Sixthman CEO Talks Cruise Industry’s Bounce Back, Diversity Efforts and More

The combination of dropping coronavirus infection rates and rising vaccination percentages, the travel industry is once again seeing a demand boom, with cruises being some of the most sought-after vacation options for 2022 and beyond.

As the cruise industry bounces back, the leader in festival and music voyages, Sixthman, is working tirelessly to bring fun back to the high seas.

Sixthman CEO Anthony Diaz helped guide the company throughout the pandemic and spoke to TravelPulse about a multitude of topics, including the cruise industry’s bounce back in 2022 and beyond, working with travel advisors, diversity efforts and more.

Here is the full Q&A session with Diaz:

TravelPulse (TP): The travel industry is looking to get back to some semblance of normalcy in 2022 and the cruise industry will be at the forefront of that resurgence. What is Sixthman expecting in 2022 as compared to 2021 and what are some trends the company is tracking?

Anthony Diaz (AD): We are very fortunate that both artists and fans highly prioritize the special vacations Sixthman produces. The experiences created on these unique cruises are not able to be delivered “in the real world” on land for both the artist and the fan.

Artists are more and more wanting to hold a closer relationship with their core fan base and introduce them to elements in addition to their music or movie or sport. A four-to-seven-day vacation opens up the opportunity to showcase artist brands, charities, podcasts, NFTs, museum items, workshops, panels, recording labels, restaurants etc. that are all so hard to shine a light on in a traditional concert setting.

Fans at the same time now hold a direct relationship with their heroes via social channels and are craving opportunities to connect in a “one to one” manner in real life beyond the “one to many” format concerts offer. Since our return, Cruising has proven to be amongst the safest means of experiencing live music due to testing, vaccinations and a full suite of health and safety protocols. The combination of those two points has allowed Sixthman to already confirm 16 high profile music festivals at sea for 2023 with more to come bringing us to a goal of over 20 full scale events at sea next year. That comes off 12 total events in 2022 (nine festivals at sea, one resort festival, VIP Services at a Vegas Festival and a Songwriter Camp in Nashville).

We were only able to execute six festivals at sea in 2021 and seven in 2020 due to Covid. Our prior high-water mark for number of events in one year was 18 in 2019 with 16 cruise festivals and two resort take overs, so 2022 is not far off our highest year and 2023 will exceed what we did in 2019.

The demand is palpable. Passion drives our events and I don’t not see that passion fading at all looking forward, if anything the realization of how important connecting with others in person who share your same values is and prioritizing how people’s precious spare time is spent coming off the pandemic will likely only accelerate the growth for what we do. There was already a shift pre-pandemic for individuals focusing on experiences over the purchase of “things,” I only see more and more of that in the future.

TP: Sixthman is known for hosting some of the best themed cruises. What are some of the most exciting voyages booked for this year and heading into 2023 and beyond?

AD: Sixthman has been very fortunate to serve fans of some of the most iconic artists, athletes, actors and comedians on the globe. From Jon Bon Jovi and KISS, to The Walking Dead television program and Blues, Wrestling, Hip Hop, Country and Wellness, the range of events is extremely wide but the success of them is due to the passion these niche communities hold.

As we look forward to 2023 and beyond, it’s the Moments we aim to create for guests and artists that we put our focus on versus just the voyages alone. While it takes a financial investment to charter a ship, it takes a passionate and highly experienced team to make the events as special as we have been able to make them over the past 20 years and 150 festivals sea. We have been blessed to attract and retain a team of the most talented people you can find on the planet who are born to serve others and live to set the stage for memories that last a lifetime.

So, seeing the team shine and serve the guests, artists and each other is what really drives me. It’s incredible what they are able to create when they come together to serve others. We Make Moments That Make Life Rock and Memories that Last a Lifetime, in doing so we’ve earned the position of the dominant global leader in festivals at sea, to maintain that leadership role, we will work tireless to innovate across every facet of the operation.

TP: With the CDC lowering its warning level for the cruise industry again, do you think Sixthman is ready for the influx of bookings?

AD: The demand for our events has been off the charts. The majority of our 2022 events will sail full (or very close to full on a few in Feb/March). Upon putting a new cruise on sale recently, EMO’s Not Dead that sails from L.A. this Fall, we broke a record for the fastest sell out a cruise has ever done at Sixthman. On top of that, we already have events in 2023 sold out such as The Rock Boat. We’re blessed to serve passionate communities who not only greatly look forward to these events each year (we hold a 60 percent guest retention across all events), yet coming off the pandemic our guests have shared how it is something deeper for them. It has been inspiring how they are sharing that they need these events in lives now more than ever.

TP: Wave season is upon us. Where are the booking levels for 2022 compared to 2021? As compared to pre-pandemic totals in 2019?

AD: Sixthman opens bookings for events in a different pattern from the traditional cruise industry. We usually announce the next year cruise on the current year cruise or in a pattern that matches our artist partner’s timing, so we do not experience a “wave season.” That said, as noted earlier, bookings are up significantly in 2022 vs 2021 and we expect 2023 bookings to exceed record-breaking bookings seen in 2019.

TP: What effort have been made to assist travel advisors who previously worked with Sixthman and were directly impacted by the pandemic?

AD: While we are working on ways to grow in this area, only a very small percentage of bookings on Sixthman events come through travel advisors. We pay a handsome commission and reach a wide range of audience with a proven high value experience guests return for year after year, so we know there is reason to apply further focus in working more closely with the trade. We are working more closely with the NCL team on Webinars, hosting advisors on board and special group opportunities to help drive more business through the travel advisor channel.

TP: What efforts are being made by Sixthman as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion?

AD: LIVE LOUD has been our brand since day one. Our mission has always been to create experiences where individuals from all walks of life, race, creed, color can come together as a community and be themselves without worry on vacation. Our goal is to set the stage so our team, guests and artists can LIVE LOUD in a way that is personal to them.

To add more rigor to this mission, in 2020 we created an internal team council dedicated to further advance our DEI efforts at Sixthman. BE LOUD as it is called, has since made great strides in expanding diversity within our pool of team members with greater emphasis in casting a wider net our team recruiting efforts. This was been woven into a monthly speaker series with our team hosted by outside voices from all backgrounds.

The same focus has been applied by our Talent team as they curate our event line-ups with greater diversity across the board. We have also partnered with outside organizations to build new festivals at sea that will be announced soon which we are very excited to create vacations at sea for audiences currently underserved with these types of special cruises.

We have made public pledges to our guest and artist communities and our team sharing what we stand for and what we will not tolerate on our events and are holding ourselves accountable to living these values every day. While we have a tremendous amount of work to continue to do in this area, yet we are committed to constant improvement and know we can deliver powerful results with this as a key priority of our organization.