAYS
Doing the Right Thing
and gave them some really good target
points for guests to rebook for next year.
Or, we offered refunds if they wanted a
refund instead. We continued to try to
look out about eight weeks in advance
and make decisions on future cruises and
the likelihood of being able to travel,”
she told Cruise Industry News in July.
“Our conversations are always around
what’s the best thing to do for our guests.
We don’t worry about money. That gets
figured out later. It’s always about what’s follow through on an environmental
the best thing to do for our guests and
travel advisors.”
When it became obvious the virus was
not abating with warmer weather, Avalon
quickly cancelled sailings through
September. It wasn’t fair, Hoffee said,
to keep passengers guessing whether
“If you take care of people they will
come back to you and the outcome will
be the right outcome,” she said. “It’s very
rewarding to be part of a team that’s able
to do the right thing and make the best of
a situation that might not be the greatest
situation, but you can do what you can
to make it positive.”
Positives
One of those positives is the line’s
initiative started in 2019.
All while adhering to new and existing
health and safety protocols, the line has
managed to eliminate single-use plastics
onboard. Room amenities like shampoo
bottles were switched to larger refillable
bottles without changing vendors. Plastic
water bottles were switched to reusable
ones that can be refilled at stations
onboard with still or sparkling water.