UnCruise's new strategy: Double down on what sells best

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The Safari Explorer. The UnCruise ship operates in Hawaii in the winters and Alaska during the summers.
The Safari Explorer. The UnCruise ship operates in Hawaii in the winters and Alaska during the summers. Photo Credit: Courtesy of UnCruise Adventures.
Andrea Zelinski
Andrea Zelinski

UnCruise Adventures’ owner and CEO Dan Blanchard said he and his team were always focused on expansion. But since the pandemic, he has stepped away from that mindset and is focusing the line’s resources on its most profitable regions and sailings. 

That also means pulling back on cruises that produce smaller margins.  

“What we're doing now is we're actually saying, ‘Okay, we've been at this [itinerary] for five years and it's marginal. Why are we doing it?’” he said. “We’re focusing on where we can be really profitable.” 

UnCruise operates eight ships carrying from 22 to 90 passengers (and charters one vessel), each offering sustainable adventure itineraries in Alaska, the Galapagos, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. 

For example, the line repositioned a ship from Hawaii to Alaska last year. It still operates in Hawaii, Blanchard said, but it will no longer stay there in the summer because it can produce greater profits in Alaska. 

He said he also noticed his Mexico sailings do well in Baja California, which is easy for Americans to get to. Correspondingly, he’s looking to consolidate more of the line’s itineraries in Mexico in 2025.

These kinds of pivot are a direct result from the pandemic, although the brand weathered it better than most. Blanchard said the line returned to profitability in 2021, one of the few cruise companies to do so.

That profitability was possible due to a combination of decisions, he said: laying off all but eight of its 430-member team; paying crew to wait at vaccination centers early in 2021 in hopes of scoring early doses; moving ships into freshwater storage in Seattle where they would be less expensive to maintain; and shifting departures from Washington state to Alaska to work around local sailing restrictions. 

Most of the 2021 season sailed full, Blanchard said. Not only did UnCruise notch that 2021 profit, but it did so in 2022, and Blanchard said he expects that to continue in 2023 after a strong Wave season. Even with that success, he said it will take UnCruise four years to make up for the profits it lost in 2020.

But his business focus isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Blanchard said the line used to end a year up to 60% filled for the upcoming Alaska season. Now, bookings are much closer in, coming in like a flood in March, he said. However, Blanchard said he sees trends that show 2024 beginning to show a return to historical booking patterns. 

UnCruise isn’t the only line line seeing cruise booking patterns all over the place. “It’s not just us as a company,” said Blanchard. “It’s the way the market has changed as well that we have to be cognizant of.”

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